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bunny hugger — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:35:19 -0800

I am disappointed in my relationship with my 97 Honda Civic. Maybe you can give me some advice. YANMM. I’ve tried to talk it out, but it's just not hearing what I'm saying... I've got a 97 Civic AT (106K mil.) and after filling up with what I think was some questionable fuel a while back, it has started to “slip” when I go into 3rd. It feels like something is "whirring" trying to find itself. Once past that bumpy spot, it runs great. I have had regular maintenance on it – flushings, fill-ups, tuneups, etc. I even added some Lucas transmission fix to my tranny fluid (which is pink and not burnt). Also, when low on gas, I have trouble starting it. Could it just be my fuel line, or is the transmission in the crapper?

No car, no job

PinkButterfly — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:45:13 -0800

My car is about to die, but I'm in jeopardy of losing my job very soon. What do I do? What really hurts is that I spent about $1800 on my car recently.

I have a 1998 dodge stratus with about 180,000 miles on it, so it has done a good job for me, but now is not a great time for it to go.

I thought I had at least another year out of it, but two different mechanics told me the transmission seems to be on its way out.

In October I replaced: fuel pump, water pump, serpentine belt, timing belt.
Total: ~$1600.

I also bought new tires shortly after that. ($300)

When I bought the new parts, the car was running fine. The mechanics said it was running strong, seemed ok (for its age) and didn't see any major repairs on the horizon.

Hmm.

So here we are about 4 months later and my car is taking much longer to shift. The same mechanics who, 4 months ago, said my car seemed ok, say my transmission is on its way out. They aren't suggesting I pay them to replace it, but telling me, sorry it's time to buy a new car. I trust these mechanics and I don't think they lied to me in the fall?

They say they don't know how much longer the transmission willl last. It could be a year, if I baby it, or it could go next week.

But, I may be about to lose my job. My company is doing furloughs currently, but I was close to the last hired and well....we know how that goes.

My car is paid off.

I don't want to be stuck with a car payment and then no job (but I also don't want to buy a Hyundai...) and I also want to try and recoup some of the money spent on my car if/when it dies.

What should I do?

A relative told me to sell the car before it dies, as is, but I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Is there a way for me to get money from the repairs I just did (and my new tires) to offset the cost of a newer car? I don't have all of the cash to pay for a used car outright (no plans to buy a new car).

Thanks for your advice :(

Worth the trouble to try to sell my car piecemeal?

Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:32:54 -0800

[Posted for a friend:] I posted this a while back. Today I was talking with someone about the car, and he offered me $400 for it. He's coming back by on Monday. Quick recap: it's a high mileage 97 Hyundai Sonata with a busted transmission. I could try to sell the car piecemeal and might end up getting more money if I did it that way (everything but the transmission is mechanically sound, the tires are new-ish, the radio is new, etc.), but who knows how long that would take. I'm thinking that it's not worth the hassle but I don't know for sure. I'd appreciate some additional perspective.

Why won't my car go in reverse?

orrnyereg — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:02:42 -0800

Please diagnose my car problem! My 2000 Dodge Neon has stopped going in reverse. It's a 5-speed manual that has worked fine until about a week ago, when it began randomly refusing to go into reverse. Previously, I could eventually get it to work by messing with the gear shift long enough. Now I can't get it to work at all.

You guys, I know NOTHING about cars. I am also flat broke. Does this mean I need a new transmission? I realize you need to have a look at it to know for sure, but what does it sound like to you?

Halp!!

Tranny problems (no, the other kind)

Nonce — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:57:16 -0800

Should I replace the transmission or replace the car? My 1997 Hyunday Sonata's transmission gave up the ghost. It no longer has reverse, and it only kind of shifts into second gear very hard. I took it to a local shop and to the dealer. The local shop thinks I should rebuild the transmission at $2,400. The dealer wants to put in a remanufactured transmission at about $2,700. Both of those options are insane and off the table because the car is worth less than $1,500.

Back in reality land, there are three options that I am aware of:

1) Junkyard transmission

If you think this is the way to go, how can I avoid getting ripped off? I saw this writeup when searching online, but it's almost entirely Greek to me in spite of being very clear and presumably helpful. If there is any geographically specific advice, I am in Northern Virginia, but theoretically could drive to Maryland or elsewhere in VA to pick up a part.

I don't like this because the shop will charge $450 or so to install it, and it's a gamble anyway. How can I make it less of a gamble?

