Greetings HAF!

I have a 96 accord lx a/t with over 190k miles now. I purchAsed it several months ago with about 180k miles. I take the car in long drives, drove it from Seattle from san francisco with no problems at all, often times like 2-3 times a month i drive to Los angeles from San francisco. When i took the car i immediately drained and filled the trans with atfz1, 4 times before i using it on a daily basis.

Now, my question is, when driving uphill (2-5k elevation) the car loses speed even on cruise mode. Say like, i set the speed at 75mph at about 3200rpm when i start climbing the car loses speed eventually staying at 60mph, depending on how high the elevation is. It wont downshift and when it does it revs really high. Is this normal? My tranny also has this jerking feel when shifting at any gear.


Is this a sign that my tranny is giving up anytime soon? I hope not i only did 10k miles on it and have invested $$$ on it already to make it reliable.


Thanks haf

 

going over a pass tomorrow w/ '97 AT, will remember your concerns to see if I have any insight ...

I don't use cruise control on AT cars when going up passes because of abrupt downshifts to hi rpm's.

... on the jerky feel: have had this '97 AT car only a year and notice that it has very firm shift grabs. I think of it as a positive.

 

It is when I'm using cruise control. Is it right? I don't know. I drive I-70 from Denver to I-15 in Utah with several very high passes (8K - 11K) and the transmission never downshifts when using cruise control.

I don't think it has anything to do with the transmission itself, rather, it's the computer making the decision to not downshift. It's almost as if it's controlling a manual transmission car. If that's how it's supposed to work then IDK why Honda designed it that way. Personally I just tap the brake to disengage the cruise and climb the passes without it.

Nothing wrong with your transmission.

 

Thanks for the input Roader. I hope so that this is normal to all 94-97 at accords.

Uhoh please update us as to how your trip went. Thanks


Just to add, i did a drain and fill today with atfdw1 and added some BG ATCplus and oh boy I did not like the results, my rpm was going up and down and the trans was making weird noises, like a loud humming sound and when I tried driving it it was shifting everywhere like it did not know whether it will shift or not but then it shifts, it felt crazy. So, my point here is, just from my recent experience, just use the honda atf and thats it. No more BG trans Additives for my trans.

 

My car slowed down going up the passes to ~60 and then I took off cruise control to slow a tad more because of curves.

I'm with Roader; your tranny is acting no differently than mine.


good to know.

 

I hate to disagree with you two (Roader and UhOh, because I respect your opinions and post) but unless I have missed something, I am beginning to think this is completely transmission related.

AccorDats, I need more information from you.

Does it slip when shifting between gears? (Like a manual transmission with a slipping clutch)

Does it thunk hard into gears? (especially first? mainly when coming to a stop, is it delayed?0

Are there clicking sounds when you try to accelerate and the RPM's go up?


I have two thoughts; One is a transmission that is failing - the other is that you have a broken or nearly broken axle or CV joint.


PS do not add any additives for your tans, the best thing you can do is put a transmission cooler in https://www.hondaaccordforum.com/for...ictures-48791/

 

Thank you! That shows total respect for members.

Only thing I can add is this. The 5th gen's (94-97) have a throttle control cable from the auto trans to the tb. This controls shift points and also can control how hard the trans shifts. I'd want to be sure it is adjusted properly, in the 6th gens and newer (98 and up) this is controlled by the PCM.

Last, I think the owners manual suggests that you do not use cruise control on "hills". The car does not know that you are about to climb a hill and should actually start to apply throttle before going up a hill. In my 95 when it use to be the "road trip" car, I would never try to climb Black Mt traveling west on I-40 with the cruise on.....as I got towards the bottom of the hill before and knowing it was a heck of a climb up....cruise off and on the gas....climb this big a@$ hill.....just me.

 

Good info, Poorman. I don't have an owners manual and I would have never known this. (Tried registering & downloading manual at Honda Owner Link when I first got the car but couldn't get it to work.) This cruise control operation is different from other cars I've taken on long trips in the past few years (Toyota & Ford.) They all downshift when in cruise. Maybe Honda's afraid of sudden-acceleration liability.

Silver6gen: Good point. I guess the first question for the OP should have been "Does it downshift normally without the cruise control on?"

 

Thanks silvergen and poorman.

Silvergen to answer your questions..

1. No it does not slip, it does not rev high when gas pedal is floored but rather goes up slowly according to speed or downshifts to lower gear to get to speed up faster

2. I dont know about the thump thing but is does jerk tho when shifting into gear only when soft on pedal but when I floor it it shifts smoothly.

3. There is not clicking sound only a slight humming sound i think its coming from the trans and not the cv joints or axles. The cv joint and axles are fairly new. No grease outside and booths are dry looks new.


Sir Poorman, i have already adjustex the cables accordingly, left a little slack on it but not too mcuh to cause delay.

Thanks,

AccorDats

 

From: "http://techauto.awardspace.com/transmission.html"