Auto trans stuck gear intermittently

Q

Quang Vu

Active Member
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2
Hello everyone,

I have an automatic 2012 Civic Coupe EX at 36600 miles that is intermittently grinding gear. Theoretically, the powertrain warranty should cover this. However, my car was in an accident before I bought it and I am worried that the dealer will use this to deny my claim. I am hoping to get some technical advice/suggestion from you guys to at least be armed with knowledge to talk to the dealer tech.

Background info: I had been changing oil either at Honda dealer or local car shop with coupon for cheap. This time, I could not find any coupon so decided to do it myself. I used to change oil on my 2007 civic all the time so I believe I did not mess anything up.

The oil change: I have been using Full Synthetic since 3 oil change ago. I used Quaker State Full Synthetic Ultimate Durability 0W20 with a Fram Oil Filter.
After finishing, I used a high pressure air gun (at my friend's non-auto shop) to "blast clean" the dust under the hood. Wondering if this could possibly cause my problem ??

The problem: as soon as I started deiving off, I noticed something wrong. All of these started occuring intermittently:
_ When stopped with brake pedal pressed, the car felt like it just shifted to neutral (negligible engine noise comparing to with 1st gear engaged)
_ When starting off from complete stop, any gear from 1 to 4 can grind and get stuck (feeling like when u fully press the clutch and apply gas on a manual). This resulting in engine rev shooting up with my gas pedal but the car is just slowly moving with the momentum but without the power transmision from engine to axle.
_ Down-shiftting is normal, only up-shifting is showing problem. Most of the time, the gear will engage after 1,2 sec delay. Sometimes, it wouldn't, I have to switch to neutral first, the back to D, then it would roll.

and Yes, I am positive that I did not pour Engine Oil to Transmission case nor accidentally drained out the trans fluid instead of the engine oil :|

Any opinions are greatly appreciated!

Thank you
 
if it happens all the time, it should be nothing for any tech to see/feel it on a test drive. Take it to the dealer
 
Sounds like your transmission is slipping. Only way to know why is to have a mechanic tear it apart
 
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Check the transmission fluid dipstick. It should be a yellow top on the stick. Check it when the car is hot and make sure its not low. Definitely sounds like slipping.

EDIT: The car should "neutral out" when coming to a stop depending on how hard you press the brakes. There is also a grade logic controller that determines if the car is going up or down a hill to help the AT select gears. Without knowing the extent of the accident damage to this module could be causing some odd issues with the transmission control unit.

That said, the Honda automatics work with clutch packs that do wear over time. I don't think you have nearly enough miles for those to be worn at all but it is a possibility. Thats all I've got.

Take it to a Honda dealer and see if they can't come up with something for you. It definitely sounds like something is wrong.
 
Thank you guys for your input. You are right Nix!

I swear I looked at the trans dipstick before posting and saw that it's at normal level :(

Then today, brought it to dealer and they said that the trans fluid was only 1/4th of its normal level ! This caused the trans to slip.

They said after they filled up the trans fluid, the car ran normal again. However, they could not find any leak ! They are keeping the car for another day to check/test some more. Hopefully no severe damage has occured. I did drive the car for about 50 miles after I realized the problem and before bringing it to the dealer :(

Strange they could not find the leak nor anything wrong with the trans...yet ...

Perhaps I am going blind for not seeing the low trans fluid :(
 
At least they found it was low & said it was fine after filling it up. See what they say when you pick it up. Maybe the person who did the last change didn't fill it properly. Who knows.
 
Nix said:
Check the transmission fluid dipstick. It should be a yellow top on the stick. Check it when the car is hot and make sure its not low. Definitely sounds like slipping.

EDIT: The car should "neutral out" when coming to a stop depending on how hard you press the brakes. There is also a grade logic controller that determines if the car is going up or down a hill to help the AT select gears. Without knowing the extent of the accident damage to this module could be causing some odd issues with the transmission control unit.

That said, the Honda automatics work with clutch packs that do wear over time. I don't think you have nearly enough miles for those to be worn at all but it is a possibility. Thats all I've got.

Take it to a Honda dealer and see if they can't come up with something for you. It definitely sounds like something is wrong.
Click to expand...
You said check while hot........ Should the car be running or off? (1st time for me with a Automatic)
I'll check mine next time it hot(side note I've had my trans fluid changed about every 15k,,,,, But I should be checking.......Good wake-up call).
 
Great news @Quang Vu ! Glad to see it was something simple and the car is running right. The fluid change is pretty easy to do yourself. If you can do oil, you can do trans fluid. I would recommend picking up a case of ATF, use the Honda stuff only, and doing a few fluid exchanges. That small amount of fluid you had in there is probably pretty burned up. A couple drain and fills should swap most of it.

Pull the drain plug on the bottom of the car. Its easy to see. You only need a 3/8" socket wrench. The square end fits the plug. Wait until the fluid is barely dripping out. Put the plug back in and fill 3qts into the dipstick hole with a long funnel. Drive around, check the fluid level.

Repeat as needed. I do a drain/fill every 20K or so and after any unusually stressful driving. (Dragon week)


@Monk - Drive around for a bit and check the level when the car is hot. It does not need to be running. Just warm enough for the fluid to have expanded. I know my trans dipstick has an embossed "HOT" stamped on it.
 
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