2) Replace the valve body assembly

Apparently, one thing that is *for sure* wrong is that the solenoids are gone. A new valve body assembly (with new solenoids), available only from the dealer, costs about $650 and two hours of labor to swap out. Then I'm left with the same transmission I started with, which has 165,000 miles on it.

There aren't any flecks of metal in the transmission fluid. There is some sludge that the mechanic said is generally expected to build up with age, but also is not a good thing at all. Everyone says there is no way to tell how much life the transmission has left in it without taking it apart and inspecting it, at which point the labor charge becomes prohibitive.

3) Getting rid of the car

How would I do this? How much can I get for it?

Please help me figure out what to do. I hate the idea of gambling close to $1,000 on the car without a reasonable expectation of success (options 1 and 2), but I also hate the idea of selling the car for a lousy few hundred dollars because of this problem when it is otherwise functioning just fine.

Is my transmission dying?

geos — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:09:20 -0800

Is my car transmission dying? It is a 93 Camry with an automatic transmission. When the car is cold, if you try to accelerate the car shudders and seems like it's about to quit entirely and if you baby it, it will keep going. But after driving for awhile it seems to go fine.

"Do I need a new transmission?"

girlmightlive — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:34:44 -0800

Have you ever had your car's axle stuck in the transmission? What did you do about it? I drive a 2001 Kia Rio. The driver's side front axle is stuck in the transmission and, after taking it to a local mechanic and a national chain mechanic, I'm not sure if I should get a new transmission or just live with the clicking noise the car makes when I make hard turns. That what the national and local places told me are my options, respectively.

Both said this is rare. On the off-chance that any of you have had this issue, how'd you deal with it? Thanks.

Vrooom. Put put put put put.

gauchodaspampas — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:47:19 -0800

Is my car broken? I somehow managed to stall my automatic transition. WTF? Is it a crazy fluke, or possibly a sign of trouble? The car is a 2001 Subaru Forester. I was running quite late, and was driving in a way that is probably not good for transmissions when this happened. It happened when accelerating from a stop. I wasn't over accelerating, but rather, gave a teeny of gas in anticipation of the car ahead going, then rolled on that a bit while they got going, then tried to accelerate a bit more when they got going, but stalled (that is just my best memory of the sequence of events).

So is this a bad sign. I've never stalled an automatic, or heard of anyone doing so. Have you ever stalled an automatic? Was it a sign of things to come? Were you driving stupidly as I was?

Brought a car in for service during warranty, and it wasn't fixed. Do they still have to fix it later?

JeremiahBritt — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:41:35 -0800

During the warranty period, we took are car in twice for what I assumed was a transmission problem. Both times they told us it we were crazy. Now I think the problem has rendered the car undriveable, but the warranty is expired. Are we screwed? Basically, it was a very specific, weird problem (2005 Volkswagen Beetle). When decelerating to a stop from ~30 mph, the car would jerk suddenly and make a "thunk" noise, but not every time. About once a month.

Unfortunately, my work schedule and the shop's hours required that my wife bring it in. One time they told her it was the window washer fluid in the back rolling around (which wouldn't shake the car), and the other time they couldn't duplicate it. I figured it was annoying, but since they couldn't make it happen, I didn't know what to do. The car had plenty of other electrical problems (windows twice, engine temperature thing, traction thing, etc.) that they fixed without complaint.

I decided to just live with it and to try not braking so hard.

This morning my wife was driving to work, going up a hill from a stop light, when the gas pedal stopped making the car go forward, as if it was shifted into neutral. No warning lights came on, and the engine ran as always. She turned the car off, restarted it, and drove along as normal.

Obviously, now I'm worried about that happening on the freeway, especially since we live in the D.C. and people tailgate like crazy.

My main question is: is there anyway for us to get this problem treated as if it was under warranty still, since we took it in twice and they failed to fix it?

My other questions are: is my guess as to the problems being related accurate? Is there anyway to prove they are?

Thanks.

Is the transmission dying again?

winston — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:42:38 -0800

CarFilter: Why does my transmission hate me so? 1999 Suzuki Esteem GL, manual 5-speed transmission, 1.6 L engine.

Purchased in January 2004, a lease return with 70,000 km. We both had a little trouble shifting into 3rd at first but eventually got the hang of it -- don't know if that's related.

July 2006, the transmission died a spectacular death. The transmission shop said they'd never seen a manual transmission in such bad condition. Every gear except second had multiple teeth completely missing. They did not see any of the tell-tale signs that would indicate that the transmission or clutch was abused. They believed that this transmission, at this age, without abuse, should not be showing any damage. They could not explain the damage other than maybe it was somehow defective when it was originally put together.

