89lx-i tranny/fluids help+misc...

About 6mos ago, i was driving to work, and my brakes gave out. (no fluid flow) So, in order to stop for a red light i had to throw my car into park... :(
I hear what sounded like, (to my ignorant ears) a card slapping some spokes on a bicycle, then my car slid into a stop. I was able to continue driving, but the next day, my car was acting funny.
It seems now, when i accelerate, it goes to the upper 1k's and into the mid 2k's RPM for even a lowly 20mph. it used to stay on the lower end of the 1k's or reach the upper 1k/lower 2k's and shift into second and drop rpm's back to lower/mid 1k's...
now when i hit 40 i'm floating between 2.2k and 3krpm. I'm guessing my 1st gear went out for a drink and hasn't come back. Also every so often, between 30-50mph when the motor isn't vibrating like a beast, the revs slip from 2k's to 3k's or back down to 1's and up to 3.5's then settling at 2k's forcing me to tap the gas pedal to sort of 'balance' it.
A quasi-mechanic friend told me i should try some stop-slip in my engine, but i also may have busted a pin. Any suggestions on whether i should try such a product? Or is my problem sounding more severe than something some fluid may fix?
also, just today i checked my tranny fluid... and i... umm... think i may not be even at the lower line. (read: below the x's) I've used and abused this car for like 7-8 years now, and am about to abuse it more for a pizza delivery job. Seeing as i may have bonus cash flow, how should i go about fixing what problems i have, and/or what kinda price damage am i looking at?
For the record, I am a noob when it comes to engine care. I know how to check my oil, change ps and brake fluids and fill coolants and such, but i'm unsure how to handle such products involving the tranny, and anything outside of a wrench and screwdrivers frighten me.
Help please *sobs*
BTW, the car is stock 89lx-i 2dr coupe 4spdAuto, with about 165k miles now. I've never experienced much other trouble outside of needing to fix some kind of gasket between the top cover of my motor, cause it's leaking oil into my exhaust thingy and causing my motor to belch smoke out of the front of the engine.

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Originally Posted by MercuryRune

So, in order to stop for a red light i had to throw my car into park... :(

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what happend to your e-brake and if it was so serious that u had to put the car in park to stop i wouldent of been driving it at all as soon as the brakes went i would have pulled and called AAA and had that sucker towed to my house, theres no exause for driving a dangerous car on the road specaily one with no brakes sorry i dont mean to jump down on you but its dangerous

Honda's can usually take a lot of abuse and still keep going. You are, however, driving something that's almost 20 years old, and there is a limit that even a 3G can reach. One of the most important things in an older car is maintaining fluid levels, and it sounds like you ignored your brake fluid reservoir for too long. Throwing the car into Park to stop it will pretty much bend something, so you've got a problem there. It may be messed up, so what have you got to lose by throwing in some magic potion?

If you take care of your car, your car will take care of you. If you don't, it won't. It's that simple. My suggestion is that you come to terms with that reality. The "I'm a noob, scared by a wrench, use and abuse my car for 7 years," has created a flock of chickens, and they just came home to roost. Time to either get it together financially and buy a newer car, or get it together mechanically and mentally, and learn to take care of what you can afford. Tough words, but true.

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Originally Posted by w261w261

Honda's can usually take a lot of abuse and still keep going. You are, however, driving something that's almost 20 years old, and there is a limit that even a 3G can reach. One of the most important things in an older car is maintaining fluid levels, and it sounds like you ignored your brake fluid reservoir for too long. Throwing the car into Park to stop it will pretty much bend something, so you've got a problem there. It may be messed up, so what have you got to lose by throwing in some magic potion?
If you take care of your car, your car will take care of you. If you don't, it won't. It's that simple. My suggestion is that you come to terms with that reality. The "I'm a noob, scared by a wrench, use and abuse my car for 7 years," has created a flock of chickens, and they just came home to roost. Time to either get it together financially and buy a newer car, or get it together mechanically and mentally, and learn to take care of what you can afford. Tough words, but true.

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very well said, any person that knows how to drive a car know u dont through an auto into park while moving, my tranny went on me about a month ago and it just stoped like dead stop and i have a 5speed, as soon as it went the car was off and i was out tryin to figureout the prob i noticed that the car was roling bak but not forward so i figured my tranny was shot well, it is but its my syncro, and i have to hold it in gear or it will pop into reverse, and guess what its been sitting in a parking spot for the last month and hasent moved,(lucky me this all happend fight in front of my parking spot hahahahah) any was morel of the story if somethings wrong fix and please dont drive it, its just unsafe.

Geddy: My e-brake didn't work for whatever reason, and it still doesn't now. And I had just gotten new brakes and cv's so i knew it wasn't a brake problem, but a fluid problem, and i didn't know that until I went to 40mph and tried to brake, since it braked well at 15mph.
The red light i had to stop at was a t-intersection, and it was either stop the car any way possible (yes i know park is bad while the car is moving), or get t-boned by oncoming traffic, which there was. After the incident, i had my hazards on and went 5mph all the way to work, so I did my best to be as careful as possible when the situation became clear.

w261: i'll try the fluid, thanks for the advice. Also, if i had the support of someone who knew what they were doing, i would love to learn how to maintain my car mechanically. I've learned so much from this site already from the how-to guides. It's just that this is my only transportation, so i can't just go into taking it apart without being secure in knowing I can put it back together, because this car is my job. I'm working to get these problems fixed, so i'm trying to "get it together financially" but until that time, i have to wing it the poor man's way.

thanks for your advice and replies.

OK, so it sounds like you've been paying someone to fix your car, which means maybe they screwed up when they put in the brakes. When you say it was a fluid problem, what was the nature of it? Even if you lost all the fluid in one braking circuit, you should have had another one to fall back on. Perhaps the repair place botched the job, in which case you might have recourse back to them for the damage.

Your original post sounded more like someone who did nothing to his car, and eventually it failed. If you have been paying to have work done, the mechanic had a certain responsibility to advise you. Have you talked to him about what happened with the brakes?

take it back to the brake shop and explain the problem. try to get them to at least replace the brakes and help with the trans. if not, just get a good used auto trans. i have one that i know is good, it's out of my own car. the car got parked and i started parting it out. i'll be in orlando this sunday, but i don't have time to pull a trans by then. i can pull one and deliver it on another visit, though.

but see if your shop will at least help you repair your car before you go for it yourself.