Hi guys,

I have a 2003 Honda Civic Couple Lx that has a transmission problem. I was driving and felt the transmission kind of delay then 5 minutes later I heard a vroom and from there the the car wouldn't go even with the pedal pressed down (was revving though). I pulled the car over and tried giving it a go in different gear but all that happened was the car revved but no movement (mind you there weren't any codes being thrown on the dash). I towed it home and inspected the transmission fluid and come to find out it was the color black (damnit, burnt fluid). I called my local transmission shop and he said they would do a diagnostic and then decide where to go from there. I asked him hypothetically what would he do first after the diagnostic and he said he would flush the fluid and change the filter to rule that out. I asked him is there any possibility that the transmission could not be toast and he said it's possible a solenoid went out. I didn't know that that was so I said fine and looked it up later.


Well, I get the car towed there today and he calls back saying not good. He said that his guys were inspecting the transmission and noticed that I had a solenoid that was black (I'm guessing burnt). He said he would try to replace this first and see if it did anything. Now, I'm no expert on cars but shouldn't a code be thrown when a solenoid goes out? I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what they are doing as I don't know much about transmissions in the first place.


Thanks.

 

Any help here guys would be appreciated. I'm a bit concerned about the shop I took it to. They said they tried the flush and solenoid without success. Well, I called another transmission shop to get their view on things and he said and I quote "why would your transmission shop flush the fluid when they already knew it was black"? He went on further saying a flush would only cause more damage to the transmission as there are contaminants from the burnt fluid still there. He said any competent shop should know this. He actually sounded like he knew what he was talking about so now I'm a bit concerned as what to do with my current transmission shop.

The current shop is saying it could be the torque converter ($400) and the only way of knowing that is if they open it up. Here is where it gets tricky. He said to drop the transmission, open it up, inspect it, and reinstall it would be $685 only if I decided to not go ahead with the work they deemed necessary. Doesn't $685 seem like a lot just to open it up and inspect it?

Any feedback would be much appreciated as I'm terribly worried about what is going on with my car.

 

There is a lot of effort required to drop the transmission. But that price IS a little steep.