thelastaspec

Hi,

Just finished my AV6 swap - wow, it's like a completely different car with this new transmission.
Shifts are so smooth and so quick.

Something I noticed while testing:

When the car is up in the air and in neutral, the wheels start to rotate - I can stop them by hand if I grab the tires.

When on the ground in neutral, the car does not creep forward.



Anyone else experience this or is the AV6 torque converter bad?

I didnt even detach it from the transmission when i got the AV6 transmission - it came clamped on with this aluminum holder.

I managed to source it from an 06 Accord with only 40,000 miles.

Thanks so much

01acls

I wouldn't worry about that. It's probably just a sticky solenoid or valve. It will probably loosen up once the trans gets resaturated with the atf.

It could just be normal in neutral.

thelastaspec

A friend of mine with a 99 just tried this, his rotates in neutral too while up in the air.

02tlnate

Where the brakes off? I just did my brakes two days ago and started the car in neutral with wheels off but one side had brakes installed and the opposite side without calipers, pads, or rotors moved in neutral off the ground other side with brakes installed didn't move at all

Skirmich

This is normal... My car does this too since day one.

thelastaspec

Thanks everyone, kind of interesting as I would never test this otherwise...

With the AV6 swap this is a completely different car...

MarcDavidoff

Yeah that is normal to spin like that while front wheel are off the ground.
Did you do the swap on your own? How long it take you?
Just curious what feels different other than the obvious that it shifts better

thelastaspec

1-2 is very smooth, 2-3 is very smooth and a lot faster than before.

I called a friend to help me with the attaching / detaching of the transmission for safety, doing the subframe, turn crank for torque converter bolts - everything else was on my own. I used an engine hoist to lower / lift it.

You could totally DIY it, but I would 100% not recommend it for the safety... At least have someone at home at the time. Makes life a lot easier on certain parts of the process too.

10 hours to disassemble, 10 hours to re-assemble taking my time not to miss anything as it was my first time removing a J-series transmission. My prior experience is that I pulled a Miata engine and transmission with a friend and helped swap a Toyota Chaser to manual.

ErickUa5

Yup its normal.
Unlike mine it will creep forward in Neutral on the ground.
Its a sign of the converter dragging, New converter wont solve it.

MarcDavidoff

Thanks for the info. Sounds about what I had read someone else sayng it took them as well. I bought an AV6 trans a few weeks ago that has 68k miles on it. I have also pulled and engine and trans once before out of a 4cyl accord but due to it being winter now and limited time/space I'll probably be having it installed by Paul near me here in NJ very soon.
My failing torque converter has been limping along but it has been on a slow downward spiral. It whines now for the first few miles in the morning and some days shutters more than others.

thelastaspec

Mine + the pump started to do that 2 weeks before it died. Eventually it would whine the whole trip before she bit the dust.

You're 100% right on the doing it inside... I did it inside a garage.

If you feel any slipping, take corners in the 1 or 2 position so you doing get T-Boned in some intersection!

MarcDavidoff

The shame is I have not had any slipping ever. It has always shifted fine thru all the gears. The fluid has also stayed nice and pink. I believe in my case it is just the TQ going south at this time.
About 5k miles ago go I got the P0740 death code and it was shuddering quite a bit on the hwy in D5. I figured what the heck and went ahead and did about a 50/50 mix of DW1 and Redline racing Type F to see what it would do. It seemed to shift a bit more positive and actually wasn't shuddering as much. Although if I take off somewhat quickly (rpm above say 4k), the shift from 3 to 4 will usually give a quick flare now with this fluid mixture. I think the Redline may have given it a bit more life although probably not much. Now the TQ whine started in about 1500 miles ago also coinciding with the colder weather.

thelastaspec

I think you are 100% on the money. Hopefully she doesn't die at an inconvenient time. If I recall correctly, Type F has a higher viscosity than DW-1. ATF-Z1 had a higher viscosity than DW-1 too. I was reading that Valvoline MaxLife ATF is common fill on Odyssey forums. I've used it on other import cars before and really like it a lot. Very good high temp / our transmission specific properties according to bobistheoilguy forums...


I also filled my transmission a little over, as i noticed it deff went down as it soaked into all the parts again. Ill use my vacuum extractor to take back down to the proper level tonight. I think it's all soaked in by now.

MarcDavidoff

I have read the same positive reviews on the Maxlife fluid on the Honda forums. I also get a delay now going into drive after sitting overnight. Never used to but now it will give a few seconds..more so the colder it is out. You re right though, I have been lucky so far limping it along, but don't want my luck to run out at a bad time so now that I have the AV6 sitting in my garage I think it's time to get the swap done.
Btw, is the car you just did the swap in the Aspec? That is one sweet car!

thelastaspec

Yea! I even have the leather A-Spec coat they made for you!

Chojun

..for me..?

MarcDavidoff

Figured I'd throw a quick reply on this thread as we had been discussing the failing trans. So after quite some time of running with a failing torque conv (probably a year) and a couple months of my torque conv whine, she finally has just about bit the dust. All was ok (well ok in a sense that nothing was worse), and getting onto the highway about 75 miles from home she all of a sudden slipped bad and revved high. I backed off the throttle and let it settle down and it finally downshifted. Engine light came on with triangle etc.(p0740) Drove ok for about 30min at 65mph but noticed the torque conv wasn't locking up at all. Revs were around 3k. Then it started revving higher and wouldn't accelerate any further until I started losing speed. I pulled off the road and shut it off to cool down. I could smell the fluid burning. I imagine the torque conv got superheated. Checked the fluid and it went from pink a couple days prior to light brown and smelling bad. I was able to get her going again after some more slipping and actually made it home the 75miles in D4. She's done now and ironically enough I had just scheduled for AV6 swap the night before. She goes in for it in about a week.

thelastaspec

Great idea posting this. It's crazy how fast they go from nice pink to burnt. Lucky you were able to limp it home.