For a variety of reasons, I trust that this transmission shop is completely honest. Not to say they couldn't have made a mistake, but I don't believe they deliberately scammed me. I did personally inspect all the broken pieces they replaced -- everything was obviously badly broken.

So we replaced the following with new parts:
-Every gear except second, plus some other hard parts (don't remember the names, there were two arm-like things that were bent)
-All soft parts inside the transmission
-The clutch (it wasn't absolutely necessary yet, but the end of it's life was approaching and it was cheaper to do it while everything was disassembled anyway).

All together, including tax, it came to about $4000 (CAD). If we'd got a rebuilt transmission instead of new parts, it would have been $3500. The new parts had a parts and labour warranty for one year, unlimited mileage.

In the past few weeks, I've done alot of driving in slippery conditions. If the wheels start to spin, I try to start in second gear (I do not do this unless both drive wheels are on a surface too slippery for the car to move even a little bit in first gear). It has often been impossible to shift into second when at a standstill -- it just clashes and doesn't engage. Other times it works fine. Yesterday the car popped out of first gear while driving -- this was something that had happened a few times before the transmission went out the last time.

The car is currently approaching 140,000 km

Is the transmission or clutch dying again? If so, what could explain the short life-span of the parts in our transmission? Both drivers of this vehicle have long experience using a manual transmission on multiple vehicles (each of those driven for a longer period of time than we've driven this one) and have not previously had/caused transmission problems. This does not to seem to be a problem for 1999 Esteems in general, AFAICT.

Clutch Problem #2.

koeselitz — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:03:22 -0800

Mechanic Question: Even though I just changed the clutch, it still won't start. The starter runs, the flywheel and some of the transmission is turning (I can hear it loud and clear), but it won't fire; it just spins. We're talking, by the way, about a 1996 Volkswagon Jetta, manual five-speed.

Thanks to all who helped with my last question. So: I've installed a new clutch, clean and everything, putting a small amount of high-temp grease on the spindle as I was doing so, like the manual says, and cleaned off the flywheel, too. I reassembled everything, put the transaxle back on, and reattached the driveaxles and the wheels and everything. And now it still won't start.

What's happening now is very similar to what was happening before I replaced the clutch. (That worries me somewhat.) I'll depress the clutch pedal and turn the key, and I can hear the starter motor turning the gears ("whirrrr!") but it won't turn over ("chuh-chuh-chuh-chuh") and fire ("vroom!"). As I hold the key turned, it keeps whirring, but slowly starts to engage... it starts chugging a little... and then the chugging subsides again and it just whirs. This process repeats, and it goes in and out of starting to turn over. If I let out the clutch while I'm turning the key and I have it in first, the car will start to move ever so slightly forward, and then stop moving; but it won't kick forward, like it ought to. I've tried push-starting, and, of course, that's useless.

So does anybody know what's going on here? One thing I can say: I left it for a week where it was after having this happen last week, and then today when I tried to turn it on it almost turned over on the first time. That's not really something I can experiment with, unfortunately, if I want to get this car fixed within the next month.

What's wrong with my car's clutch?

killdevil — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:23:05 -0800

Standard-transmission-filter: the point of engagement of the clutch (in my mid-90s Acura Integra, if it matters) has suddenly moved, and I now have to push the clutch pedal almost to the floor in order to get the transmission to disengage. What's going on, and how much is it likely to cost to repair? Coupled with a shift in the pedal's point of engagement has been a drastic loss of "springiness" in the clutch pedal until it reaches the point at which the transmission engages.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

How to teach someone to drive stick?

rush — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:23:14 -0800

How do I teach my wife to operate a manual transmission? I have a sports car with a manual transmission. I'd like to teach my wife to drive it, but she's not comfortable learning on that particular car. I've had trouble finding rental cars that are stick. Any ideas? Any suggestions on how to teach this topic well? Any additional resources that might be helpful?

Inherited car problems, fun for the whole family?

torpark — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:31:35 -0800

Inherited car problems, fun for the whole family? I was helping my mother with her car, which developed some problems. It is a late 80s Buick LeSabre, the official car of all grandmothers. I notice some issues and wonder if they are related or dependent.

First off, when the car is coasting, no throttle, it runs fine. When I very lightly touch on the accellerator, it violently vibrates, but if i push a little harder the vibration disappears.
Is this a air flow issue? I notice the exhaust smells rich.

