Issues with 5th gen auto trans

[Kaytra]

Greetings all, brand new member on this forum here and glad to be among other Prelude admirers

Note: sorry for the long post

I've spent a long time reading posts on this forum and several others trying to come up with a plan of action for my Auto issues but I haven't come across any posts that cover my specific issue in much detail so here goes. My apologies if there is a post that covers this but i couldn't find one.

I have a 5th Gen 2.2 VTI Auto, I've owned the car for just over 6 months and have had an issue with the 1st - 2nd gear change taking a few seconds and being quite hard, almost slamming into gear, If I accelerate very gently the gear change is delayed but not hard. However once the car is warmed up and has been driven for a while the gear changes get noticeably better and every once in a while after 30-40 minutes of driving 1st-2nd changes exactly as it should.

Right away after buying the car I did a gearbox oil change, only did a drain and refill at the time, later realized I should have driven the car and done it twice, based on what I've read online. I put in the Honda ATF DW1. It didn't make much difference at all, if any to the issue.

And in the last month or so as the temperature has dropped, when putting the car into reverse there is a real delay, 2-3 seconds and a "clunk" when going into gear, this was not happening in the summer months. Other gear changes are no issue, 2nd-3rd and 3rd-4th are fine.

So I'm looking for some advice here really, could a different gearbox oil be of help? Is it possible the shift solenoids could be clogged up and in need of attention? I've never done anything mechanical on a car before (never had a car i cared about before the Prelude) so my thoughts are only based on what I've read online about other peoples issues and resolutions.

Any help/advice greatly appreciated and If I'm being a complete noob for any reason feel free to give me abuse.

[mercutio]

yeah the shift solenoids could be gummed up, you also need to check the condition of the fluid. I know you have changed it but recheck it, if it smells burnt and the fluid is dark it will definitely need changing again. It should still be cherry red and it should smell quite sweet.
if cleaning the solenoids has no effect its likely the box is really on its way

[wurlycorner]

Welcome.
Sorry to hear of your problems, but pleased to hear that the lude has worked some magic on you

[Kaytra]

Thanks for the replies guys, Mercutio I'll check that tomorrow and post back.

Are the solenoids difficult to locate and work on? I've found a few diagrams online but when i'm comparing that to what I see under the hood I don't think I'm looking at the right thing!

Thanks for the welcome wurlycorner, love the lude and if auto gearbox is as feared then I'll be seriously looking into a conversion to manual....or an auto swap, but i'm getting ahead of myself

[mercutio]

they are right there when you look down at the gearbox they look like the vtec solenoid but obviously sat on the gearbox

[RattyMcClelland]

Sound like standard autobox synco failure.

[Kaytra]

Sorry I've taken ages to reply, it's not been a fun few days.

So before I could do anything with the car it all went crazy a few days ago, driving as normal to work, after about 10 minutes the car started going in and out of gear, changing up and then down again and eventually wouldn't go into gear at all...at 50MPH.

After a quick pull over and waiting a few minutes I tried again and managed to get through the gears, within a few minutes it all started again, going absolutely crazy so I took it back home.

Since then I have checked the fluid, smelt ok. Checked all 4 solenoids and there was a lot of gunk in them, cleaned that out and also put fresh fluid in just to see if it helped. Tried driving the car after, and it was the same, after about 10 minutes it's changing gear at will, pulling up to a set of lights it seems to really clunk into gear and the car jerks really violently. Also I should note when i did the fluid drain there was a lot of metal on the drain, like a ridiculous amounts considering i did an oil change not 6 months ago.

Is there anything i could possibly do to salvage this or should i start reading the auto to manual conversion guides now?

[mercutio]

doesnt sound good when your changing are you using the tiptronic or letting it change itself?

[Kaytra]

This was all done in D4, think it's worth trying in tiptronic?

[mercutio]

might be at this point anything is worth a try