Hello, first I really hope Honda Guy is willing to offer his input- I've been trying to find answers here to my problem and have read his advice to other Honda owners. Although I haven't found an exact answer yet, I trust the info he's given to others. But ANY advice from any of you will be most welcome:
My 93 Honda Civic EX automatic has 218K miles on it. Recently the speedometer gage has been lurching back and forth, but only intermittently. Sometimes it will lurch, drop to 0 mph, not work after that, and about 20 seconds later after it drops to 0 mph the check engine light goes on. If I stop and turn off the car for about a minute, then restart the car, the check engine light is off and stays off unless the same glitch happens again.
Here's where my transmission comes in: Lately, but again not every time, when I'm on the freeway, my speedometer will lurch, and then at the same time my engine sounds like it downshifts(?) as it would if it needed a bit more horsepower to go up a grade or hill. The problem is that it will slip between drive and this lower(?) gear and back to drive, like it's sputtering. But then it will slip into and get "stuck" in this lower gear when it's not supposed to switch gears like that to begin with. The other day when I was on the freeway it did this very same thing- the speedometer lurches, drops to 0 mph, the engine seems to slip back and forth out of drive and into downshifting, then it can't get back into drive where I can physically feel and hear the difference in how the engine runs. This, with my engine stuck in this "downshifted" gear, went on for about a 4 mile stretch of freeway where there is no exit. I started to smell hot metal as I approached the first available exit and got off the freeway. As soon as I stopped, the car started to billow steam/smoke, and the engine was revving back and forth between 700 and 1200 rpm. It smoked after I stopped the car, then did the weird revving after I put it into park. I let the car cool down for about 10 minutes, and it restarted just fine, no more smoke, no check engine light. I drive it home down side streets instead of the freeway. I think it's something with the transmission because 1)a couple weeks ago the engine itself overheated badly, complete with steam/smoke and temp gage registering high, 2)promptly got it fixed-new intake manifold and new radiator because both had cracked/corroded (hence the overheating), 3)coolant flush and oil change, and 4)this time the steam/smoke smelled different, stung my eyes a bit, and the engine DID NOT overheat (temp gage was normal). Something else did.
I read about torque, transmission fluid flushes and changes, look for bits of metal in the fluid, etc. Does any of this apply to my problem? Can anyone diagnose this problem? It will give me a place to start, especially if I need to take it to a transmission shop like Aamco. Thank you so much!
My 93 Honda Civic EX automatic has 218K miles on it. Recently the speedometer gage has been lurching back and forth, but only intermittently. Sometimes it will lurch, drop to 0 mph, not work after that, and about 20 seconds later after it drops to 0 mph the check engine light goes on. If I stop and turn off the car for about a minute, then restart the car, the check engine light is off and stays off unless the same glitch happens again.
Here's where my transmission comes in: Lately, but again not every time, when I'm on the freeway, my speedometer will lurch, and then at the same time my engine sounds like it downshifts(?) as it would if it needed a bit more horsepower to go up a grade or hill. The problem is that it will slip between drive and this lower(?) gear and back to drive, like it's sputtering. But then it will slip into and get "stuck" in this lower gear when it's not supposed to switch gears like that to begin with. The other day when I was on the freeway it did this very same thing- the speedometer lurches, drops to 0 mph, the engine seems to slip back and forth out of drive and into downshifting, then it can't get back into drive where I can physically feel and hear the difference in how the engine runs. This, with my engine stuck in this "downshifted" gear, went on for about a 4 mile stretch of freeway where there is no exit. I started to smell hot metal as I approached the first available exit and got off the freeway. As soon as I stopped, the car started to billow steam/smoke, and the engine was revving back and forth between 700 and 1200 rpm. It smoked after I stopped the car, then did the weird revving after I put it into park. I let the car cool down for about 10 minutes, and it restarted just fine, no more smoke, no check engine light. I drive it home down side streets instead of the freeway. I think it's something with the transmission because 1)a couple weeks ago the engine itself overheated badly, complete with steam/smoke and temp gage registering high, 2)promptly got it fixed-new intake manifold and new radiator because both had cracked/corroded (hence the overheating), 3)coolant flush and oil change, and 4)this time the steam/smoke smelled different, stung my eyes a bit, and the engine DID NOT overheat (temp gage was normal). Something else did.
I read about torque, transmission fluid flushes and changes, look for bits of metal in the fluid, etc. Does any of this apply to my problem? Can anyone diagnose this problem? It will give me a place to start, especially if I need to take it to a transmission shop like Aamco. Thank you so much!