Hi, I am the new proud owner 2001 Accord 2.3, 4 Speed Automatic with 52k Miles on the clock.

The car when its warmed up sometimes likes to jerk when pulling away from a dead stop. If i apply throttle pedal very smoothly i can avoid the sharp jerk but it isn't right.


I know when the car is going to jerk because the car doesn't creep forward off the brake like it should. It will basically sit there in drive (D4) with next to no loading on the engine, like the torque converter has some how disengaged.


I have drained the gearbox oil once and refilled with fresh but this hasn't made a difference, will be doing another drain and refill soon to get more of the old oil out


The engine idle is fairly low when in drive and warmed up, around 750rpm. Is this normal?


Thankyou for any assistance

 

welcome to the forum no normal, transmission should always be smooth as it goes through the gears to 4th. i hope you are using Honda only transmission fluid. any other fluid will cause the snach/jerk of a shift.

 

All the actual gear shifts are nice and correct.

It's only when pulling away from a dead stop the car seems to rev up to about 1500rpm without having any actual drive. Then it engadges and jerks as it pulls away.

 

that may be a transmission needing minor adjustment. that would be for a trans shop to do. make sure you know the shop well to take it to. don't need a bogus info reply.

 

My parents 02 Odyssey had this problem too, even when it was new, and my 98 CR-V does it from time to time. It worried me for a while, especially after my parents transmission self destructed at about 175k. I'm not too worried about my CR-V because my car only has 173k now and I've read about CR-Vs lasting much much longer, but it does bug me. (I also drive like a grandma, and my mom was a lead foot.)

My parents car was only really used in D5, so I can't say much about circumstances around the jumping in other modes (my parents don't have it anymore), but it felt like the car was in neutral until after I hit the gas, and it would only happen after coming to a stop, when the transmission would have to automatically shift back to 1st gear.

I do also realize that the 02 Odyssey had (or at least the sales people said it had) Honda's first ever 5spd auto. I had chocked it up to that, until I noticed my CR-V doing it too.

My CR-V usually only does this immediately after I switch into drive (like when coming from reverse or park). If I wait for about a second before hitting the gas, it doesn't normally happen.

What worries me more is that I get this sometimes when reversing in my CR-V, but differently. It feels sometimes like reverse is partially engaged, and then it either gradually, or suddenly engages as I step on the gas.

I'm really rather curious now, since I know other Hondas do it. If anybody has any answers, I'd love to see them.

 

I forgot to update this website. I fixed it entirely by swapping out to fully synthetic ATF and what finally fixed it was fitting an external oil cooler! After reading alot about how useless the factory in tank ATF cooler is at flow and cooling capacity, I bypassed it through a plate and fin cooler. Been excellent ever since 3000miles of all sorts of conditions and testing no problems since. Well pleased.

 

Where did you find the ATF cooler? I might do that too?

 

Ebay I got mine. I got a 13row plate and fin type. Measured temperatures are between 40 to 70 degree c at the cooler. Mine is a 4 speed accord so the pipes are easy to connect. I'm not sure how easy it is to fit an external cooler to the 5 speed.

 

I would recommend trying some fully authentic ATF first. Alot of people in the know dont rate the honda dw1 ATF. Also dw1 is alot thinner than the old z1 ATF which the older honda transmissions were designed for.