Honda Car Forum

jebinc@gte.net (John) wrote in message news:<fde0447e.0309161843.3a911a0f@posting.google. com>...
<snip>
> They
> tell me that the car will not need wheel alignment. Can anyone confirm
> that? Sorry for the long post, but given all the tranny issues and
> questions, I thought the replies to this one would be helpful for
> others as well. Thanks!

My '99 Accord V6 tranny was replaced at ~51,000 miles when it was less
than 3 years old. Because of premature tire wear soon afterward I had
the alignment checked and both of the front wheels had too much
negative camber. My case could have been coincidence, but I would
think a reputable dealer would have no problem with being asked to put
the car on the alignment rack to demonstrate that it is within spec in
this situation. On a related note, my Honda remanufactured
transmission is starting to exhibit behavior similar to my original
one. I plan to take it to another Honda dealer shortly.

Good Luck!
-James

I have a 99 EX V6. I am curious what "behavior" is being exhibited with your
vehicle.

From day one (with mine) I noticed the odd way it downshifts, just as you
are about to bring it to a stop (i.e. speed approx 5 mph). It seems to
pause/slip in the midst of the downshift, letting the vehicle travel a bit
further than the driver anticipates. Then at the end of the downshift it
grabs into first, causing the vehicle to slow quicker and travel a bit less
that the driver anticipates.

Some days/times it seems to be more noticeable than others. One day shortly
after I bought it, I asked the head of service of Elway Honda to take a
drive with me. Of course, it didn't occur to a degree that was very
noticeable on that drive. But he did share an interesting comment with me.
It was along the lines of: "...these transmissions are a fair bit better
than what we used to deal with...". He also explained that the downshift is
actually from 3rd to 1st. Think how that might feel if you attempted that in
a car with a manual tranny and you get the idea. Honda engineers probably
think they are gaining some engine braking by doing that, but if they were
to ask (which they won't) I would tell them to go back to the drawing board.

This tranny is also supposed to have "grade logic" in it, which I think
contributes to the problem in that at times the tranny does some weird,
unanticipated, mid-stream shifting depending on the speed, accelerator, road
grade, etc. I could live without that also.

Don't they get it? Trannys should not shift in a fashion to cause driver
distraction.

My son will probably use this vehicle for his upcoming driver's test.
Hopefully the examiner won't think he is inexperienced when it comes to
stopping - especially when he is stopping behind another vehicle at a
stoplight. The examiner could easily get the impression that a letup in the
brake peddle pressure (right at wrong moment) was the cause and not even
suspect the tranny was grabbing/slipping/grabbing.

I am betting this is a design quirk (some could easily say flaw) that shows
up in lots of V6 Accords. V6 drivers, what say you?

Jon

"James" <news@daytona.jcu.edu> wrote in message
news:896c9ed3.0309240714.573c81c1@posting.google.c om...
> jebinc@gte.net (John) wrote in message
news:<fde0447e.0309161843.3a911a0f@posting.google. com>...
> <snip>
> > They
> > tell me that the car will not need wheel alignment. Can anyone confirm
> > that? Sorry for the long post, but given all the tranny issues and
> > questions, I thought the replies to this one would be helpful for
> > others as well. Thanks!
>
> My '99 Accord V6 tranny was replaced at ~51,000 miles when it was less
> than 3 years old. Because of premature tire wear soon afterward I had
> the alignment checked and both of the front wheels had too much
> negative camber. My case could have been coincidence, but I would
> think a reputable dealer would have no problem with being asked to put
> the car on the alignment rack to demonstrate that it is within spec in
> this situation. On a related note, my Honda remanufactured
> transmission is starting to exhibit behavior similar to my original
> one. I plan to take it to another Honda dealer shortly.
>
> Good Luck!
> -James