When I look under the hood, i see sometimes the belt tensioner moves back and forth and clicks, perhaps a loose belt as well?

Another fine issue I notice is the engine is bogged down and the transmission shifts hard. I put on the gas and the engine works hard and sounds fine, but the car's excellaration is very poor. I have to let off the gas and wait for the transmission to shift before putting the gas back on.
Is this also related to the throttle,vibration issue?

Does anyone rent Ozone generators?

Thanks.

Help me drive up a hill safely.

thparkth — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:04:12 -0800

I'm driving an automatic car for the first time. How should I safely move off when stationary in heavy traffic pointing up a steep hill? In this previous Ask thread about manual vs. automatic driving a number of posters commented that hill starts are difficult in a manual transmission car if there is someone close behind you. By implication, they seem to suggest that it's easy in an automatic car.

I learned to drive in a manual a long time ago, and have driven stick the whole time until recently. I've never had a problem doing a safe hill start because you coordinate the clutch and handbrake to move off with no rolling back at all. In fact you'll fail the UK driving test if you can't do this safely.

But how can I do it safely in the Canadian automatic I find myself driving now? There is no handbrake at all, so that's no help. Inevitably I find myself rolling back at least a little as I switch my foot from the brake pedal to the gas pedal. In light of the previous thread, I figure I must be doing it wrong. What am I missing?

Neutral while driving?

jadanzzy — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:09:53 -0800

Is it OK to switch to neutral while driving a car with automatic transmission? I've seen the posts where this question is asked regarding "coasting" for manual transmission. But how safe is it for auto transmission if I wanted, while in "D" position, to just bring the car to neutral when I'm downhill or at a red light?

And does it really save gas for auto transmission?

I have a Toyota Corolla 2005.

What's up with the acceleration!?

InsanePenguin — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:55:02 -0800

What's going on with my girlfriend's car? In the past two weeks, we've noticed that instead of changing gears when it used to (around 2000-2,500 RPM,) it's changing gears around 3000 to 4000 RPM. This only seems to happen so drastically when going from 2nd to 3rd gear, although we can't be sure as it's an automatic. It's very jerky up until about 45 MPH, when I assume it won't change gears for until you go much faster. Lastly, when it hits around the 45 MPH mark, it smooths up considerably.

And please God, let it not be something expensive, we're not in the position to pay even a couple hundred right now.

(I just changed the oil and the front brakes were replaced last July)

Ttttrrrrrrrrrrrr

one_bean — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 15:48:50 -0800

What's rattling under the hood of my car? I have a 98 automatic Corolla. When it's in neutral, or stopped at a light/stop sign, there's a pretty loud rattling coming from under the hood. When I put it in park, the rattling stops. When I'm driving, no rattling. Perhaps related, I've noticed that the transmission has been kind of wonky and not as responsive as it once was -- that is, it doesn't shift into the gear that I feel like it should be in as quickly as it ought to, and sometimes feels like it's starting in second. That may be a separate issue, though, since the car has about 118,000 miles on it. Any thoughts on either of these issues is appreciated.

do i have a tranny problem

fumbducker — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 07:28:18 -0800

is it my clutch? or my tranny? or somthing else? i drive a 2002 vw gti stick shift. since yesterday, when i give it some gas it revs up for a few seconds before it kicks in and the car actually goes with it. this never happened before. it matters not if i am shifting or in gear , it happens when i give it gas in either case. i seached and read a post about something similar when it was cold and it taking some time to catch gears, but i dont think this is similar, it kicks in after about 1-3 seconds (for now, i guess), and its still summery warm here... help me out, god i wish i was a mechanic instead of a sysadmin.

To transmission flush or not to transmission flush? That is the question.

geeky — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 06:17:00 -0800

To transmission flush or not to transmission flush? That is the question. A few months ago, I took my (automatic) car to my local mechanic for a routine oil change. They told me that my transmission fluid was dirty, and that I needed a "transmission fluid flush". Since I'd never heard of such a thing and it wasn't part of my car's routine maintenance, I opted to put it off to a later date. I did a little Google research when I got home and came across a lot of conflicting opinions - some say transmission flushes are vital, others say it will permanently screw up your transmission.

