InspireJ32A

Greetings, comrades. A few days ago my transmission apparently let go. But there are a few weird nuances that I feel I should go through, so here's a history of how the illness developed over recent time.

My problems started about a week ago, give or take. When driving foot to the floor, I could sense a barely noticeable shudder when the box would shift from second to third. And I mean barely noticeable, most drivers outside of myself would probably not even feel it. Then that progressed to a flare (I think that's what they call it on this forum?), when during the upshift the engine would rev up about 500 RPM as if the box were slipping. The weird thing is that in manual mode the flare would either go away completely or be very minor. I'd also get a pronounced push when the box would shift from third to second (during normal driving without any aggression). Which, again, went away completely when using manual mode. After a few days the flare became very prolonged, to the point where third gear would completely stop engaging for a while. Then it would return for a bit. The car became basically undriveable a couple of days ago, when I went out for an evening drive, and at some point I started experiencing weird unwanted downshifts and a ton of slippage. I obviously flipped around and headed back home, but I didn't make it. With only a kilometer to go, I was stuck on the side of the road, the box wouldn't catch a gear no matter which position the selector was in. Reverse also wasn't working. No jolts, no clunking, the car just wouldn't move, and the engine revved as if the box was in neutral. For that last kilometer I was towed on a rope by a Lada (which was a bit embarassing).

I did what I could to make the box feel better when my main ailment was just that small flare: I removed the linear pressure solenoid for a clean (it wasn't that dirty, could've just left it installed), as well as the three shift solenoids (also looking good). After that whole ordeal with the slippage and being towed on a rope, I did notice that the car would in fact move when completely cool, the symptoms described would mostly come back as soon as I'd put a bit of heat into the box. I went out for a test drive today after swapping one of the solenoids, and for a while the car was happily moving in first and second gear, but as soon as I left the gravel road next to my home in the country and drove onto some pavement - the box made an attempt at going into third, and failed (I'd already thoroughly warmed everything up by that point). The other gears also stopped working all of a sudden. All I had left was reverse, and thankfully the car was able to make the one kilometer (or thereabouts) drive back home in reverse, without any slippage or anything like that.

This all seems to be a bit erratic for a transmission that has already decided to leave and never return. After doing a fair share of reading, I'm thinking that perhaps this might be an issue with the pressure switches? I'm prepared to bite the bullet and get myself another transmission, but I am hoping that maybe a few functional pressure switches would at least allow me to make my way to my Moscow based repair shop (about 100 kilometers from where I live) and not call in a flatbed. Or maybe even make the car driveable for some considerable amount of time, I don't know.

The gearbox is an MRDA unit from a JDM Honda Inspire UC1 (not the B7WA which you'd usually find on this sort of car). I've done partial fluid changes every 10-15 thousand k's or so (Honda DW-1), the fluid looks ok, doesn't smell like it's burnt, I have an oil cooler installed from a Honda Legend KB1, so, aside from my aggressive driving style, I took decent care of the transmission. The pressure switches appear to be the same part number as the ones used in the 3G TL's, which apparently fail after a while. This particular box has done 110 thousand kilometers (approximately 70 thousand miles), so I'm guessing they might be dead. I guess my question is - is there any hope for this one? Or I shouldn't get my hopes up, considering that - even if this is a pressure switch issue - all of that slipping might've taken a permanent toll on the gearbox? BTW, I didn't see the "D" indicator on the dash flashing, and the car isn't throwing a check engine light. I guess that also sort of points to potential internal damage of the transmission, rather than an electrical malfunction?

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Why all of the hot links for the word "transmission"?

InspireJ32A

Wasn't me, man, I was just writing out the word "transmission". I reckon it's the forum engine having some fun or something.

whitetiger5

No CEL, and clean fluid? is your TC making any weird noise? listen to this so you know what I mean...


Did you check the troubleshooting in the repair manual?

I wouldn't risk driving it 1km, let alone 100.

InspireJ32A

Yes, it actually is making that noise. What exactly is that an indication of?

InspireJ32A

Presumable this means the transmission is f**cked, am I right?

