Transmission trouble. I think it's bad. Please tell me I'm wrong.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m not, of course, but I’m looking for any straw to grasp at the moment.

My grandfather (who died about a month ago) was committed to a nursing home about a year ago. We got a great price, about half of blue book value, on his car, a 2003 Honda Accord V6 with less than 100,000 miles. It has been very reliable until now, even completing a marathon 3600-mile trip to Texas last Sunday.

On Thursday it threw a code, P0741, Torque Converter Clutch Circuit Performance or Stuck Off. Since it threw that code, every time it warms up it starts to slip until such time as it fails completely. Then you turn the car off, start it right back up, and it engages. It seems the torque converter clutch solenoid has failed, since restarting the car resets the transmission and that sort of thing is characteristic of removing power to an electrical switch.

So I did some research. Apparently this is a VERY common thing, so common in fact that Honda extended their warranty on the transmission to 93 months or 109,000 miles, whichever came first, because the fix is a remove-and-replace on the whole transmission. Everything I have read tells me that’s what I’m looking at. People who have tried other things have gotten short-term results and nothing more.

Alas, we are well beyond 93 months on the car though we are still under the mileage, and the full cost is something like $3500. So, I’m hoping for two things: first, that there is a much less expensive fix and I’m just not seeing it, and second, that Honda will step up and honor the warranty on mileage since it’s a fairly lightly used old man’s car who would have had this problem had he not been an old man and driven it more frequently.

It’s at the Honda dealer right now. I’m hoping for the best, anticipating the worst, and having no clue what to do. $3500 out-of-pocket is impossible. Automatic transmissions are witchcraft, it’s well beyond my abilities to fix it let alone do a R&R. Even if Honda does a goodwill repair on it it’s still going to be expensive.

So lie to me. Tell me it’s a cheap, easy fix, something as simple as adding transmission fluid or replacing the solenoid, something that will work for me and nobody else. Or don’t, hit me with the truth. Either way, I dread the call from Honda tomorrow.

Thank God I drive a manual. $500 for a replacement clutch and I’m set. Simple, easy, and cheap. Automatics are for the birds.

2

Remember, those warranties are 93 months or 109,000 miles whichever comes first. So if you are beyond the 93 months, they don’t really have to (and probably won’t) honor the warranty.

3

Well, if it is just the torque converter clutch solenoid, it’s a pretty inexpensive part (under $50) but that seems to be more aligned with p0740.

It’s never a good sign when the intrawebs refers to a p0741 error as the “Honda transmission code of death”. The most common cause appears to be debris in the transmission that blocks ATF flow to the torque converter.

4

The expected bad news came today. Minimum $3300 for a salvage transmission with no warranty all the way to a new one for almost $6000, with two options in between. The Honda dealer also said that our car is NOT on the recall list. But, given that this is a known defect, he’s talking to Honda corporate to see if they’ll do anything for us.

If not, looks like we better start begging family for help.

5

Are you in So Cal by any chance?

6

Nope. All the way across the country in Pennsylvania.

7

I’ve heard stories about Hondas having transmission trouble, and that the company tries to keep this quiet. Of course, I live in Detroit, so I can’t discount the possibility that this is just BS from the “buy American” crowd. But I do memember that Mitsubishi got nailed for underreporting defects years ago. It wouldn’t surprise me if car companies still do that today.

For sure, some models of some cars do end up with, er, “disabilities.” I used to drive a Saturn SC. It started burning oil pretty early on. Apparently, this was a known defect in that engine, and AFAIK it never was fixed. It only went away when GM discontinued that model.

8

If Honda’s been trying to keep the transmission problems on late 90’s/early 2000’s Accords quiet, they’ve done a very bad job of it. But part of why they’re so notorious is that major debacles like this are really unusual for Honda, whereas until recently (knock on faux woodgrain dash paneling) they were pretty much business as usual for the likes of GM.

9

Man, I did not need to read this thread. Or maybe I do. I have my late mother-in-law’s 2001 Accord. She gave me a good deal on it and it had low miles, and no transmission problems yet. I wonder if there is any preventative measure that could be done. Even if it means pulling the transmission, spending $800 or so now to prevent $2500 in repairs later might be worthwhile. Then again, selling it before it happens might be a better idea.

10

For whatever reason this problem is particularly endemic in the V-6 models. Check and see if your car is on the recall list or, even better, look through the maintenance receipts if she kept them and find out if it might have already been done.

11

As far as I can tell it wasn’t recalled. Four cylinder, so maybe I’ll just drive it and hope for the best.

12

Unless you can get warranty coverage, you may be able to save significant $$ by finding a good independent shop. Dealership shops are generally overpriced and undependable.

13

it’s real. Honda’s first automatic transmission was the two-speed Hondamatic, which was a sliding-gear transmission unlike the rest of the industry which used planetary gearsets. They stuck with the sliding-gear design up through the five speeds, which were pieces of shit. It’s pretty telling that they’re now dumping the Hondamatic in favor of a CVT for the smaller cars, and buying the 9HP transaxle from ZF for the larger cars. The 2016 Pilot I drove home tonight has the ZF 9HP.

Honda gets a lot of things right, but automatic transmissions are something they’ve dropped the ball on.

14

Eh, its a $24 part and you can do it with almost no tools in your driveway in about an hour.

How’s that?

15

I have had a 1978 CB-750A Hondamatic two speed motorcycle that has given me absolutely no problems in over 28 years of use.

A good friend of mine has its sister that he built up for drag racing. It has had all of the tricks done to the engine to get more horse power out of it. He had done nothing to the transmission. Every weekend in the season, he races it. He rocks on the throttle to full, releases the brakes when the light turns green, & upshifts at full throttle when the speedometer says 45 MPH. He has been doing this for over twenty years that I know of. He has done no extra maintenance to the trannny.
I have built up a CB-400A with a custom sidecar for a friend to ride while in his wheel chair. Putting the controls in the sidecar was an experience. The automatic made the transmission hookup easy. It also has given no problems for over a decade.

I light of this, IMHO, You are incorrect about the early Hondamatic transmissions. I do not know about the other Hondamatics, but the motorcycle ones were/are great!

16

Weird thing is, I have a '73 Jeep that does this exact same thing, and I’m pretty sure the transmission is so many worlds apart that it doesn’t have this solenoid. I could be wrong, but I don’t know. I do have a mysterious electrical controversy going on as well, so maybe? Hey, I always wear comfortable walking shoes, and never drive it farther than I’m willing to walk home.

Sometimes it takes me a long time to take the dogs out running and get home. Fucking demanding, entitled dogs. But they are pretty cool.

17

So Honda corporate gets back with us. A remanned transmission with a 3-year, 36,000 mile warranty for a third off the cost. Now we have to figure out how to come up with 4 grand.

Screw automatics.

18

Ouch. I guess you need to decide if it’s worth it to spend $4000 on a 12-year old car, or just take the $4000 to the used car lot.