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Basics first: ’01 Honda Civic, 4D, LX model,1.7L. Roughly 135k miles. Regularly maintained, short of the 300$+ things. (not a good enough job to afford it)
Got it completely paid off, and (after a year of waiting…. long story) finaly signed over into my name completly. But had to take it through local emmissions before the paperwork was able to be completed, and came up with a few codes. Top amongst those was the P0740, and a few others due to overheating. Got the oil changed (had been working odd hours for several months straight that prevented me from getting that taken care of, either on my own or just going to a shop) and it ended up clearing the codes. A few months later I start getting idling problems when coming to a stop, feeling like it was misfiring. Checked and replaced plugs (the old ones were considerably old, but no signs of other problems), and ultimately had to replace my ELD. Fixed that problem, but the P0740 TCC code came back a few weeks or so later. Now, I have to admit, I did a rather abnormal thing for me, and ‘let it slide’ thinking it was just an intermitant problem/false read (i don’t remember why). -edit- Durring this time I had also taken it to a friends dad who is a mechanice, and it was pointed out I had a rather low idle speed. about half what he thought it should be for the type of car. (it usualy sits around 1.5krpm or so)
FF to a few more months after, and my car just dies on me. It still ran, everything was on, even the engine. But it simply got no power to the wheels.Ran like it was in neutral no matter what gear it was in. Had it hauled off to a local Transmission specialist shop, and let them look at it, atleast as much as they could without pulling it out. And I’m told that the Torque Converter is pretty much gone. It had “blown up inside and spewed it’s guts out, and ended up clogging the filter”, as they so colorfully put it. They were nice and let me leave it there for nearly a month while I tried to scrape together the 1.5-3K to fix it (and they didn’t charge, even for the tow to their shop). Now, I have it back in my driveway, front wheels off, ready to try and tackle this myself (amongst a few smaller maintenence/repair issues I was needing to do… brake system and possible front suspension overhaul/upgrades).
I do have just about all the needed tools for the job (hence the name ^^. And my name doesn’t end in Taylor 😛 ), minus some of the more expensive ones and a hoist or stand. Plus maunals and diagrams galore. But I’m looking for some more experienced input. So any advice, guides, help, etc. would be great.
Also, due to its age (and I’ve been reading how this particular year/model’s trans has an issue of dieing around 150k.. I do deliveries, so I’d guess it just sped up the process), I’m looking into possibly doing a rebuild on it as well. I watched your video on the gear/clutch replacement, ETCG, and was wondering if you could possibly elaborate on the whole process a bit.
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Hey Tim, My names Tim too. haha
So your removing the tranny to replace the torque converter?
First thing is to have a good repair manual or software, read everything twice, have a good camera when taking it apart so if theres anything you
think you won’t remember how it goes just take some good pictures, and TAKE YOUR TIME.Honestly that transmission is not known for problems in my experience. What I see more often than not is the wrong fluid installed and the transmission being overfilled by not checking the level correctly. You need to make sure you use Honda fluid only and to only check the level with the engine off on level ground. That said it’s not a difficult transmission to replace so you shouldn’t have too much trouble. In fact you can see me swap one in the Civic engine series that I did eariler this year. Good luck.
Another forum member has posted a link to Chilton Online that may help you out. If you cant find a FSM, id look into using Alldata too. Its a great tool to use.
Keep us update on the process with pics if possible!
Hmm, guess I forgot to mention that I do have both a Haynes and a Chiltons service manual for my specific make, model, and year. Also various diagrams and transmission specific manuals that I’ve managed to find online. So, I’m good on that end to.
(will be watching that honda series ETCG most of my day tomorow! ^^ )
And there will be plenty of pics! xD I’m too detail oriented to not take pics. Specially for memory purposes at the very least.