InspireJ32A

Sorry, man, I answered your post without watching the entire video. I got to the part about the torque converter being buggered. Makes sense that it's the TC. But now this begs another question - should I try repairing the torque converter, or just put in a new transmission altogether? BTW the guy from the video is apparently also Russian. Funny coincidence.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Hey InspireJ32A.

Just curious, can you source an automatic '06-07 Honda Accord V6 (BAYA equivalent) European tranny in the RF?

It might just be a better 'bang for the ruble' long term solution, taking into consideration your 'aggressive driving style'?

InspireJ32A

Hey zeta. Unfortunately, the European market didn't get any front wheel drive V6 Hondas during those years. Our Accord is the equivalent of the Acura TSX that they used to sell in the States. The V6 cars were all AWD - Honda Pilot, Honda Crosstour, Honda Legend. The first front wheel drive V6 model officially sold on our shores was the 9th gen Accord, which was the equivalent of the USDM Accord rather than the TSX, that thing has a completely different gearbox. Theoretically the best option seemed to be the Japanese Inspire UC1 (which is basically a right hand drive version of the 7th gen Accord), that's where I got my current gearbox. But my box came out of a 2003 model car, apparently, and most of the cars brought into Russia for parting out are the earlier ones (2003-2004), which are obviously cheaper than the later facelifted versions. I've seen someone selling a BAYA unit over here, but first of all - that was a gearbox manufactured in 2003, second - it was being sold for about 3X the price of an MRDA like what I have. So the only real viable option would be sourcing a box from the States, but at that point we're looking at the same kind of money a 6-speed manual swap kit would go for, and I really don't want to go that route again (finding parts for that thing over here if something breaks is hell, and with my driving style something will most definitely break). I'm actually looking into buying another B7WA, at least those are cheap over here (300 dollars used). Throw in an oil cooler, potentially an oil jet kit (although I am a bit worried about the failure rate of gearboxes with that oil jet kit installed), some Motul Multi ATF (our local Inspire/Saber community says that the failure rate of gearboxes using this ATF is much lower than the ones filled with Honda fluids), re--evaluate my driving style (no abrupt 4-2 downshifts, onllu using manual mode) and hope for the best. If things go wrong again - maybe try rebuilding it with reinforced clutch packs. I'm still kind of hoping that a TC repair is the answer, maybe the box itself is still fine. Or a broken TC tends to take the box with it to the underworld as well?

zeta

iTrader: (1)

I understand, thanks for the explanation.

The above sounds like a viable 'Plan B' if the TC repair is not the answer over the expensive 6-speed manual swap kit.

Good Luck!

InspireJ32A

Thanks. I'm guessing a different gearbox is the way to go. BTW, what can you say about the MDX oil jet kit? It obviously doesn't help with cooling third gear (I was hoping it would, but even just looking at the parts diagram you can tell that the third gear clutch pack is located in a completely different place, and it's enclose in a sort of drum, so the oil jet wouldn't help with cooling or lubrication), but when I was reading into it on this forum, I was a bit upset to see that a lot of gearboxes failed right after people would install the thing. I've already bought myself one, and I kinda got my fingers crossed that those who say it affects ATF flow are wrong (I mean, that doesn't even make sense, given that this is a return line we're talking about here).

InspireJ32A

I also remember stumbling upon someone saying that the JDM B7WA's are different from the ones used in USDM cars. I'm pretty sure that's not true, given that all of these cars came off the same assembly line in Ohio, but still curious to know.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Sorry, I can't say that I'm familiar with the MDX oil jet kit, (or any other oil jet, for that matter) being a manual 6-speed guy. The only thing I can say is that it may be prudent to stick with the 'oil jet kit' specific to your B7WA type tranny just because it is made specifically for that third gear lube location vs the MDX kit. I know that does not help you much, just because you've already spent the money on the MDX kit and all. If you choose not to use the MDX kit, you may be able to recoup some of your hard earned funds by selling it online?

