jansenjosh

Car in question is a 2001 CL with just under 200k, Bone stock as far as I know.

I bought the car for a very good price, knowing that it had a bad trans. The little bit I did drive it, it had a flair shift when hot while shifting into 3rd and 4th.

After a full rebuild and shift kit, I just got it back onto the road yesterday. It still has the flair shift but now it does it when cold or hot, when shifting into 3rd, 4th and 5th. Any ideas on the cause of this? I'm thinking it may be the Lockup solenoid, but I'm new to transmission rebuilding so I'm after some advice.

Thanks in advance

Warzone2159

What kind of transmission fluid are you using? And the tcc being clogged would cause shuddering. The a/b solenoid controls the gear to gear switching from what I understand, I cleaned mine and that may have solved my flaring I had. Take a look at my thread in the CL section, its still in progress

03 tls nc

iTrader: (6)

You need to adjust the A - B solenoids on top of the trans Sonnex sells a tool it's about $20. Mine did the same thing after rebuild, made to adjustments (1/4 turn each) the flairing was resolved. If that does not fix it replace the A-B solenoid and an adjustment may still be needed. The adjustment was intended for compensation of internal wear, the shift kit really changes the internal flow characteristics of the trans for the better, but you have to adjust for it. If you did not replace the two pressure switches with the rebuild you should do that as well.

jansenjosh

I am using Amsoil: AMSOIL Signature Series Multi-Vehicle Synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid I've had good luck with it in the past, and it supposedly meets Honda's Z1 rating. I tried to clean it when it was off, but I didn't take any of it apart.


I did not adjust those, so I'll get that tool and pressure switches ordered today.

Thanks much for the help. I was(am) not looking forward to taking it back out of the car.

03 tls nc

iTrader: (6)

Don't pull the trans! The A-B solenoid can be accessed from under the battery tray. Pull the battery, pull the tray and look down it's between the starter and fire-wall. Since its a fresh rebuild you should not need to replace the gasket but would not hurt to keep one on hand. I ended up pulling and adjusting mine two times (1/4 turn each time), I put about 600 miles on the car in between each adjustment. This let the ECU compensate for the change. NOTE: the adjuster plugs are a composite material use care! They are installed with a sealant that can act like lock-tight, I had to use a heat gun to heat the steal body of the solenoid before each adjustment. I also had to grind the tip of the adjustment tool down a little bit to provide a better fit in the solenoid because the tool was loose due to poor manufacturing quality. When you pull the solenoid make a reference make on the body and adjuster with a Sharpie so it will be there in the future if you need to make further adjustments. Take your time and make sure the o-rings are reinstalled correctly and take not of the four tubes, three of them have screens in them, clean them with brake clean and reinstall the same direction they came out. The fourth and longest one will allow the fluid to drain back into the trans and not all over the out side case.

The pressure switches can be installed by removing the left front wheel.

FYI I got 200K out of my factory Honda trans (recall rebuild in 06) always used Honda fluid. Started changing 3 quarts with every oil change for a couple years now and it has made a big difference. I will continue to change 3 quarts of trans fluid with every oil change. The first change with the rebuild produced particles on the magnet, this is because these transmitions have to slip to function so there will always be friction material breaking down.

jansenjosh

I was referring to pulling the trans because I assumed I screwed something up internally...

Which way did you turn the adjusters? Driving the car the way it is right now seems like a bad idea because of how much the clutches slip even under light throttle. Adjuster should be here Monday, so I'll keep you updated.

Thanks again for the help

Warzone2159

If your looking directly at the adjustment screws, the left one goes clockwise and the right goes counter clockwise.It comes with detailed instructions. Be careful however, over adjustment leads to binding of the clutches (EX. Engaging third while still in second gear) just as under adjustment leads to flaring.

03 tls nc

iTrader: (6)

Yep the instructions have a nice picture, it is easy to follow. What shit kit did you use and did you use an up graded TCC valve and new TC?

jansenjosh

Just a status update, but its all no news...

I played with the adjusting the solenoids, and it helps but seems to be a bandaid and not the real fix. Something else seems wrong, didnt seem like it wanted to lock the TC in 5th after it got warm.. I put about 20 miles on it yesterday and it finally threw a code,but I wont have a reader until Friday.

I also picked up a trans pressure gauge, because the translab shift kit directions mentioned low pump pressure could be an issue. Haven't used it yet either.

I used a Translab shift kit # STL-H05-388, a new torque converter and the original TC solenoid.

Warzone2159

My trans was doing that, it would rev like 150rpm and go back down at a constant speed, but if I give it a little extra gas, it would stay locked as I accelerate. It was weird. Check all transmission grounds aswell, not having grounds can do whacky things to electronics. I have about 100k miles on a trans with the oil jet on top

jansenjosh

I will double check grounds, but I tried to clean them up when I put it back together.

Video of tach while accelerating from a stop, this is under light throttle. The more throttle I give it, the higher it revs between shifts.

Warzone2159

Oh wow, that is some bad flare. I have about the 197xxx on my odo and I only flare above 3k rpms in 3rd and 4th. I'll make a video later. How much have you adjusted your solenoids and I would try some redline type f fluid or the amsoil equivalent which is super shift or something like that. Drive in d4 and see if it continues, my flare was very less frequent in d4

03 tls nc

iTrader: (6)

How much did you adjust the solenoid? Also the instructions for the TransLab kit gave a couple options for adjusting internal pressures by changing certain orifice sizes, which option did you go with? Are you using a trans cooler? I see the outside temp was 37, was the engine up to temp can see in video and how long had you been driving (was the trans at normal operating temp)? Does it flare if you accelerate under greater load?

jansenjosh

Thought I would give you all an update, as its been a while. I took it for a ~30 mile drive after I took that video and it finally set off a code. Something along the lines of torque converter circuit open. I went back and watched some more of this video, and realized I failed to put an O-ring on the torque converter... So over the weekend I pulled it and put the O-ring where it should be. But the slow shifting was unaffected by that. However the TC seems like it is actually locked up now.



I adjusted one 3/4 of a turn and the other 1/2 of a turn, I don't remember which off the top of my head. For the shift kit, I went with the standard recommendations. Not the heavy duty or street racer options, this is supposed to be my dd. No cooler and the engine was up to temp, the trans was probably close. But it doesn't get any better when it is warm. Lastly, the more throttle, the more flair. I will rev 1.5-2k over with a lot of throttle.

03 tls nc

iTrader: (6)

Are the pressure switches and A-B solenoid new? If not replace them, if that doesn't work I hate to say it but you might have to pull the trans back apart. Did you polish all the orifices, check valve functions and check tolerances?

jansenjosh

Thought I would give you all one last update. I ended up tearing the trans back out and going through everything again. The only thing I actually replaced this time was the paper gaskets. I didn't find anything glaringly obvious but, used a more appropriately sized torque wrench and spent some extra time on the valve bores using the bench buddies referenced in this video: This video was a big help the second time around, along with the FSM.

Overall I am happy with how it came out the second time around. It still shifts a bit hard into second under light throttle. But I think it just needs the A-B solenoid adjusted a bit. just haven't gotten around to doing it. I've put about 1500 miles on it commuting to work and then yesterday it made a 1100 mile drive fully loaded with all my basic living essentials for a long distance move.