Car trouble: I think my transmission gave up the ghost

I think it’s the end of the line for my humble 92 accord lx automatic. It’s had transmission problems, hard/rough shifting since my parents bought it.

2 days ago I drove it ~450 miles from L.a to Davis, ca and about 10 blocks away from my apt going down then up the only dip in Davis I stepped on the gas and there was nothing. The engine just revved. I let go of the gas and let my momentum carry me to the stop light. When the light turned green I stepped on it and the car moved normally for about about 2-3 blocks shifting thru all 4 gears. I then slowed down for a yeild sign and i’m guessing I was in 2nd gear at this point and stepped on it. The engine revved. I took my foot off the gas and moved transmission to lock it into d3 while I was still coasting. The car drove fine again until I stopped at a signal. This time I stepped on the gas and I went thru gears 1 and 2 then just had the engine rev high. When I let the rpm’s drop to 2ish thousand RPMS the car drove ok, but would not shift up out of 2nd gear. At this point I was 2 blocks from home and just locked it into d2 and limped my way home.

After about 2 hours I checked the oil and transmission fluid then drove the car for 10 minutes on streets and on the freeway. It drove perfectly fine, not a single hint at a problem.

The next day I took it out for a trip and it drove fine until I got onto a downhill freeway onramp. I was probably going about 40 and accelerating when the engine just started revving. I let go of the gas then tried to reapply and got up to about 60 before the engine started just revving again. At this point I pulled over, stopped then tried again to accelerate. Again I got to 2nd gear before it started revving. I pulled over again and stopped, shut off the engine and waited about 30 seconds. Restarted the engine and the car drove normally. I got off the freeway and headed home. As I was driving home the car started revving again. I think it was just after a turn. A block from my house the car completely stopped taking orders. I coasted to a stop and while still in d4 revved the engine as if it was completely in neutral. I turned off the engine and restarted it immediately, and again it drove like normal.

I’m confused as hell about these symptoms. I don’t see how a mechanical problem can be intermittant in a transmission. But I admit I don’t understand them that well.

When moving the shifter in an automatic transmission does it move something mechanical or does it simply tell a computer to move the transmission’s gears? I’ve had problems in the past with a sensor in my transmission shifter.(Became extremely difficult move the shift lever, usually after a very long drive, and another problem which still persists where I can push the shift lever past park to a point where none of my gear dash lights will be lit. When this happens I can’t remove my keys from the ignition. I solve it by just tapping the lever back until “P” is lit up.

I’m hoping it’s a somewhat minor electrical problem, but I doubt it.

Is my car dead?

I’m not an expert, but the planetary gears in an auto tansmission do all the work and the torque converter does all the interfacing with the flywheel/flexplate of the engine. So, you’re going to end up dealing with one of those two parts. Replacing the gearset means a new transmission. Replacing the torque converter is cheaper and a lesser deal, I think.

But a question, first. Have you checked your automatic transmission fluid? I would think a lack of tranny fluid could cause slippage in the torque converter.

Of course, I’m mostly talking out of my ass, here. I’m mostly a manual guy. :slight_smile: Hopefully GaryT will stop buy to help.