On another note, just curious. I will understand if you choose not to answer. I was wondering how you were able to communicate so easily, via the internet, since your RF president has promised to 'tighten things' up (with all the new internet laws passed lately), within the country, in the form of gaining internet access to the West online?? Your English and grammar are superlative and it's always good to see you active here on the forums and all researching and seeking advice.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

I have two comments which *might* be useful:

• There was a JDM transmission roughly akin to the BAYA, if memory serves, it was called the MAYA.
• I have heard anecdotally there is at least one 5-Speed automatic overhaul kit which upgrades any of the earlier 5-Speed automatics to the BAYA engineering standard.

InspireJ32A

It's a universal kit. I call it MDX because it was developed for the MDX at first, for lubricating second gear. It works the same on the B7WA as well (it's basically just a jet which you stick into the transmission filler hole).
As for access to the global internet from Russia - yes indeed, we did have a law passed not too long ago, the "sovereign internet" act or some bullshit. The thing is that they'll need to overhaul the existing internet infrastructure to make it work, and that's going to take a while. Second of all, I'm pretty sure a lot of the internet enterprises will sabotage the new law, although I don't know for sure. Third - Russians know their way around IT, if things do go sour - there will always be a way out (VPN's and whatnot). Fourth - I'm pretty sure most of the money allocated to making this law work is going to be embezzled anyway)) that's the main focus of our powers that be, embezzling money (sometimes flexing their "imperial muscles", which looks quite silly). It's a double edged sword, really. On one hand, it does make us as a people slightly poorer, on the other - all of this corruption sort of makes life a bit easier, when you know that a lot of the bullshit laws passed won't make it into real life due to squandering of funds, which is usually combined with a certain degree of stupidity and cluelessness of those responsible for cooking up this nonsense. I remember hearing a joke once about some dudes who served in the boarder guard during Soviet times somewhere near the Chinese border. They'd watch some foreign channel on their TV. When intelligence found out about that, they came over and removed the "6" button (which they programmed said channel to) from the TV set. I might've butchered that story a bit, but in essence - that's what a lot of these contemporary restrictions resemble. A year ago the government blocked Telegram (the messenger), which still works fine today, even though on paper it's still banned. What makes it all the more absurd is that a lot of the bureaucrats use Telegram themselves. In short, it's quite entertaining to live here. As for my English - thanks, I actually used to live in the USA a while back (for the better part of 13 years).

InspireJ32A

As far as I can tell, we don't have any MAYA units on sale over here. The equivalent to the USDM 7 gen Accord is the Honda Inspire UC1, and that uses the MRDA transmission (which is the one I have). Internally it appears to be the same as the B7WA in most regards (the clutch pack for third gear is the same part number, the main difference is that it doesn't have a spot for the power steering regulator, plus there are a few subtle differences to the solenoids and other small stuff).

InspireJ32A

When you see first hand some of the truly ridiculous and stupid things our government does sometimes, you wonder how on earth America considers Russia to be a threat at all. You might have heard the story about those intelligence operatives who got caught in Holland, I think it was. One of them had a taxi receipt which clearly indicated that they took a cab from our foreign intelligence service headquarters to the airport. That's some clinical stupidity right there, and there's a lot of that going on in plenty of other fields of Russian existence. And personally when I read in American media about Russia supposedly carrying out some kind of shrewd international operations (in the realm of the internet and hacking, for example), all of a sudden I'm like "what??". It doesn't seem possible, those are the same people who embarassingly f**cked up in Holland. And who steal videos literally from YouTube to make a presentation for Putin to demonstrate the newest "advanced weapons systems" on Russian national TV. I'm open to the possibility that there are still some people working in some Russian agencies who know what they're doing, and that just doesn't get shown on TV, but from what I see - things look pretty hopeless.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

There are in fact some very sophisticated cyber attacks originating from Russia and Ukraine, I say this from personal experience as I am a Global Moderator on a number of forums, and the hacking attempts coming from those two countries have grown in increasing sophistication over the last ten years.

InspireJ32A

Well... Maybe. We do have some very talanted computer geeks over here, talanted music producers, video makers. But usually anything associated with the government is pretty woeful. Although there might be some talanted guys working for them as well.

InspireJ32A

Hopefully Azine doesn't go the way of Eric the car guy) I tried accessing his website a bunch of times, but unfortunately he banned any IP addresses from my area.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I've had to ban a HUGE number of addresses from your region due to hacking and spammer activities. Just today 178.22*.* needed to be addressed.

