Ok, my son's first car......1990 accord lx 2 door. today i noticed a small antifreeze leak on the driveway. Could'nt figure out where it was coming from. I got new top & bottom radiator hoses, figured they were bad after 162,000 miles. In order to remove bottom hose from radiator I had to remove radiator. This required disconecting trans cooling lines.
Anyway I did the repair, refilled the anti-freeze, then went to test drive to get up to temp and check for leakage, the car would not move! Its like the tranny was gone. I could get it to move alittle in reverse only. Hmmmm. what gives? I checked the fluid level, it might have been alittle over filled, but not low. Well I disconected a trans cooling line and started the engine, got fluid flowing, shut-off, reconected, Restarted again and it seemed to drive almost normal, a little slugish going into gear. But when it tryed to shift into 2nd, it started slipping real bad, rpms up, but no accelleration. I had to drive home in reverse, it would not go foward at all then. Good thing i only went a short ways down the road.
I looked around the area I worked in, looking for loose wires, etc. But found nothing. I don't understand, it was working fine before removing the radiator. I am new to honda, never had this problem before with any car. Has anyone heard of this happening? Could the tranny be air bound? I never heard of that before, but like I said I am totaly new to honda or any foriegn car. Only with honda dirt bikes. Anytime in the past I have witnessed slippage like this in American made vehicles, it has meant this sucker is shot.
What should I do? I didn't notice any check engine lights on. I only have OBD11 reader, and this is 1990. Maybe I can get an adapter? to read DTC's
Help!!!!!!!!!

 

Oh, I did find the leak after all, it was a heater hose. But tranny still FUBAR

 

Also, this car did not come with a manual, do I check tranny fluid with engine running like domestic cars? I kind of doubt it, because it looks like just a short dipstick directly into pan where oil seems to splash on it while running. Anyone know the proper procedure?
Thanks for reading, I know I wrote alot of words!

 

Ok, checking the tranny fluid- car should be cold and not running.
I'm not a tranny expert but I think that you are right about 'air bound.' If I were you, I would get the car to the dealer and have the tranny flushed and filled with honda atf fluid. People with hondas, for the most part, don't put anything else in the tranny but honda fluid. And the flush should get out any air.
I would wait and see if anyone else here has had your problem and KNOW exactly what to do though.

 

I fixed it myself! I flushed out tranny with new Honda fluid my wife picked up today, oouchhh! expensive. Runs and works like a charm now. This is how I did it.
I attached a 4' peice of 3/8" hose to the cooling lines and ran the engine while the old fluid pumped out, when it was nearing empty I added more new fluid with a funnel, pumping through fresh fluid. The fluid was very dirty, but did not smell burnt. I then added a quart and reconnected the cooling lines, started the engine and let it run for a minute while changing gears from Reverse to Drive and back to park, then pumped it out again. I repeated this again, then refilled to full mark on dip stick. Test drove. Shifting normal and no slippage. Fluid is new looking now on the dip stick. Why this chose to happen at the exact moment I changed both radiator hose's I don't know. Anyone out there have a clue? I have a feeling that maybe the screen on the pump pickup? may have been partly cloged, causing pump starvation and ultimatley pump cavitation. I had the car up on car ramps, and ran it in that position while looking for leaks, after changing rad. hose. Could this have loosen up some sludge? I,m no transmission expert either, but used to repair tractor hydraulics years ago while working at a farm equipment dealer, and have a half decent mechanical background.
Slusher thanks for the reply, it got me thinking in the right direction. By the way my wife really got a kick out of your signature!
Suprised not to hear from any other regular forum members......There seem to be many very knowledgable members, I have read in other topics.
Again, thanks for reading.

 

Glad that you fixed the problem and I think that what said is correct about starvation and the such. It is also nice to have somebody with good mechanical background on here too. Gald your wife digs the signature!

 

Glad that it is fixed..
the reason i did not butt in is because shusher pointed you in the right direction, so there was no point for me to say again just as slusher had suggested and also i am sure other members felt the same way ..

 

Thanks deserthonda, glad there were others monitoring. I have found a lot of very useful info here.
Charlie