"J Beierle" <jbeierle@spamOUT.new.rr.com> wrote in message news:<M1Dcb.25699$pU4.3308@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>...
> I have a 99 EX V6. I am curious what "behavior" is being exhibited with your
> vehicle.
>
> From day one (with mine) I noticed the odd way it downshifts, just as you
> are about to bring it to a stop (i.e. speed approx 5 mph). It seems to
> pause/slip in the midst of the downshift, letting the vehicle travel a bit
> further than the driver anticipates. Then at the end of the downshift it
> grabs into first, causing the vehicle to slow quicker and travel a bit less
> that the driver anticipates.
>
> Some days/times it seems to be more noticeable than others. One day shortly
> after I bought it, I asked the head of service of Elway Honda to take a
> drive with me. Of course, it didn't occur to a degree that was very
> noticeable on that drive. But he did share an interesting comment with me.
> It was along the lines of: "...these transmissions are a fair bit better
> than what we used to deal with...". He also explained that the downshift is
> actually from 3rd to 1st. Think how that might feel if you attempted that in
> a car with a manual tranny and you get the idea. Honda engineers probably
> think they are gaining some engine braking by doing that, but if they were
> to ask (which they won't) I would tell them to go back to the drawing board.
>
> This tranny is also supposed to have "grade logic" in it, which I think
> contributes to the problem in that at times the tranny does some weird,
> unanticipated, mid-stream shifting depending on the speed, accelerator, road
> grade, etc. I could live without that also.
>
> Don't they get it? Trannys should not shift in a fashion to cause driver
> distraction.
>
> My son will probably use this vehicle for his upcoming driver's test.
> Hopefully the examiner won't think he is inexperienced when it comes to
> stopping - especially when he is stopping behind another vehicle at a
> stoplight. The examiner could easily get the impression that a letup in the
> brake peddle pressure (right at wrong moment) was the cause and not even
> suspect the tranny was grabbing/slipping/grabbing.
>
> I am betting this is a design quirk (some could easily say flaw) that shows
> up in lots of V6 Accords. V6 drivers, what say you?
>
> Jon
>
> "James" <news@daytona.jcu.edu> wrote in message
> news:896c9ed3.0309240714.573c81c1@posting.google.c om...
> > jebinc@gte.net (John) wrote in message
> news:<fde0447e.0309161843.3a911a0f@posting.google. com>...
> > <snip>
> > > They
> > > tell me that the car will not need wheel alignment. Can anyone confirm
> > > that? Sorry for the long post, but given all the tranny issues and
> > > questions, I thought the replies to this one would be helpful for
> > > others as well. Thanks!
> >
> > My '99 Accord V6 tranny was replaced at ~51,000 miles when it was less
> > than 3 years old. Because of premature tire wear soon afterward I had
> > the alignment checked and both of the front wheels had too much
> > negative camber. My case could have been coincidence, but I would
> > think a reputable dealer would have no problem with being asked to put
> > the car on the alignment rack to demonstrate that it is within spec in
> > this situation. On a related note, my Honda remanufactured
> > transmission is starting to exhibit behavior similar to my original
> > one. I plan to take it to another Honda dealer shortly.
> >
> > Good Luck!
> > -James

My 98 Accord V6 tans with 99k has the following glitches: Every 10-20
reverse engagement I will get a clunk that seems to come from the
right front of the car. Also, when I accelerate medium/hard from a
stop I get a clunk I'm hoping it's a motor mount but it's likely the
trans/torque converter.

"J Beierle" <jbeierle@spamOUT.new.rr.com> wrote in message news:<M1Dcb.25699$pU4.3308@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>...
> I have a 99 EX V6. I am curious what "behavior" is being exhibited with your
> vehicle.

At around 45k miles, my original trans began to hesitate slightly
while up- or down-shifting into 2nd gear. By the time it was replaced
it would sometimes take 2+ seconds to switch into 2nd - a little
alarming when pulling into traffic. When this hesitation occurred the
engine would also climb towards redline if you didn't take your foot
off the accelerator. My first trans also had the infamous "thunk"
when reversing, but I never considered that to be much of an issue.
The diagnosis of this trans was burned out 2nd gear clutch packs.

The replacement trans worked great for about 15 months/25k miles. It
would downshift when slowing, but never abruptly. About a month ago
it started shifting abruptly into 1st gear. As an example, while
travelling on a 2 lane road at 40-45 mph with the trans in in 4th
gear. I slow down to 25-30 as a car in front of me is turning. I
press the accelerator about halfway down to rapidly speed back up -
not insanely fast, but quickly - the trans shifts into 1st gear, RPMs
climb (but stay matched unlike trans #1), the trans slooooowly engages
1st gear, then the car lurches forward. Harder acceleration seems to
make the lurching more noticable.

I took my car to a Honda dealer last night. They drove it for about
45 minutes and determined that it is "slipping" and they are looking
it over today in order to diagnose the problem.

Take a look at the nhtsa.gov website. The 99 Accord has ~152 TSBs,
many of which deal with drivetrain issues. There are 2 TSBs dated
12-02 and Jan. 03 that deal specifically with diagnosing transmission
problems by examining the fluid.

