I had a check engine light come on yesterday. I verified the codes and got the following:

P0730 Incorrect Gear Ratio
P0740 Torque Converter Clutch Circuit Malfuction

Can anyone tell me if this is a big problem? Transmission seems to "get stuck" when the car comes to a complete stop (does this seldomly). I have changed the trans. fluid every 60k. The Accord is a '99 LX with 125 000km.

 

your transmission is at the end of its life BECAUSE YOU DID NOT CHANGE THE FLUID REGULARLY. your torque converter is falling apart and it will start to break up the rest of the parts in your tranny. to extend the life of your tranny, the fluid now needs to be changed every 1000 km. and when you change it you will notice that its brown, burnt, and has metal shavings in it. start saving up some money for a new or good used tranny. good luck... and in the future, your fluid needs to be changed every 15000 miles are 24000 kilometers.

 

The maintenance manual suggests to change the transmission fluid every 48K. I thought Honda was reliable when it came to transmissions! Is this common for 99 Accords?

 

well 48 is still better than 60k and that is for "normal driving conditions" most likely you fit the severe or extreme. honda transmissions are very reliable if you take care of them, its just like your motor, if you dont change the oil regularly it will go bad. it is directly your fault that your tranny is dying. poor maintenance will always cause problems with your car. im not trying to be rude but it makes me angry at people that dont take care of their hondas, because it makes the company look bad like they didnt make a good product or something. your tranny was designed to last 500 -750000 miles or multiply that by 1.6 to get the kilometers. your tranny was supposed to live much longer than it has. also something that may have caused it is the use of any thing but the honda dealership atf z1 fluid, so if you got your tranny serviced at a cheap shop this may have led to the problem. good luck with your problem. you cannot stop the destruction at this point but if you can keep a majority of the metal fragments out of the oil the rest of the parts in the tranny will last a little longer....thats why i said to change the oil very frequently now. and only use atf z1 availible only at the honda dealer. good luck please feel free to ask any further questions..im pretty sure im done venting