Greetings, comrades. A few days ago my transmission apparently let go. But there are a few weird nuances that I feel I should go through, so here's a history of how the illness developed over recent time.
My problems started about a week ago, give or take. When driving foot to the floor, I could sense a barely noticeable shudder when the box would shift from second to third. And I mean barely noticeable, most drivers outside of myself would probably not even feel it. Then that progressed to a flare (I think that's what they call it on this forum?), when during the upshift the engine would rev up about 500 RPM as if the box were slipping. The weird thing is that in manual mode the flare would either go away completely or be very minor. I'd also get a pronounced push when the box would shift from third to second (during normal driving without any aggression). Which, again, went away completely when using manual mode. After a few days the flare became very prolonged, to the point where third gear would completely stop engaging for a while. Then it would return for a bit. The car became basically undriveable a couple of days ago, when I went out for an evening drive, and at some point I started experiencing weird unwanted downshifts and a ton of slippage. I obviously flipped around and headed back home, but I didn't make it. With only a kilometer to go, I was stuck on the side of the road, the box wouldn't catch a gear no matter which position the selector was in. Reverse also wasn't working. No jolts, no clunking, the car just wouldn't move, and the engine revved as if the box was in neutral. For that last kilometer I was towed on a rope by a Lada (which was a bit embarassing).
I did what I could to make the box feel better when my main ailment was just that small flare: I removed the linear pressure solenoid for a clean (it wasn't that dirty, could've just left it installed), as well as the three shift solenoids (also looking good). After that whole ordeal with the slippage and being towed on a rope, I did notice that the car would in fact move when completely cool, the symptoms described would mostly come back as soon as I'd put a bit of heat into the box. I went out for a test drive today after swapping one of the solenoids, and for a while the car was happily moving in first and second gear, but as soon as I left the gravel road next to my home in the country and drove onto some pavement - the box made an attempt at going into third, and failed (I'd already thoroughly warmed everything up by that point). The other gears also stopped working all of a sudden. All I had left was reverse, and thankfully the car was able to make the one kilometer (or thereabouts) drive back home in reverse, without any slippage or anything like that.
This all seems to be a bit erratic for a transmission that has already decided to leave and never return. After doing a fair share of reading, I'm thinking that perhaps this might be an issue with the pressure switches? I'm prepared to bite the bullet and get myself another transmission, but I am hoping that maybe a few functional pressure switches would at least allow me to make my way to my Moscow based repair shop (about 100 kilometers from where I live) and not call in a flatbed. Or maybe even make the car driveable for some considerable amount of time, I don't know.
The gearbox is an MRDA unit from a JDM Honda Inspire UC1 (not the B7WA which you'd usually find on this sort of car). I've done partial fluid changes every 10-15 thousand k's or so (Honda DW-1), the fluid looks ok, doesn't smell like it's burnt, I have an oil cooler installed from a Honda Legend KB1, so, aside from my aggressive driving style, I took decent care of the transmission. The pressure switches appear to be the same part number as the ones used in the 3G TL's, which apparently fail after a while. This particular box has done 110 thousand kilometers (approximately 70 thousand miles), so I'm guessing they might be dead. I guess my question is - is there any hope for this one? Or I shouldn't get my hopes up, considering that - even if this is a pressure switch issue - all of that slipping might've taken a permanent toll on the gearbox? BTW, I didn't see the "D" indicator on the dash flashing, and the car isn't throwing a check engine light. I guess that also sort of points to potential internal damage of the transmission, rather than an electrical malfunction?
My problems started about a week ago, give or take. When driving foot to the floor, I could sense a barely noticeable shudder when the box would shift from second to third. And I mean barely noticeable, most drivers outside of myself would probably not even feel it. Then that progressed to a flare (I think that's what they call it on this forum?), when during the upshift the engine would rev up about 500 RPM as if the box were slipping. The weird thing is that in manual mode the flare would either go away completely or be very minor. I'd also get a pronounced push when the box would shift from third to second (during normal driving without any aggression). Which, again, went away completely when using manual mode. After a few days the flare became very prolonged, to the point where third gear would completely stop engaging for a while. Then it would return for a bit. The car became basically undriveable a couple of days ago, when I went out for an evening drive, and at some point I started experiencing weird unwanted downshifts and a ton of slippage. I obviously flipped around and headed back home, but I didn't make it. With only a kilometer to go, I was stuck on the side of the road, the box wouldn't catch a gear no matter which position the selector was in. Reverse also wasn't working. No jolts, no clunking, the car just wouldn't move, and the engine revved as if the box was in neutral. For that last kilometer I was towed on a rope by a Lada (which was a bit embarassing).
I did what I could to make the box feel better when my main ailment was just that small flare: I removed the linear pressure solenoid for a clean (it wasn't that dirty, could've just left it installed), as well as the three shift solenoids (also looking good). After that whole ordeal with the slippage and being towed on a rope, I did notice that the car would in fact move when completely cool, the symptoms described would mostly come back as soon as I'd put a bit of heat into the box. I went out for a test drive today after swapping one of the solenoids, and for a while the car was happily moving in first and second gear, but as soon as I left the gravel road next to my home in the country and drove onto some pavement - the box made an attempt at going into third, and failed (I'd already thoroughly warmed everything up by that point). The other gears also stopped working all of a sudden. All I had left was reverse, and thankfully the car was able to make the one kilometer (or thereabouts) drive back home in reverse, without any slippage or anything like that.
This all seems to be a bit erratic for a transmission that has already decided to leave and never return. After doing a fair share of reading, I'm thinking that perhaps this might be an issue with the pressure switches? I'm prepared to bite the bullet and get myself another transmission, but I am hoping that maybe a few functional pressure switches would at least allow me to make my way to my Moscow based repair shop (about 100 kilometers from where I live) and not call in a flatbed. Or maybe even make the car driveable for some considerable amount of time, I don't know.
The gearbox is an MRDA unit from a JDM Honda Inspire UC1 (not the B7WA which you'd usually find on this sort of car). I've done partial fluid changes every 10-15 thousand k's or so (Honda DW-1), the fluid looks ok, doesn't smell like it's burnt, I have an oil cooler installed from a Honda Legend KB1, so, aside from my aggressive driving style, I took decent care of the transmission. The pressure switches appear to be the same part number as the ones used in the 3G TL's, which apparently fail after a while. This particular box has done 110 thousand kilometers (approximately 70 thousand miles), so I'm guessing they might be dead. I guess my question is - is there any hope for this one? Or I shouldn't get my hopes up, considering that - even if this is a pressure switch issue - all of that slipping might've taken a permanent toll on the gearbox? BTW, I didn't see the "D" indicator on the dash flashing, and the car isn't throwing a check engine light. I guess that also sort of points to potential internal damage of the transmission, rather than an electrical malfunction?