Videos of my Honda transmission overhaul

[Mike]

I recently needed a new car and bought a 1999 Accord 4cyl Auto I found on craigslist for $800, with transmission problems. It was really screwed up when I got it, even harder to drive than any stick shift when you could actually get it to drive. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was prepared for the worst, and it turned out to be a good thing. It had a severely worn differential carrier bearing producing lots of metal debris, a destroyed/overheated 4th clutch, most valves in the valve body sticking or seized, clogged and torn screens in the valve body and lockup solenoid, and a clogged internal filter. I suspect debris from the diff bearing had a lot to do with the other failures.

I mainly shot these videos because I was unfamiliar with this unit and had no previous experience with auto transmissions inside. I figured there would be a lot to think about and try to remember so I wanted something to go back to so I could remember how things were before I took them apart. I ended up referring to them several times during reassembly.

The video description also tells a lot more of the story so be sure and read that if you’re interested. I’m just posting this as interesting information and not expecting anyone here is going to be doing this, but ask away if you do need information. At this time I’ve got 2100 miles on the trans since this overhaul with no issues. Here are the videos:

Topic

[John Hugon]

I mainly shot these videos because I was unfamiliar with this unit and had no previous experience with auto transmissions inside.

WOW… you could fool me. What do you do about the pump gears and housing?

[Mike]

I did study a lot ahead of time, mostly looking at This dude’s trans repair channel. Of course he posted a 2 hour rebuild video of a very similar unit to mine a couple of days after I was done, but his pre-existing Honda trans videos were great enough to give me the confidence I needed.

As for the oil pump, the gears seemed fine, and I lightly sanded the galling in the housing. Just enough to take any sharp peaks off the galls and no more. I knew there was sufficient line pressure before I took it apart so I didn’t want to alter what was there and working ok. I would’ve loved to make it all smooth and nice, but it’s likely I would have opened it up too much and caused an issue. After I torqued the main valve body down I thought the pump gears seemed a little tight, so I removed it and redid it again and it felt the same so I just went with it.

Technically it should’ve gotten new valve bodies, and it would have if it was a normal work job I was flat-rating. My labor is free for me, but I “spent” about $1500 in labor to fix $700 worth of parts. It all may seem to work perfectly in the end, but we know the condition of those parts is less than perfect. Certainly no customer would ever pay for that.

[Bill]

A job very well done! IMO. The video gives people some insight into what is involved in repairing an automatic transmission.

[Author]

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