Transmission problem

I have a 1991 Honda Accord with an automatic transmission that makes a whining sound in neutral (constant pitch), reverse, first, and second (r, 1, and 2 with increasing pitch on accl.) I took it to Honda and they said that the whole tranny either needs to be rebuilt or replaced. I originally brought it to the dealer to have the tranny flushed but they didn't flush it because they said they were afraid that the tranny was going to "grenade" apart due to the gunk inside becoming loose and the innards falling apart. The car has about 95,000 miles on it and I doubt it has had the tranny flushed previously. The transmission has the tendency to jerk and not catch quickly (switch gears). I was curious if anyone has ever heard of a transmission flush hurting the transmission because I really want to try getting it flushed hoping it would solve the problem so I dont have to pay $2,000 for a new tranny. I don't want to run into a situation where the transmission falls apart after having it flushed because I don't have $2,000 to spend on my car at the current moment. Thanks

You'd be wasting your money, in all probability. In the past I've tried it on my own cars, and at a customer's insistance. It nearly always doesn't help at all, or even accelerates the disintegration.


For example, clutch packs have very little lining on their discs to begin with. The resins and waxes that accumulate from old fluid helps them to slip slightly, without heating, and is sometimes the only thing keeping them going.

Then you flush it out, washing away that protective varnish, and put in brand new fluid with very high shear strength, and it suddenly has enough grip in those wet clutches to tear the lining right off of them...

Tranny service is maintenance for a healthy tranny, not a repair for a hurting unit. If you really want to try something before giving up on it, Buy a can of Trans-X or Seafoam for transmission, your tranny has a drainbolt I believe, let the contents (probably about 3-4 qts) of the pan drain, then add your additive and refill to proper level without overfilling.

50/50 chance it may help, and you'll be out much less money than a full fluid exchange. By only partially changing the fluid, there is less chance of "shocking" the internals like I described.

But if the fluid is badly brown and burnt, really stinky, there's probably not much hope.

So I tried the Seafoam Trans Tune out and so far have liked the results. I bought it and 3 qts of genuine Honda atf, drained the trans, put the Seafoam in, and filled the rest with the atf. There is still a whine but the gear changes seem to shift smoother. The trans fluid was brown and stank so I'm sure I will still need at least a rebuild, but hopefully the Seafoam will extend the amount of miles I will get out of the tranny. By the way, when I took the drain plug out I got to see exactly what that tranny gunk looks like because it was gunked around the inside of the drain plug with small (now magnetized) shavings of metal. Anyway, thanks for your suggestion of the Seafoam. I will post any occurences of abnormalities and if there is none I will post an update of how the tranny is running a month afterward.

Don't know about the seafoam but drain and refill is the way to go with a Honda Transmission. This allows the fluid to gradually change and not shock the transmission as the previous post warned you of. Just keep changing the fluid about every 1000 miles or so. I did this on my Accord transmission that had never been changed at 113,000 and so far all is well at 130,000 and no problems at all. My torque converter lock up was only locking up after 10 miles or so of driving. Now it locks up immediately when on the highway. Milage went from 26 to 29 mpg as the rpm drops 300 with the lock up. This was my only problem with the transmission. My fluid was no longer red so it was definitely shot.

id be scared to drive far with that trans...lol be stuck somewhere not fun..i think thats why i dont ever buy anything with an auto trans...