hey all.... im a fairly new honda owner and new-ish to this site.....

I bought a 92 accord LX, 4 cyl auto trans, 4 door with 99k miles last year. Bought from the original owner, an older couple. It now has 120k on it. These ppl took good care of the car, and all the maintenance logs and receipts came with it. a couple things i can remember seeing: they replaced the trans computer (due to it downshifting/not downshifting)... new muffler. new o2 sensor. one new radiator fan. thats about all i can remember. I replaced the plugs and wires, the distributor "rotor bug," did 3 transmission fluid changes. and of course the oil... but i have a couple questions......

The transmission shifts hard. a lot harder than my camry. I think it needs motor mounts, but im not sure how much they are affecting the shift. my gf is the primary driver, and she drives faster than i do. so when i drive it, it seems the trans is used to her style of driving, and it takes more for it to shift. how many miles are these trannys good for?

I cleaned the engine bay a week ago. I covered all the important things... fuse box, distributor, battery, alt, and a little silver box (with grooves on top) on the drivers side with connections next to it (??).... now, she says that the rad fans stay on after driving for a while, and they didnt used to do that. in reality, only one does, and the other comes on for the a/c, which she never uses. the guy at the parts store says this is normal.... your opinions??? the power windows uses the same type relay. i switched them, tested everything, switched them back, everything seems fine.

Also, dont WASTE your money on O'Reilly's BWD "premium" plug wires. Im on the third set. twice ive replaced these b/c one of the boots wont stay on the plug.. it pops off and the car runs like a$$......

Okay. so thanks for reading this. any advice on maintenance, or care, or anything else is appreciated, as this is my very first honda... Thanks!!

 

Many cars have the fans stay on after the car is turned off, to help your engine cool down faster. Once the engine is turned off, the cooling system (meaning, your water pump) also turns off, so your hot engine block is cooled a bit by the fan staying on. Very normal.

 

A sensor determines if the coolant reaches a set temperature when the car is turned off. That enables the radiator fan to run for a max of around 10 minutes.

You may want to drain and flush out the coolant system to remove any buildup over time.

 

When driving see how high the temp gauge gets especially at a stop. Check the radiator for being caked with something on the side facing the condenser or bumper of the car. If it is, clean it up with low pressure water. My 95 Accord started having the fans run everything I stopped after a trip for a long period of time. They should come on….on occasion. In looking at the temp gauge I found out it was getting hot at every light and found out the two year old Radiator was covered with some fuzzy stuff that was like lint. I washed it off last night and so far no problems. If there is the old style radiator core (I think it is cooper) check the fan side at the bottom for the fins separating from the radiator and getting soft, and the coolant level.

 

make sure that radiator is not low..........if low on coolant chk for leak,,,,,,,,if no leaks and low on coolant fill it up, bleed it and recheck in a few days ,, if low on coolant in a few days and no leaks ,, do a leakage test to make sure that you don't have any head gasket issues

 

ok, that sounds good. any idea about what i said about the trans ??

 

What do you mean "shifts hard". The shift lever is hard to move? You mentioned motor mounts. Or, do you mean it "shifts hard" while driving? Just trying to understand.

 

bad motor mounts is going to feel like car slams into gear a lot harder than normal

it could just be motor mounts ..shifter cable mis adjusted ?? if RPMs are too high tranny will shift harder as well

As for how long they last , it depends on how well tranny was cared for ( fluid change and driving habits ) i have seen them go bad at 100,000 miles and last almost 200,000 miles

 

ok. so the cooling system is fine. moving onto the tranny. . . when i say it shifts hard, im not talking about the gearshift being hard to move. when the car shifts, for instance, from 1st to 2, 2 to 3, and OD. seems like if you just want to drive slowly, it doesnt like to shift. If you get on it, it will shift. its like its almost painful for the car to shift, if that makes any sense. The tranny has been taken care of, i believe. As i said in my orig post, I found a receipt that indicated the honda dealer had replaced the trans computer due to it not (shifting or downshifting).....

when u guys say driving habits influence the life of the auto trans.... tell me.... what kind of driving is harder on your trans. what helps it maybe last longer....??????

i drove the car again tonite. It seems like its missing or something. New plugs, wires, filters. have ran lucas thru it a couple times. not really sure what to do for it to make it run better. Thats my problem. I kno its hard to compare apples to oranges, but my 97 camry has just a few less miles on it than this honda, and it runs quieter, generally runs better overall... and it shifts easily. I only want my honda to run as good.... and i dont want to take it to the stealership............

 

You probably would have been happier with a 1997 Accord. There have been a lot of changes over the years. It isn’t going to drive like your Toyota. Are the shifts late in MPH?