InspireJ32A

Those are the assholes that give the rest of us a bad rep...(

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Yup, agreed.

A few years ago I did a blanket ban on a fairly large IP address range, only to need to make the ban more granular so the ranges not controlled by the spammers were still able to get in.

InspireJ32A

What region would that be, if that's not a secret?

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

It's not a secret, but it was so long ago I'm not sure I have my notes from the attack any longer. If I recall correctly, we were being hit with upwards of 100 attacks per hour at its peak. Once I isolated the IPs I was able to shut it down pretty quickly; that's when we happened to have a few dozen genuine new users within that range try and connect, this in turn, caused me to split the banned ranges.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

InspireJ32A, I apologize that I had to 'drop out' of this conversation earlier today; however, an urgent matter presented itself that required my immediate attention to resolve. With that said, I want to thank you for your personal 'real life' sobering candor in the response above. I have an interest, follow and read about the 'woeful' events transpiring in your great country in regards to the increasingly restrictive efforts of the 'powers that be' which effect everyday Russian persons daily existence. (don't even get me started on the new 'slapping law' ) Your first-hand account pretty much validates what I have read and researched since Demi proposed that his predecessor stand for reelection in 2012 and its downhill aftermath.




On the surface, for the lack of a better phrase, one (America(n)) might think just that; however, as you know, it's a little more deeply rooted and complicated. Personally, I wish we could be more cooperative, as two nations, together. Although when I see some of the targeted 'Crazy Ivan' shenanigans of late, it 'raises eye brows' of quiet concern. The last thing I want to do is turn this statement into a 'Russian bashing' exchange, so please do not take this personally as an affront.

For instance, on 07June19 when the Russian destroyer Admiral Vinogradov made an unsafe maneuver against guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville in the Philippine Sea (of all places) during the 'steady course' recovery of its helicopter, COLREGS stipulate that other vessels should keep out of the way of vessels which are restricted in their ability to maneuver, yet the commander of the Vinogradov almost caused an accident, in its deliberate hostile maneuver toward the recovering US vessel, that left people scratching their heads as to why a professional Russian mariner would do such a thing.

Another occurrence, three days earlier, over the Mediterranean Sea where a US P-8A Poseidon aircraft flying in international airspace was intercepted by a Russian SU-35 three times. The second interaction was determined to be unsafe and irresponsible (as a result of 'wake turbulence') due to the SU-35 conducting a high-speed pass directly in front of the US aircraft, which placed said aircraft's pilot and crew at unnecessary risk.

One of the most disturbing / embarrassing examples of internal lawlessness (since the Magnitsky event) involves the local Moscow investigative journalist Ivan Golunov charged with attempting to sell drugs, triggering a public outcry with accusations that police had fabricated the case against him for his story about Moscow's funeral industry. He implicated a number of law enforcement officials, including officers in the FSB for running a protection racket.

Finally, when the US experiences these targeted 'truly ridiculous' events or when the West, in general, witnesses 'stupid things' like how an innocent journalist can be systematically persecuted and set-up so easily by the 'powers that be' it gets our attention 'big time', leaving us to scratch our heads and thinking WTF is going on with Russia? It's alarming, to say the least.


Here's to hoping that you find an inexpensive remedy to your transmission dilemma so that you are back on the road ASAP.

InspireJ32A

Hey man. To be honest, I didn't look into the first two instances you cited, so I can't really say much about them. I'm sure there are two sides to the story, I mean, the American military typically isn't above provocative behavior, but on the other hand - I'm not going to defend Russia's actions here, since our government and military can do some stupid shite sometimes. As for the third story about Ivan Golunov - that was hard to miss, given it was all over the news. They actually let him go and are no longer prosecuting him after massive public blowback. Certain other "power agencies" called the MVD out on procedural violations, and basically bitch slapped the police for fabricating the entire case. Anyway, Ivan Golunov is free now, and it looks like this might even lead to a loosening of local drug laws, which result in a lot of people unrightfully going to jail.
As for the gearbox, I'll be sourcing a B7WA from a JDM half-cut, which has done about 50 thousand miles. Hopefully a new pair of sensors and some good ATF will help with reliability. It's going to take about 2-3 weeks for the box to be shipped from Vladivostok, so the car should be up and running before the end of July.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the response. Sounds like you are well underway in resolving your transmission issue.

