Hey, new to the forums, been looking for a more active community for the accords and this looks more active. The car has had this problem ever since I got it. When it is up-shifting gears it clunks hard. It also does not shift at the correct times. When throttle is at about 30 percent it will shift at ~3800 RPMS which is to high IMO. Some times to get it to shift into a lower gear I have to let the gas pedal go a little bit and it will shift 'swell. I don't know if the tranny is going bad or if it is a auto trans speed sensor or what it is. Maybe a oil change for the tranny might help? I have been driving it like this for 20k miles and it has probably been like this for a lot longer. Hmm. Any thoughts?

1986 Accord LX
Auto

 

The first thing I'd check is the trans pressure lever cable that goes down to the front of the trans.
If some one has jacked the throttle cable tight to raise idle speed it changes the shift points.

Adjustment;
With a little slack in the throttle cable, loosen off the 12mm adjuster nuts on the shift cable bracket at the front of the trans.
Then working the throttle with one hand and the other hand holding a long screwdriver resting on the end of the trans pressure lever; tighten the cable so that just as the RPM begins to rise when you open the throttle, the trans pressure lever just barely moves up.

If this isn't the answer to the problem than more than likely the 'O'ring of the pressure regulator inside the trans is leaking off pressure.
It's a $2 part but you have to remove and dis-assemble the trans to replace it.

It wouldn't hurt anything at all to drain the trans and put in 3 quarts of Honda Z-1 ATF

 

Thank you for the reply, I will try this out today both changing the oil and tweaking with the cable. Hopefully I don't have to get into the tranny

 

Hey Dualnames, i'd love to know the results to this precedure beacause i am having the same problem... i'm already $600 deep in this because my mechanic suggested i get new mounts but it didn't help much.

 

Adjusting that cable is something you can probably do yourself. Even if it didn't fix Dual's car, it might be the answer for YOURS.