Honda Car Forum

Hi

I was hoping someone on this site could help me. I have 2 problems with my 91 Integra. I apologize for the length of this post.

I love it, it's a great car. I have 195,000 miles on it now, the only non-wear items I have replaced are the distributor and power steering line. Of course tires, brakes, exhaust system, battery, struts and coils,etc, have been replaced but that is expected. Oh and driver's side CV joint. Oops..alternator too...forgot that one...interior fan..outer control arm..

Anyway, I have the 2 of the strangest problems with it.

My automatic transmission...even here in Detroit I can't find anyone who knows what is going on. During the summer it works great. During the winter (which can be pretty cold here in Michigan) it takes a minute for the trans to recognize that it is in park. My "shifter throw" is not set correctly...when it's in drive the light on the dashboard around the "D(rive)" is not on...and when the trans is cold, and I drive for a short distance and put it in park, the light around the "P(ark)" doesn't go on. I sit there for about a minute, hear a "CLUNK" and then the light around the "P" comes on and I can take the key out of the ignition.

That's the problem. Since the trans does not recognize that it's in park, I cannot take the key out of the ignition. So I sit there waiting for the light around the "P" to come on. Sometimes I hear the "CLUNK", sometimes I don't...but eventually the light around the "P" comes on. A friend who works for Ford said that he thinks it's the shifter throw, he increased it too much, which is why now the light around the "D" doesn't come on. That seemed to fix the problem with it recognizing that it's in park for a while, but now it's getting worse again.

I don't know if this is because my shifter throw is not set correctly (I am having that fixed soon) or whether the trans has serious problems. 'Cause if the trans is going I am afraid I will have to get rid of it...It's not worth anywhere near the money it would cost to rebuild the transmission since it has 195,000 miles on it.

I hope I explained it well enough...I have never seen anything like this before where you put the shifter into park but the car doesn't recognize that it's in park.

Second, electrical...the rear defroster goes on and off like a turn signal..sometimes..if I push the rear defrost button it stops the windshield wipers..sometimes the seat belt chime goes off for no reason...lights, power mirror, moon roof, cruise control, everything else works fine. Again..we are stumped here. One friend says it's a short because if it was a fuse they would never work..another one says it's a resistor in the rear defrost button..

If anyone can help if would be much appreciated...people on this site really seem to know what they are talking about and I would like to keep my Integra.

thanks alot!!!