1990 Honda Accord wierd transmission problems.
 

I just bought a 1990 Honda accord with transmission problems. It's a Honda Accord LX with the 2.2L and an automatic transmission and 140K miles. Now for my issue. When I first start the car and put it in reverse, it jerks into gear and will move, then you put it in drive and it will either A, move very slowly like it's in second, B, go to first, drive maybe 15 feet then slip out of gear and free rev, or C do nothing at all, just like neutral.

If you shut the car off, then back on it will repeat the process. Sometimes it won't go into gear at all and the engine will surge between 1000 and 1500 RPM till I shut the car off.

The shift indicator goes where it's supposed to, the D4 light comes on only when it's in D4 and the S light comes on once, then goes off, unless I put it in sport mode. I tried reading the codes by jumping the pins on the blue connector, but I got nothing, no S light, no D4 light. I took the TCU out to check for burnt resistors, but the TCU appears to be new. No sticker, no A/T stamped on it, and the circuit board looked brand new.

I have been checking for grounding issues because it seems to have a few electrical bugs, but I am not having any luck finding the ground for the TCU. The haynes manual claims that it's on the right rear side of the engine, but the only thing I see in that area is the starter and the distributer.

I am not afraid of a transmission job, but I want to be damn sure that it needs replacing before I go doing it. Any help would be nice.

RE: 1990 Honda Accord wierd transmission problems.
 

Ok, more testing done today. The TCU is grounded properly. I found out that this guy that owned it installed an aftermarket radio, he tapped on to some wire that controls most of the interior stuff. auto belts, chime, clock etc. That wire has no power now and he tapped a constant hot off from the flashers to power it. Also, he changed the gague cluster. With the new cluster, I have a D4 light that comes on when it's supposed to, but on the original cluster to the car, I don't have a D4 light. I have all others, but no D4. So that led me to the shift solenoids. All 4 click when battery power is applied, but the bottom two sounded sickly, less THUMP than the top ones. I cleand them off and found that the electrical connection to the sickly ones is broken, so I am heading to the junkyard to get those as well as a different TCU.

RE: 1990 Honda Accord wierd transmission problems.
 

Good trouble shooting, hope you find your parts needed and get your ride fixed.

RE: 1990 Honda Accord wierd transmission problems.
 

Thanks. I got a used TCU (not an easy task as most are gone lol) and some solenoids from the same car. Plopped the new TCU in and it went through all 4 gears on a jack stand, but then wouldn't come OUT of 4th, so today, I am going to put the new solenoids in and try again. Hopefully this will fix my transmission problems. I have gotten much further than I did with the old TCU, at least it stayed in gear long enough to shift.

RE: 1990 Honda Accord wierd transmission problems.
 

Well, no go with the solenoids. The transmission is whining real bad too, so I am just going to change the transmission. I will post back here with information on wether it fixed it or not.

RE: 1990 Honda Accord wierd transmission problems.
 

You may be able to maneuver the tranny out from the bottom of the car if you loosen the engine mounts and tilt the engine slightly. May save you some time in the end, just make sure you have enough clearance.

RE: 1990 Honda Accord wierd transmission problems.
 

Thanks for the advice. I certainly intend on leaving the engine in the car. I changed the tranny on a 95 Cadillac Seville, I can change ANY transmission.