?? '...from a JDM half-cut...' ?? Is that another way of saying that you found one in a 'salvage yard' ?

Nevertheless, that is a great find, with so few miles, given the age of the transmission. Trying to find an equivalent USDM 06-07 Accord V6 one over here would be expensive, most likely over $1,000+. Will you be using the MDX oil jet kit you mentioned?

InspireJ32A

It's not exactly a salvage yard - these people bring in whole and fully operational cars for parting out (not just Honda Inspires, albeit they do import a bunch of those, since the J32A2 engine is quite sought after by swappers). You wouldn't believe the amount of low mileage cars you can find on the Japanese auctions. One of the Inspires they brought in recently had only been driven 25 thousand miles. As for the oil jet kit - I'm still a bit torn. After reading a bunch of old forum posts where people would write that their gearboxes failed within weeks of installing that kit. Of course, those were written at a time when these boxes would fail en masse with or without the kit, but I'm still slightly worried that it might cause abnormal gearbox operation.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

So, as you were performing your due diligence sourcing the 'new to you' used JDM B7WA, did you by chance look, as well, just for 'grins and giggles' for a manual tranny and there availability / cost, as a potential additional option? Or are they just so cost prohibitive now that it's not worth the time? Who knows, you might 'fall into' a deal on one that you just cannot pass up.

InspireJ32A

Well, money is obviously an issue. I've either sold, given away or binned all of the parts needed for converting my car back to manual. But there's also the matter of it being incredibly time consuming to source everything I need - wouldn't want to miss out on driving for the entire summer. Also I just like the character of the car more with an auto, it fits the car better than a stick. Might as well enjoy it as is. If going fast were my objective - I'd be better off getting myself a JZX100 turbo or something like that.

InspireJ32A

This sort of car isn't the best tuning platform. It's a very nice and reasonably fast cruiser, but the potential for making lots of extra power at a minimal cost is quite low.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Yes, I understand. Sometimes, while 'buried' in stop-and go traffic during a 'feels like' outside temperature of 100 degree Fahrenheit +, as only one reason, I do wish my 17 year coupe was an automatic. However, I'm 'old school' and can't seem to wean myself off 'rowing through' the gears.

I see it's getting near 4 pm there about's Moscow now, so I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of your summer afternoon. It's 9AM here in my state, and I have to get the obligatory 'property maintenance' done soon before it, the outside temp., turns into a humid furnace. We are just one month into 'Hurricane season', so things in the tropics will start getting interesting now as the temperature in the Gulf and the Atlantic start to climb to the point of cyclone formation. It's always a wild ride.

InspireJ32A

Don't get me wrong, I love manual transmissions myself, but it sort of feels a bit out of place in my car. Thanks and good luck with your property maintenance!) If you ever spend a winter in Moscow - I'm sure that afterwards you'll appreciate Florida a lot more

whitetiger5

I couldn't agree more! My family and I just took it on a 800 mile road trip this weekend. Son napped in the back for most part. I think that's attributed to the smooth ride and comfy leather (if you keep it well conditioned).

InspireJ32A

Mine is JDM, with velour upholstery) closer to the topic - indeed, the TL (or the Insaber, as it's nicknamed over here) is a fantastic road trip car. I also took it on a long trip recently, 1500 miles I think it was. From Moscow to Kirov and then down to Kazan and back to Moscow. Over some of the worst roads that you can imagine, where you can easily destroy the wheel bearings, smash the tires and bend the rims if you're not careful (on a few occasions I had to drop my speed to about 20-30 MPH). The car was durable enough to make it through all of that without developing any new knocking noises in the suspension, the ride is comfortable, high speed stability is really good, the cabin is quiet, seats are decently comfortable, the motor has more than enough power to hang with pretty much any other car on the road (nothing crazy though). I just love driving it.