Fast forward to this week. Three times this week I've started my car as usual, but when I shift it into drive the car accelerates sluggishly, as if the parking brake is engaged (it's not). Shifting gears does not alleviate the problem, nor does driving the car for a short period of time. However, turning the car off and re-starting results in a blinking O/D off light and normal acceleration. I checked the transmission fluid last night - the fluid level is fine, but the color is definitely off.

Regardless of the actual cause of the problem, I'm sure the mechanic is going to see this as an opportune time to recommend a transmission flush again. Since I'm a girl, and I look young and vulnerable to boot, I'd like to go in prepared. So, 1) Is a transmission flush a good idea? 2) How much should I expect to pay for it?

And a bonus question: Does my problem sound like something a transmission flush would fix? Personally, I'm thinking it's a computer problem (though I know very little about cars), and I want to make sure this problem isn't just chalked up to dirty transmission fluid so that the mechanic can make a few hundred bucks.

Should I save my dying van?

ztdavis — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:27:47 -0800

My van's transmission is very sad. It's on the verge of being considered a junker car: should I repair it or buy another crappy car? I drive a '95 Dodge Caravan and the transmission recently made a high pitch whiny noise (the sound a wind-up toy car would make it if were as big as a van). More importantly, though, it doesn't shift into the top gear. It drives around town fine for the most part, but I can't get on a highway lest it try to drive at 5000 RPMs.

The van already has no air-conditioning, needs new tires, and has a cracked windshield. I'm a college kid with one year left, but I need a car to get to work. I'm more poor than rich.

Is it even worth taking the van in for an estimate for repairs or should I just drive it until it dies and then by a $500 junker car to get me through the year?

Have any of you had a similar problem in the past? How long did the car last after the trouble began?

Am I risking imminent death by driving it around in its current state?

Zoooooooommmm.... not so much.

metaculpa — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 13:05:05 -0800

Hey! Know a good subaru repair shop in Palo Alto? What about the Mission side of SF? Subaru's not doing so hot. Just put new heads on, and now the transmission feels... um... slippy. I know jack all about these auto-mo-bilies, but I also don't know a good shop on this side of the bay.

The symptoms, if you'd like to diagnose them yourself: occasionally the shift into 2nd will be a moderate (but silent) jerk; in general acceleration feels rather sluggish; and the tach. hops up to 5 or 6 between shifts on hills. These all seem, to me, to be signs of badness.

She's a 1997 Outback Limited, if you'd like to heckle my engine.

Anyone know a good repair shop? (I live in SF and work in PA, so either's fine.)

Is my transmisison broken?

ontic — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 15:53:39 -0800

Another car question. I have a nine year old automatic car with a seven year old engine. Lately in the cold when I put it into reverse and put on the gas, the car just revs. Then after a little bit I feel a shifting clunk and the car is in reverse. I back out of my space and put it into drive at which point, if it's cold enough, the same thing happens. I coast in neutral, accelerator does nothing but rev for a little while, then I feel it push into gear and can go forever, including to full stops and on again the whole day. Even on cold days, after being parked it works fine. When it's not cold, this doesn't seem to happen. So 0.5) is this related to my transmission at all, 1) is my transmission on the way out, 2) is it more dangerous than I think to drive it, and 3) will I need a whole new transmission or just a minor repair? I'm guessing that the gears are spinning, but just not "catching" when it just revs, though I don't understand why it wouldn't do the same thing from a full stop. So my best guess is that the teeth on my gears are just getting pretty worn down. Lots of mileage on the car, though I must say I am pretty gentle with it. Please enlighten me -- though I am capable mechanically, I really don't spend any time thinking about cars.

Condisering buying a manual car

EatenByAGrue — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 13:15:14 -0800

I'm interested in buying a car with a manual transmission. Unfortunately, while I've driven with a manual a couple of times in the past, I'm still very inexperienced. What's the best way to practice prior to getting the new car or without ruining the gears on my new car (or causing traffic problems)? And is it even worthwhile to get a manual these days if I don't already know how to drive one? Keep in mind this car would be used for daily commutes through moderate to heavy traffic. And does it matter what the car is that I would purchase? (I'm thinking of the Suburu WRX STi or the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.)

Why is my gear stick/stick shift wobbling and stuck in 2nd gear?

untuckedshirts — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 19:49:34 -0800

I was stop and go driving for about an hour today (hanging flyers for my job; the car's a manual transmission '95 Saturn) and after I finished I was heading back to the store when I hear a pop and my stick shift is just wobbling around. I still have to hold the clutch to start the car but it is stuck in second gear so I can get it going but only drive 10-15mph. What in the hell just happened?