Every Gear Acts Like Neutral

Thank you for your reply. We bought just over a month ago. It had
92839 miles when we bought it and we have since put about 500 miles on
it, 275 since it was checked by a mechanic. When my wife drove it
yesterday, it was slow getting into gear and then it revved up a bit
when it was in gear. When my son drove it today, it gradually got
progressively worse but somehow he managed to get home in it.
However, when I tried it the gears did not appear to engage at all.
The only gear that did not act like neutral was Park. The car was on
a slight downward incline and rolled with every setting expect park.
When I put it into park, it stopped rolling. My son and I can each
bench-press 200 pounds but we were not able to push it up the slight
incline when it was in Park with the brake off.

 

| PeterOut wrote:
|
| >> If it is still in the 30-day trial period, hire a tow truck and take it
| >> back.
| >>
| >> Jeff
| >
| > Unfortunately it is not. We thought we were covering our bases by
| > taking it to a supposedly reputable mechanic during that period. They
| > found no problems. Perhaps the next step should be a class action
| > suit but I am not sure how successful that will be since it was far
| > from being a new car.
|
|
| Lotsa luck with a class action suit. You're reading too many newspapers
| or comic books. Learn what is wrong with the car before you start
| mapping a brilliant legal strategy. The first (and likely the LAST)
| question you need to answer is "What warranty, if any, did you get with
| the car?" If your answer is "Uh, well, the bill of sale says "No
| Warranty, express or implied. Vehicle sold "As-Is"" you are, as they
| say in the legal biz: SCREWED!

This is sounding like a linkage problem but obviously we cannot accurately
diagnosis the problem via cyberspace... and predicting future failure is not
much different from reading tea leaves without tearing everything apart. I
also don't know how a class could be certified in this case but there still
may be legal recourse depending upon where the OP lives. This as some states
have their own laws regarding used automobiles ("Lemon Laws"). NY has a used
car warranty law that goes up to 90 days and 4,000 miles contingent upon
selling price and odometer reading. For the OP it might be worth exploring
this issue with State Attorney General's office if the dealer's position is
contrary to state law.

For example http://www.oag.state.ny.us/consumer/cars/usedqa.html

John

 

Thanks. I will keep that in mind.

 

A) If the problem is inside the transmission, unless you were willing to pay
for a tear down, there wasn't much he/she could do to see if this was going
to happen.

B) What class action? Are thousands of people affected by this 1 mechanic
not predicting a future issue with a 6 year old used car? Or do you mean
against Honda who sold this car 6 years ago and weren't the ones responsible
for maintaining it?

Shit happens. That's the bottom line. Hopefully it is something minor link
the linkage.

 

Linkage to the transaxle apparently AOK. Get it to a reputable (if you
can find one) transmission shop. Also check at a Honda dealer and see
what they will charge you.

I had a transmission go out on a Buick and the dealership was able to
replace it with a completely remanufactured GM Goodwrench transmission
for less $$ than having it rebuilt by one of the chains or independents.
The best part of it was that they warranty on the on the Goodwrench
tranny was longer than the warranty on the original driveline. (either
50K miles or 60K miles - go figure)

Who knows? Honda may offer something similar. Won't hurt to check.

And the warranty I asked about and you didn't respond to? That's kinda
what I thought.

 

Check the transmission fluid. If the fluid level gets low enough, you won't
get any output from the torque converter.

 

It was a Honda purchased from a Honda dealer.

 

Thanks. I checked the transmission fluid. Is was clean and in the
normal range.

Thanks,
Peter.

 

Yes. We didn't get the warranty which was $1500. We took out a
warranty on a Ford Raurus we bought second hand and never had any
problems.

Thanks,
Peter.

 

That doesn't mean they did all the maintenance nor that the owner reported
every issue they ever had with it.

You bought a used car. Shit happens.

Good luck with your class action...

 

I hope you're kidding??? What will be your basis? You bought a
used car, right ? How does Honda know it was not abused before you
bought it? And I think even if you had a case (which I don't think
so), I think you will have to know what is wrong with it to begin with
inorder to sue Honda .... for example how will you know how much to
sue for without knowing what is wrong and the cost to fix it.
Good Luck what ever you do.

 

Hate to be the one to inject a bit of reason in all this but this
sounds quite familiar to what happened when the transmission hydraulic
pump went in a friend's '93 Protege. New pump was about $100...
replacement was done by a mechanic buddy in his back yard for a case of
beer, and it was good to go.

Obviously, there's no way to know for sure what's wrong with your car,
but it may be something simple (and relatively inexpensive) like this.
Before getting too worked up about things, have a COMPETENT transmission
shop take a look at it.

As others have noted, there likely is nobody to blame for this - it's
the kind of thing that can "just happen" on a car of that age,
especially if the previous owner didn't maintain it well. There's just
no way to tell.

 

however, a common theme in these complaints is 'went to change back to Honda
trannie fluid'.

Always run honda trannie fluid in your honda. Or deal with shit like this
(more often).

t

 

Good luck. It was out of warranty a long, long time ago. BTW, can
you prove the car received all the scheduled maintenance. Can you
swear it was never abused?

If the fluid is *real* clean, it may be because it was just changed
before you bought it. If so: A. Maybe they were trying to cover up a
problem or B. Maybe they put in non-Honda fluid which doesn't work so
good. (Of course, you don't even know who "they" are.)

Regardless, it is time to talk to whoever sold it to you. If they are
reputable and concerned about their reputation they might help out on
the transmission repair. (Probably not if you run in screaming about
lawsuits.)

 

Not sure exactly what is the common failure this might refer to.

But, Honda has had problems with their autos for many years, replaced
many on six-cylinder cars in and out of warranty. My old Acura tranny
never really worked right, and I suspect that was very common, but
since the car still moved, most people (like me) just lived with it.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if there is a much lower statistical
failure of the same tranny technology on lower horsepower cars, and
it's probably still very rare into the 100k mile range, but it might
be just what you've got. The next question would be whether the
seller knew about it ... but who can say?

J.

 

I just read through this thread. What a lot of usless garbage.

Evidently nobody though to check for known problems with this model. There
is one. It is exactly what you're experiencing.

Your dealer has a copy of TSB 04-036, which covers this problem in ALL '01
Civics. The problem is excessive wear in the 2nd clutch. The cure is to
replace the transmission with one which has an upgraded 2nd clutch
assembly.

Even if you're out of the normal warranty, this particular problem is
eligible for "goodwill" warranty coverage. The dealer must get approval
from Honda for this.

Visit your local Honda dealer. If this car still has its original tranny,
you may be in luck.

 

All our used cars with less than 100,000 have a limited warrenty, and it you
had bought it from us there would be scrambling to get it repaired.
Check with the dealership. Raise a fuss, perhaps the will step up..
Steve

 

Odd... the only thing I found on the web that actually had a definition
for this TSB (almost every hit I got described the symptoms, but not the
actual problem) suggested it was a blown hydraulic pump... which is what
I suggested in the first place.

Well either way, it's a job for a good shop or dealership...

 

Unless this is a situation unique to the OP's car, it is not a blown pump.

The actual TSB document may be found here:
http://search.ebscohost.com/
Login with username lib and password access
Choose Auto Repair Reference Center from menu at left.
Navigate to the OP's car.

I keep posting that link, but nobody but me ever looks stuff up there.

 

but they sure do complain if they don't like the advice they get [and
are not paying for]!