I have a 2001 Honda Civic which, without warning had the tranny fail on me yesterday.
The car has very low mileage ( 70,000Km ) and was babied by my mother in law for 6 years before we bought it from her in 2007.
The car has been immaculately cared for and looks new.
But yesterday, without warning the the gears just started to slip, and within minutes the engine was just spinning with no interaction with the clutch.
Today the Honda service manager tells me I need an entire new transmission. Total bill $4500 ... +/- $500 !
A bit of googling reveals that 2001-2004 Civics are notorious for transmission problems, and the service manager even went as far as telling me he replaced four THIS MONTH !!!!
What the hell is all this "Honda Reliability" crap ?!?!?
So what are my options now... ?
There is NO WAY in hell I'm forking over $4K to Honda for the repair.
I can probably get a used tranny installed by the corner garage for about $1500-$1800, or have it professionally rebuilt from top to bottom with new, higher grade components for about $2500.
Or..., I can drive the b--ch into the nearest lake and buy a new econo-box.
Other than the tranny, the car is in great shape, but I'm now afraid I have lemon and a whack of repairs are just waiting for me.
I'm leaning towards getting the absolute cheapest repair for the tranny and using the car as trade-bait on a new car. I've seen higher mileage 2001 Civic for sale for $7000+ so I figure I should be able to get at least $5K as a trade-in.
So, should I...
1- Cut my losses now and sell the car for scrap ? 2- Cheap fix and sell ? 3- Proper repair and keep ?
As a licenced mechanic for the past 20+ years I feel I should correct you on a few things. First of all, Honda's are extremely reliable (that goes for Toyota's as well). The main reason that some of those tranny's went prematurely was lack of proper maintanance. I have 3 customers with those vintage Honda's and all are well over 200,000 kms with the original tranny. Why?? How?? That would be because we've serviced their cars since new and whenever their tranny fluid started to get 'dark' looking we would flush the tranny's. Yes, sometimes it was after only about 40-50k but what is cheaper; 4 flushes of about $250 each or repalcing the tranny. The dealer says they never need flushing. BULLSHIT!!!!!
Anyway, that doesn't really help you now does it?? You already own a decent car (not an econobox - that term (or shitbox) is reserved for the crap the north american auto makers are still trying to pawn off on the public) I would get a rebuilt tranny from a reliable rebuilder and then drive the thing a few more years. Get the fluid checked often for color and smell and get it changed if there is any major change. You should easily get another 5 or 6 years out of the car with the only other major expense, other than routine brakes and stuff, being a timing belt and waterpump($500-$600).
This is just my opinion from a guy who has always worked in small garages(2-3 bay), and worked on every make and model from Lada's to Porsche's, and just can't stand the BS that GM and Chrysler (and Ford to a lessor degreee) are still trying to tell us about their junk being better and more reliable and better on gas and .........etc, etc, etc, than Honda and Toyota. They are not even close yet, even after we bailed them out with our tax dollars.
Sorry this became a rant but there are days I need to vent about what I see day in and day out.
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Personally Look-up place like mister transmission or econo transmission. Dealer rape you up the a**. That reminds me i have to get my trany serviced on my Van 210km and looks like the trany seal is leaking. Also have to get cooling system flushed. I really dont feal like changing a head gasket yet seeying i just got it. I love my Montana van but they are the worst for head gaskets and tranny issues. The van had the engine changed at 150thousand. km because of a head blowing and guy drove it for 50km with out stopping no wonder it blew.
Life is like Pinball!! You never know where you will bounce or where your going but sometimes you have that one amazing shot But on the other hand you have those darn gutter ball where you just get frustrated.
As a licenced mechanic for the past 20+ years I feel I should correct you on a few things. First of all, Honda's are extremely reliable (that goes for Toyota's as well). The main reason that some of those tranny's went prematurely was lack of proper maintanance.
I would beg to differ...
The car was RELIGIOUSLY Dealer-maintained and had every single scheduled maintenance done on time or before. My mother-in-law was (is) extremely meticulous about her car. The car was in immaculate mechanical and cosmetic condition.
I had the car fully dealer-serviced in July. The Full 24-month inspection and tune-up with all the trimmings. (plugs, filters, fluids, chassis lube, etc... ) It cost me $400 just for them to tell me the car was in pristine condition.
Better still, the service manager himself just admitted to me that he was well aware of the short-comings of that vintage of cars and their well-documented tranny problems.