> From day one (with mine) I noticed the odd way it downshifts, just as you
> are about to bring it to a stop (i.e. speed approx 5 mph). It seems to
> pause/slip in the midst of the downshift, letting the vehicle travel a bit
> further than the driver anticipates. Then at the end of the downshift it
> grabs into first, causing the vehicle to slow quicker and travel a bit less
> that the driver anticipates.

Both of my trannys have done this, but neither were very noticeable.

<snip>

> I am betting this is a design quirk (some could easily say flaw) that shows
> up in lots of V6 Accords. V6 drivers, what say you?
>
> Jon
>

As the owner now of 2 Accord V6 transmissions, I vote for flaw. I
think the broad scope of issues seen in the transmissions shows that
the entire design needs to be thrown out. Can anyone verify if the
2003+ versions are really new or if they have just been altered? I
would also like to know what issues, if any, have actually been
addressed with the "improved design" that failed which was supposedly
installed in my car in 2002. Repeated calls to Honda's Customer Care
line and speaking to service managers at 3 dealerships have not
cleared this up a bit.

-James

news@daytona.jcu.edu (James) wrote in message news:<896c9ed3.0309260924.5bcc00e2@posting.google. com>...
> "J Beierle" <jbeierle@spamOUT.new.rr.com> wrote in message news:<M1Dcb.25699$pU4.3308@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>...
> > I have a 99 EX V6. I am curious what "behavior" is being exhibited with your
> > vehicle.
>
> At around 45k miles, my original trans began to hesitate slightly
> while up- or down-shifting into 2nd gear. By the time it was replaced
> it would sometimes take 2+ seconds to switch into 2nd - a little
> alarming when pulling into traffic. When this hesitation occurred the
> engine would also climb towards redline if you didn't take your foot
> off the accelerator. My first trans also had the infamous "thunk"
> when reversing, but I never considered that to be much of an issue.
> The diagnosis of this trans was burned out 2nd gear clutch packs.
>
> The replacement trans worked great for about 15 months/25k miles. It
> would downshift when slowing, but never abruptly. About a month ago
> it started shifting abruptly into 1st gear. As an example, while
> travelling on a 2 lane road at 40-45 mph with the trans in in 4th
> gear. I slow down to 25-30 as a car in front of me is turning. I
> press the accelerator about halfway down to rapidly speed back up -
> not insanely fast, but quickly - the trans shifts into 1st gear, RPMs
> climb (but stay matched unlike trans #1), the trans slooooowly engages
> 1st gear, then the car lurches forward. Harder acceleration seems to
> make the lurching more noticable.
>
> I took my car to a Honda dealer last night. They drove it for about
> 45 minutes and determined that it is "slipping" and they are looking
> it over today in order to diagnose the problem.
>
> Take a look at the nhtsa.gov website. The 99 Accord has ~152 TSBs,
> many of which deal with drivetrain issues. There are 2 TSBs dated
> 12-02 and Jan. 03 that deal specifically with diagnosing transmission
> problems by examining the fluid.
>
> > From day one (with mine) I noticed the odd way it downshifts, just as you
> > are about to bring it to a stop (i.e. speed approx 5 mph). It seems to
> > pause/slip in the midst of the downshift, letting the vehicle travel a bit
> > further than the driver anticipates. Then at the end of the downshift it
> > grabs into first, causing the vehicle to slow quicker and travel a bit less
> > that the driver anticipates.
>
> Both of my trannys have done this, but neither were very noticeable.
>
> <snip>
>
> > I am betting this is a design quirk (some could easily say flaw) that shows
> > up in lots of V6 Accords. V6 drivers, what say you?
> >
> > Jon
> >
>
> As the owner now of 2 Accord V6 transmissions, I vote for flaw. I
> think the broad scope of issues seen in the transmissions shows that
> the entire design needs to be thrown out. Can anyone verify if the
> 2003+ versions are really new or if they have just been altered? I
> would also like to know what issues, if any, have actually been
> addressed with the "improved design" that failed which was supposedly
> installed in my car in 2002. Repeated calls to Honda's Customer Care
> line and speaking to service managers at 3 dealerships have not
> cleared this up a bit.
>
> -James


Agreed. Anyone have any insight on that? My trayy was replaced last
week and still exhibits the same delay that resulted in it being
replaced in the first place. the dealer is considering my request for
a new car.