My car is a 2002 Accord LX automatic shift with 135,000 miles.
Recently I have notice a “clunk” when I shift from park to reverse. It happens when
the car is cold. After driving for a while It seems to shift ok.
Some time ago I was changing the radiator and accidently lost about 6 or 7 quarts of fluid.
I had to replace the fluid with Castrol and drove it some 5 or 6 thousand miles.
I have just recently changed the Castrol transmission fluid with 6 quarts (2 changes)
of Honda ATF. The clunk is not getting any better, if anything it’s getting worst.
My question is: Am I facing an expensive repair bill or is there something I can do to fix
Or help the situation?
I have notice that the maintenance light on my dash comes and goes.from time to time.
Don’t know if that could be related.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

OBD 2 connector is under steering column. The code or codes should be read. Thats where any decent mechanic would start. Does it do it when on a driveway or street with an incline? Will it do it when the car is not positioned on an incline? TRY this: start engine, apply foot brake, shift to nuetral. while foot is still on brake shift to park. Foot still on brake , shift to reverse. Did it "clunk"?

 

Got the code read today. P0401 too little flow on the EGR. I guess that’s another problem I’ll
Have to deal with.
I backed into the drive so the car would be in reverse position, because there is a slight slope to the
Drive. I could tell no difference in the shift. Tomorrow morning I will try shifting from park to
Neutral and back to park then reverse. I’ll let you know. Thanks for your help.

 

Shifting to neutral and back didn't help. Only warming the car up by driving seems
to help.

 

its front wheel drive check the linkage to see if it's hitting something i've had it happen

 

Check the motors mounts as well. I don't know if 2000 accords had a learn function on the tranny shift points but it would be worth finding out. Could just need to be relearned.

 

Some amount of trans "learning" started in 1998, so there is something there.

The rear engine mount (if it's 4-cyl) is vacuum-operated to get softer & harder. If that's screwed up & it's always in soft-mode, that might be part of the problem.

 

The rear mount could be the problem and it can completely fail (separation of rubber mount material).

When you shift to reverse the rear mount is lifted. If it's ruptured there may be clunk as the mount lifts and returns to position.

Also check the front mount carefully as they can rupture also.

good luck

 

JMac,
The P0401 code is pretty common for engines of your year and mileage. The passage between the EGR valve and the intake plenum gets plugged with carbon over time. You have to remove the air breather, throttle body and intake plenum and then clean the passage out. Many others have written about it in the forums and you can probably find pictures. I've recently done it on four Accord V6s of the 1999-2001 vintage. Once you know what you're doing, it takes about an hour or hour and a half.

I'd like to hear what you find out about the cause of the "clunk". My 2001 Accord V6/Automatic with 142,000 miles has been doing this recently. A friend and I checked his 2000 Accord (V6/Automatic) engine mounts because the dealership gave him an unsolicited opinion that his front engine mount was bad. We also checked my engine mounts. Both checks were done following the diagnostic procedure in the official Honda manual. We specifically checked the front (the one near the radiator) and rear (near the firewall) mounts. These are vacuum controlled via a solenoid to reduce vibration at idle and engine speeds under 1000 rpm. Interestingly enough, our diagnostics indicated he has a bad rear mount (it would not hold vacuum), but his car doesn't "clunk". My car appears to have good mounts (they both held vacuum), but it "clunks". Perhaps the problem is related to the mounts under the transmission or the (transmission?) linkage as someone suggested. Please post what you find out...

 

Thanks for the response. The clunk is most noticeable when the car is first cranked up in the mornings. It does not seem as bad now as it did when I first posted. The Honda dealer for our area is out of town, so I’ve been putting off going.
As stated after the first shift into reverse the car seems to shift ok most of the time. Lately I’ve notice some down shifting when not expected. Some times I can feel the shift not being as smooth as you would expect. 35 thousands miles or so ago I had a motor mount replaced but can’t remember which one. I had the car in on another matter and they said it needed to be replaced.
You know, when it happens it kind of reminds me of slack in a connection. I can’t afford repairs just now, so I have been holding my breath and hope nothing happens. When I take it in I will post the results.