That would be because we've serviced their cars since new and whenever their tranny fluid started to get 'dark' looking we would flush the tranny's. Yes, sometimes it was after only about 40-50k but what is cheaper; 4 flushes of about $250 each or repalcing the tranny.
The car currently has 70,000 Km and the tranny fluid was replaced at 45,000Km (... 48,000KM tune-up done in May 2006 )
Anyway, that doesn't really help you now does it?? You already own a decent car (not an econobox - that term (or shitbox) is reserved for the crap the north american auto makers are still trying to pawn off on the public) I would get a rebuilt tranny from a reliable rebuilder and then drive the thing a few more years. Get the fluid checked often for color and smell and get it changed if there is any major change. You should easily get another 5 or 6 years out of the car with the only other major expense, other than routine brakes and stuff, being a timing belt and waterpump($500-$600).
I'm not so sure I have a "decent" car anymore...
About 3 weeks ago, I started to hear a buzzing sound from behind the dash, and the "DRL" indicator came up on display. This turns out to be the "Daytime Running Light" solenoid which has gone bad. This is "only" $400 to replace... Now tell me, how many of you had to EVER replace one of those... ?
I'm afraid if I start pumping money in this car it's going to fall apart faster than a rusted out Gottlieb...
This is just my opinion from a guy who has always worked in small garages(2-3 bay), and worked on every make and model from Lada's to Porsche's, and just can't stand the BS that GM and Chrysler (and Ford to a lessor degreee) are still trying to tell us about their junk being better and more reliable and better on gas and .........etc, etc, etc, than Honda and Toyota.
Again, I refer back to the Honda service manager who bluntly told me that most Honda's and Toyota's are now built in North America and are just as "crappy" as North American cars. (...this were his own words ... a Honda MANAGER ! ) He says VW was even worse now that they're being built in Mexico...
That said, if anyone is looking for a great tranny-less Honda Civic, let me know...
Car is too old to get any decent warranty through the dealer. I would go the route of having it professionally rebuilt by a reputable transmission shop and save your money on the dealer premium. They tend to send out to third party shops anyway to do the re-build for them and just tack on a premium. Putting in used is just asking for potential trouble and you would have zero warranty on the repair in most cases.
I am assuming this is an automatic transmission and not just a fried clutch.
Doubt flushing is going to rectify the situation now on an automatic. The clutch disks are probably ruined if that is where the problem lies. It could also just be a bad torque converter and not the entire transmission that is having issues. Again going through a reputable garage is going to tell you where the problem lies and whether the entire transmission and torque converter rebuild are necessary.
Did you pull the dip stick to smell if the fluid is burnt?
one thing to note is that ALLLLLLL auto transmissions are called "slushboxes" for a reason. If you want a more reliable transmission, just dump a standard in there. Get one from a wreckers and have it rebuilt, or just throw it in with a new clutch kit.
It can be done, a friend and I once put a Manual tranny into a auto 1993 Audi 90, the clutch pedal already had all the mounting points too!!
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I had the exact same problem with my 2001 Honda Odyssey, Honda replaced it no charge due to the fact that they had a bad batch. Check with Honda . Apparently there was a voluntary recall of 2001s. With the low KMs they just may replace it if you push them a bit!
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I had the exact same problem with my 2001 Honda Odyssey, Honda replaced it no charge due to the fact that they had a bad batch. Check with Honda . Apparently there was a voluntary recall of 2001s. With the low KMs they just may replace it if you push them a bit!
Was the recall for Odyssey only ?
I asked about recalls for the Civic, and of course, there are none...
Certainly can't hurt to beat up on Honda Canada...
Get a Hyundai Accent - a buddy bought one $9995 - $0 down, $175 bi-weekly, 0%interest.... ...for only 3 years... (5yr / 100,000km warranty). The transmission is 1years payment. The trade-in is another years payment..., you'd only have 1 year left for payments.
Although I hate supporting stuff engineered/built outside of Canada, that's an amazing price if you just want a gas-efficient car to get you around town.
one thing to note is that ALLLLLLL auto transmissions are called "slushboxes" for a reason. If you want a more reliable transmission, just dump a standard in there. Get one from a wreckers and have it rebuilt, or just throw it in with a new clutch kit.
It can be done, a friend and I once put a Manual tranny into a auto 1993 Audi 90, the clutch pedal already had all the mounting points too!!
Depends on the car. Automatics have coolers in the radiator and there are bushings and linkages to get a pedal to work. There also is in some cases different final drive gear ratios to better handle the car not bogging out when coming off a dead stop. Not saying it's impossible but it can be a challenge to change over.
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