Great on the pics. Hopefully if all goes well someone else may stumble across this thread and it will be a good pictorial aid for them C8-)
Hey all, I’m back. Sorry for the delay (if anyone was worrying… Heh ). Been getting better hours at work again, so I’m more easily able to get this done soon. So I figured, ‘Better get started! (finally)’. (will edit info on socket/nut/bolt sizes and torque values, etc. for what’s missing now later)
Now, before I *actually* started on this, I already had my resonator, and intake duct taken out. But, for the sake of completeness incase anyone else ends up having to go through this, I put them back in place (no bolts though) so we/they get to see what it looks like beforehand. So it’s pic-torial time! (I initially pulled them because I was going to put in a CAI before the current problem popped up >_>. and i had ended up needing to replace my filter housing as well a while back) I’m still waiting to get the money for the part, and a 3-in-1 jack (Cycles, trans, small engines) so I can lower my trans, but I’ll be doing what I can up to *that point*, and posting for now.
Ok, here we have the engine bay/compartment (whichever you prefer) of the 2001 Honda Civic LX sedan (1.7L).
Unfortunately, in Honda’s genious, they crammed a whole lot of stuff in this relatively small amount of space! So in order to get down to the Transmission we’ve got a bit of digging things out to get to it so that we can take it off. And since we’ll be working with a fair amount of the electrical components around the engine (and as normal safe practice), the very first step is disconnecting the battery! With that out of the way we can work around here with no risk of shocking ourselves when having to reach our arms and hands through odd angles and openings.Prime amongst the pieces in the way we have: The Resonator. To which the purpose is quieting down engine noise so you and your car will be ‘neighborhood friendly’. And that’s pretty much it O_O. And the little intake duct.
The duct has 1 simple 10mm bolt (
yeah, i messed up when labeling the pic.. not a 8mm >_> ), and a fastener that holds it to the wrapped Pos+ battery wires, and just slides onto the resonators side. The bolt will require about a 6″ extension for work room, and either a knuckle adapter to get at it, or just forcing the duct to the side. Then either clip the band holding it to the battery wires or pry the clip from the duct, leaving it atatched to the wire. Then wiggle it off of the resonator.The Resonator has 4 large/long 10mm bolts on it (in pic above). One bolts into the transmission bell housing, one into the water pump (from what I can tell of it at the time of typing this), and two more that are shared with the Air Filter Intake Housing with rubber grommets on the resonator side. The resonator also has a green clip securing it to another wrapped line on the bottom, in the back of it (
). Otherwise, a flat-head screwdriver and a good bit of elbow grease (some WD40 doesn’t hurt either) to get this sucker off. Unbolt, un-clip, and wiggle free from the Filter Housing.Now the next step isn’t wholey necessary, but since we’re near it, and I find that I personally needed the room having bigger and longer arms than the available space allowed, I took the air filter housing off too. I had to replace this a while back (this is the newer one) because somebody at a local autoshop either used an impact wrench, or just didn’t watch how much they tightened the cover down and cracked the bottom half, making it impossible to actually unscrew three of the bolts (
). (And hey, it’s shiny, new, and looks ‘cool’ ;p )Having already removed the two bolts that held it to the resonator, there are just 2 more 10mm bolts remaining. Conveniently both are on the front side! (
). And loosen up the aforementioned ring clamp that is between the filter housing and the intake manifold. (either a small phillips head screwdriver, or around a 5mm socket will be needed for this) Slide the spring clamp on the hose connecting to the engine (drawing a blank on the proper name.. will edit later). Then just wiggle it up and out of it’s place. Flip it over and here we can see the clamp ring and rubber gasket that hold it to the intake manifold. *note the slots around the bottom ring and the tabs on the bottom of the housing that they line up with, incase the gasket should *not* come off of the intake manifold with the housing.Now we can really get some access to the places we need to get to! So, here we have the engine bay, now minus all of the big items cluttering up the space! (
the one on the left ehre is being a major pain to get loose! >_< ) (Also some more tubes, but I was getting tired of standing and leaning over :p so leaving them for later once I get the trans and rest of the system drained)
(Since I'm waiting for parts and tools, I decided to go ahead and try to get the wheels and tran-saxles out of the way at the very least. What follows is only partial, as I got blocked by some *very* stubborn bolts :/ )
Starting with the passengers side front wheel (almost everything will be mirrored/backwards for the drivers side), loosen lug-nuts then raise the car, then finish removing the lug-nuts. Slide wheel off and set aside for now (or INside my car, in this case... no garage 🙁 ). Two _mm bolts in the back hold the brake caliper to the caliper 'frame'. And a further two _mm bolts holding the frame to the rotar/control arm and strut. (continuing later...)
