Guys,
I am not really sure a good site to read through to find my answer, but anyway- I have a 94 Del Sol S. It’s automatic and has 200K+ miles on it. It had been driving fine and I just swapped out the plugs and checked all the fluids (over the weekend).
Anyway, the last couple weeks or so it has been crushing me on gas (this is relative really) and I have been trying to figure out why. I normally get 300-330 miles to a tank. These last few weeks I have been getting 240-270 miles to a tank. (Went from 33+mpg to 26ish- take that Growing Boy and your big ass truck!) I have been trying to figure out wtf is up.
I noticed that it has been revving higher at speed, and I have been playing with it over the last few days to see if it is something wrong with the transmission not going into the top gear (4th?). Today, I got it to finally go up to the gear, but it stayed there for maybe a minute. What’s the deal? Transmission slipping? I fully expect to have to buy a newer car soon, but she has been treating me well for over a year, so I cant complain when I only got her for $500.
Help a brotha out. (BTW- it DOES look incredibly funny to see a 6’2 260lb guy fall into the seat of this chick car)
Cool,
I had the same this happen with my 91 Accord. Have you ever had the transmission fluid flushed? If the torque converter is no longer locking up, then chances are it’s dead. Probably a $500-$700 fix depending on damage and the transmission case (one piece or 3 piece). My 2000 accord had a total transmissive failure, caused by the torque converter literally sending shrapnel throughout the tranny. This one was covered under warranty. Before my trans. died I was getting 20 mpg on the highway, ever after fixed I only get 24 on the highway on a 4 cylinder.
Honda makes good cars, but shitty automatics, next time by a 5 or 6 speed.
[quote]ucallthatbass wrote:
Cool,
I had the same this happen with my 91 Accord. Have you ever had the transmission fluid flushed? If the torque converter is no longer locking up, then chances are it’s dead. Probably a $500-$700 fix depending on damage and the transmission case (one piece or 3 piece). My 2000 accord had a total transmissive failure, caused by the torque converter literally sending shrapnel throughout the tranny. This one was covered under warranty. Before my trans. died I was getting 20 mpg on the highway, ever after fixed I only get 24 on the highway on a 4 cylinder.
Honda makes good cars, but shitty automatics, next time by a 5 or 6 speed. [/quote]
Ha. I would have preferred a manual, but I needed a car on the cheap.
So flush it and look for metal in the fluid? I hope its not finished. That would suck. Motorcycles dont do well in the snow…
dont forget the transmission filter after you flush and fill.
Just saying
[quote]Skinless wrote:
dont forget the transmission filter after you flush and fill.
Just saying[/quote]
Obviously has never flushed a Honda Transmission. There is no filter, just saying.
OP get at least three quarts of automatic trans fluid. I recommend just going to Honda, it’s more expensive, but everything I’ve read and researched says to use Honda trans fluid over store brand.
Then buy a new crimp ring for the transmission drain plug.
I’m not going to search for the size and location of the drain plug for your car, or the amount of fluid your car holds. Use the Google!!! The drain plug may be magnetic so check it and the bottom of the catch pan for metal shavings. Drain, refill, then drive; the fluid needs to heat up to clean.
Since your trans is really bad, and probably never been flushed, I was buy cheaper regular auto store trans fluid. Drain and refill then drive the car until hot. Wait to cool, drain again and refill with HONDA trans fluid.
Edit: If you mess up your car, it’s your problem, I’m not a mechanic.
My best advice as someone who has grown up in the business… Don’t ask for advice over the internet if you have no idea what you’re doing. If you’re mechanically inclined be my guest… but its always amusing when people try and fix it themselves then bring it in and leave 10 times the amount of work for us(we’re forced to charge them more).
ucallthatbass at least put a disclaimer… I loled. Not saying its bad advice 
edit: And I’m not saying its the right advice
[quote]coolnatedawg wrote:
Motorcycles dont do well in the snow…
[/quote]
Get rid of the car, trade in your bike for a supermoto/enduro/adventure and get some studded tires for that.
Problem solved, HTH.
[quote]Amiright wrote:
My best advice as someone who has grown up in the business… Don’t ask for advice over the internet if you have no idea what you’re doing. If you’re mechanically inclined be my guest… but its always amusing when people try and fix it themselves then bring it in and leave 10 times the amount of work for us(we’re forced to charge them more).
ucallthatbass at least put a disclaimer… I loled. Not saying its bad advice edit: And I’m not saying its the right advice[/quote]
Haha. Dont worry about that. I typically leave the bigger issues with my vehicles to my friends who are mechanics, but I wanted to get advice here before I started hounding them. I would not attempt a transmission flush on my own.
And I am tryin to convince my friend to buy a couple XR100s with me and throw some studded tires on and play!
[quote]ucallthatbass wrote:
[quote]Skinless wrote:
dont forget the transmission filter after you flush and fill.
Just saying[/quote]
Obviously has never flushed a Honda Transmission. There is no filter, just saying.
OP get at least three quarts of automatic trans fluid. I recommend just going to Honda, it’s more expensive, but everything I’ve read and researched says to use Honda trans fluid over store brand.
Then buy a new crimp ring for the transmission drain plug.
I’m not going to search for the size and location of the drain plug for your car, or the amount of fluid your car holds. Use the Google!!! The drain plug may be magnetic so check it and the bottom of the catch pan for metal shavings. Drain, refill, then drive; the fluid needs to heat up to clean.
Since your trans is really bad, and probably never been flushed, I was buy cheaper regular auto store trans fluid. Drain and refill then drive the car until hot. Wait to cool, drain again and refill with HONDA trans fluid.
Edit: If you mess up your car, it’s your problem, I’m not a mechanic.[/quote]
Good write-up. I will follow along these lines when we do the flush (my mechanic friend works for Ford, so it’s probably a little different than a big F350). I am going to start looking out for cars though. Time to stop being a cheap ass I guess…
[quote]ucallthatbass wrote:
[quote]Skinless wrote:
dont forget the transmission filter after you flush and fill.
Just saying[/quote]
Obviously has never flushed a Honda Transmission. There is no filter, just saying.
OP get at least three quarts of automatic trans fluid. I recommend just going to Honda, it’s more expensive, but everything I’ve read and researched says to use Honda trans fluid over store brand.
Then buy a new crimp ring for the transmission drain plug.
I’m not going to search for the size and location of the drain plug for your car, or the amount of fluid your car holds. Use the Google!!! The drain plug may be magnetic so check it and the bottom of the catch pan for metal shavings. Drain, refill, then drive; the fluid needs to heat up to clean.
Since your trans is really bad, and probably never been flushed, I was buy cheaper regular auto store trans fluid. Drain and refill then drive the car until hot. Wait to cool, drain again and refill with HONDA trans fluid.
Edit: If you mess up your car, it’s your problem, I’m not a mechanic.[/quote]
I got pwnd…
im use to working with an 89 vic…simple shit
After monitoring the car, it seems the temperature gauge stays cold ALL the time. Everyonce in a while it will move off of cold and go up a little bit. It seems these are the times where it will shift into overdrive.
I think that narrows it down to a coolant temperature sensor or thermostat, but my car still has heat, so does that single the thermostat out?
It just seems funny that it would still go into overdrive sometimes and really started having this problem rather abruptly.