problem in my 1986 accord exi with an auto

[newaccorddriver]

Today i was driving my car for a few hours. I noticed after a few hours of driving my car had problems. First gear to second gear shift was very harsh, so harsh that it vibrated the front end of the car most of the time it shifted. Another problem i had was when i was waiting at a red light, the light turned green and when i hit the gas, the engine sputtered and i thought it was going to stall like it did before, but it didnt. The final problem that i encountered was a temporary problem that i had, it was stuck in first gear until i put it in D2, then it shifted and then i had to bump it back up to D4 until it worked fine again. That problem happened once before a few weeks ago too.

I was wondering if anybody knows what went wrong with the problems i had above. Any help would be greatly appreciated


A little bit about my car:
its from 1986
fuel injected
318,000km(not miles)
replaced spark plug wires about a week ago
drained and refilled transmission fluid about a week ago
oil changed about a week ago
its an automatic(if you havent already known)


I bought this car for $700 CDN, i guess you get what you pay for
Before i bought this car it had been sitting around for a few years, the moment i bought it, i drained the old tank of gas and ran the car until it was all empty, then i filled it with a new tank of gas and a fuel system treatment

[Vanilla Sky]

put some transmission treatment like lucas in. those are the symptoms of a dying transmission. don't worry, if you can do the work yourself, it's not that hard of a job. when i do my manual swap, i believe it will only take a day of work (about 4 hours) to have done. you might need to simply adjust your shift cable, though. that was the first thing i checked on my car when i had the same symptoms (the erratic shifting, not the hard shifting). it turned out to be my trans, though.

for the hard shift into second, that could be bad motor mounts. another common problem on such old cars.

[newaccorddriver]

put some transmission treatment like lucas in. those are the symptoms of a dying transmission. don't worry, if you can do the work yourself, it's not that hard of a job. when i do my manual swap, i believe it will only take a day of work (about 4 hours) to have done. you might need to simply adjust your shift cable, though. that was the first thing i checked on my car when i had the same symptoms (the erratic shifting, not the hard shifting). it turned out to be my trans, though.

for the hard shift into second, that could be bad motor mounts. another common problem on such old cars.

4 hours to swap a tranny? damn, im thinking about going to a scrap yard and removing a tranny on my own then and install it on my own then.


what sort of parts do i need to do the swap asides from the clutch pedal and the tranny?

[Vanilla Sky]

http://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?t=102

that will help you out immensely with your transmission swap if that's what you're doing. just be prepared for stuck bolts.

[halxi]

Check your coolant temp sensor, i was having the same symptoms awhile back. Kind of ignored them at the time, and it got to the point where my car wouldnt start, or even idle.

[newaccorddriver]

just wondering how a coolant temp sensor can cause my ar to stall when its been registering at operating temp for a while


and where can i find the sensor and how would i check it?

[Elijah]

Where in Canada are you from? Mabey I can lend a hand.

[newaccorddriver]

edmonton, alberta

[Elijah]

edmonton, alberta

Well your kinda in luck then there are a few of use here that know the car inside and out, and always help eachother out. Shoot me a PM if you need a hand with anything one of the guys on here works at karbashers they might beable to help with parts actually I think hondacrazy might have something kicking around. Do you go on www.780tuners.com ?

[newaccorddriver]

i went on www.780tuners.com a couple days ago, i wanted to know of my friends 95 prelude engine would work in my old accord with a retarded shifting(thats what id like to call it) automatic transmission. apparently it didnt but it was funny cause he had no idea it was me

[Elijah]

LOL well I like the a20 it is an under dog but this year I should be around 250whp at around 15psi. We are trying to start an accord club in Edmonton right now on 780 for all generations.

[newaccorddriver]

somehow such a popular car has no club for it... yet things like a supra which is rare and almost nobody has it has a club...

[FyreDaug]

I know you said you changed the fluid a week ago, but hows the level doing right now?

[halxi]

the coolant temp sensor reads the coolant temp, just like it says. Not the engine temp (which is shown on your dash). If it is faulty, it will send a signal to your ECU that your car coolant temp is too cold or too hot and basically tell it that its either running at 40below, or maybe even 200above. This adjusts the amount of fuel being sent to the TB, and it either sends too much, or not enough. Too much and your engine constantly floods and dies out.... i dont know what it would do if you werent getting enough, but it probably would run like shit.

This is basically what i was told when the mechanic found out it was that sensor.

[newaccorddriver]

fluids still at the top mark and still looks clean



where is the coolant temp sensor located? ill go check it out in school


edit: also forgot, what do i look for in a coolant temp sensor?

[halxi]

You wont know if its bad unless the ECU puts out a code, which from what youve been saying its not.

It may be bad, just not bad enough to trigger the code to the ECU.

The coolant temp sensor is the plug thats located right behind the dist. between the block and the TB, thats my best explination on finding it without a pic. Ill get a pic up shortly if you need more explination.

[newaccorddriver]

i did the self diagnostic this morning by turning the key on and looking for flashes, nothing was flashing at all, but i think ill look at the temp sensor anyways to see its condition.


just so i know, it wont be spilling out coolant everywhere now would it?



this morning i took out the fuel pump and checked to see if the mesh was clogged which it wasnt. scary as hell doing it thought, one spark and its all over. what was really scary asides from that was when i forgot to remove the gas cap so fuel spilled everywhere, needless to say i put floor dry all over it :)

[halxi]

Im not sure if it will or not, there are 2 sensors there and im not 100% positive on which one it is.

[newaccorddriver]

that settles it, they both must come out hehe

ill just check the schools shopkey