I have just acquired my 4th Honda in my lifetime, love them. This one is a 2.2 automatic Accord. It has 180k miles on it. The transmission will shift into any gear as soon as its started cold and with the brake held, will act completely normal. After a few minutes, it's as though the car has been put into neutral regardless of where the shifter is placed. Park is the only thing that remains the same. The linkage seems fine, the ecu and tcu are 1 and the same. Fluid level is good. I have ran out if ideas. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Would like to add that I am receiving no trouble codes from the ecu. D4 comes on with the check engine at ignition on but go off and remain off after startup.

 

So you can still move the shift lever to all the gears, PRND4..., but the transmission acts like it is in neutral?

What transmission fluid was used in this car? Were there any symptoms with the transmission before this started happening? Has any work been done on the car right before this problem showed up?

 

I can still move the shifter to any position I choose and it still acts like it is in neutral. I'm not sure of any issues than what I am describing here. My understanding is that has gotten progressively worse and now only operates correctly for about 2 minutes. I left the car in 1st gear and it seemed that the trans started to act up and head into the neutral feel after warming up. I won't drive it on the street due to being stranded in traffic so all of my diagnosis is done either sitting still or in our drive that about 100ft or so.

 

Just drained the trans and putting in new Honda fluid. Will post results of old fluid and trans workings soon. Thank you to all that have replied.

 

Old fluid smelled burnt. No change in trans other than it felt like it shifted harder into reverse, no too hard but like it really engaged instead of just slipping into gear.

 

I removed the transmission yesterday. I have an uncanny ability to fix things with a manual guiding me through. So, question is, is it possible to rebuild this trans myself? I downloaded a service manual for my car. I'm to the point of either I will fix the car or I will part it out. I have tons of time and I'm not a "1%er".

 

Probably cheaper to pull a transmission from another CD than try to rebuild it? Depends on your proximity to a junkyard. That being said, the automatics are practically made of glass by comparison to standard. It'd be quite a bit more work, but it seems like you have quite a few other cars and the time to do it, why not swap to 5spd?
~~You'll get better mileage~~
EDIT: Also thank you for linking the manual in your sig, I've been looking for that.