And this was where I ran into the problem bolts. These suckers are just seemingly way too tight! Feel I'm going to have to break out my impact gun to get them off. The same is also true for the drain plug on the Trans. Both bolts, on both caliper frames are stuck on so hard, that even beating on my wrench with a rubber mallet only served to warp the connector on my wrench (to the point that the bearing doesn't stick out, and won't hold a socket on anymore! heh. almost a good 1/8 to a 1/4 twist). So, temporarily defeated and deflated, I took to just cleaning up the areas and getting more pics. Pads seem to still be in good shape, despite not having them changed 'since forever' () (even one spot would be too much for me lol). I find it odd though that just the drivers side has the extra plate behind the rotor, though… And I want to get them changed out with some slotted rotors, and get some Brembo calipers. But, one problem at a time, no? xDI’m trying to figure out the logic behind not having money and putting expensive brakes on that car, it’s not like you NEED them, cheep aftermarket stock stuff will stop that car just fine. Thank you for the detailed documentation of your ‘odyssey’ of your transmission swap however. Good luck and keep us posted.
Well there’s a bit of a madness to it, i guess… >_<. I also want to get this upgraded to be a bit more than just a daily driver. xD And, brembo calipers and other performance brakes (and other upgrades) are really just on the list-o-things to do (eventually). And this is going to actually be a rebuild, not simply a swap. So, we'll get down to the good stuff with all the guts of this particular transmission! ^^
You might be surprised at how much of a difference steal braided lines in place of the rubber lines makes with braking, you might forget all about upgrading to more expensive parts. Good luck. Also please remember to mark the ‘traffic light’ to green when an issue is resolved to help us keep track. Thank you.
Braided lines were one of the other upgrades I wanted to do. But given that, I guess I’ll end up doing them first, instead of calipers, when I get to that area of upgrades. Will be digging back into this Monday and Tuesday (specially being paid overnight between them). So I should have more pics and updates then, weather providing.
Sorry for the delay in updates, I ran into a few snags trying to get my axles out. Nuts are staked on too tight, and caliper bracket mounting bolts seem like they were tightened down too far, and then fused. I’ve since bought a little torch and some chisels and punch sets to try and un-stake the axle nut, and breaker bar in the off chance that torching it doesn’t work. But, my work is going to be taking a hiatus for a bit. Recently been involved in an auto accident, suffering a handful of broken ribs and limited shoulder movement on that side. So, no strenuous labor for me for a while! 🙁 But, I promise to get back to this, and posting pics once I’ve been given a clean bill of health (and possibly go through some physical therapy for my shoulder) and can actually ‘work’ again.
ETCG, I recently watched your videos on doing a similar job, without an actual shop lift, and I have to say it (re)inspired me on how to tackle this job, myself having no shop lift available. ^^ Just takes some creative thinking to get my car up higher.. hehe
Sorry to hear about your accident I hope you get better soon.
Do NOT heat the axle nut as you will melt the grease in the wheel bearing and possibly damage it’s rubber seals and for that reason heat should never be used on an axle nut. Here is a video I did on axle replacement that I hope will help.
) (even one spot would be too much for me lol). I find it odd though that just the drivers side has the extra plate behind the rotor, though… And I want to get them changed out with some slotted rotors, and get some Brembo calipers. But, one problem at a time, no? xD
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