1998 Honda Accord: complete transmission failure

Filed Aug 23, 2016 · Transmission · WA

This is exactly what happened to our car please see below from the other honda owner's description: at 100,000 miles my 1998 honda accord began jerking and bucking when shifting from first to second gear and also when accelerating in higher gear. I was almost killed by a semi truck behind me when the car bucked and decelerated rapidly. These are dangerous cars! The check engine light came on and in the lower gears the car would go into "limp mode" and I would have to pull off the road and restart the engine in order to drive it. I took the car to a very reputable mechanic and he diagnosed a complete failure of the transmission and told me this was a known issue with this year and model of honda. To replace the transmission would cost $3,400.00. After researching I have come to learn that it is a manufacturing defect in the transmission that honda has been aware of and has done nothing to rectify. I contacted honda and was told that they "sympathize with the problem I had but because they have no recalls or alerts in their system" there was nothing they would do to help. There have been hundreds of complaints about transmission failure in 1998 honda accords and in my case it almost cost me my life. If you have a similar problem, please report it to the national highway safety administration.

Filed Nov 14, 2012 · Transmission · 114,000 miles · TX

On the date specified above up to the current date 11/14/2012 I [xxx]have had this 1998 honda accord ex for less than a year and I have had problems out of this car's take off speed. To further explain the car struggles to take off, and when it does and tries to shift, the shifting is either delayed, and or the vehicle shifts very rough. It is almost as thought the vehicle is leaping forward. There are even times when I try to take off after stopping in traffic, the car behaves as though it is in neutral when trying to shift from first gear to second gear. My engine light did not come on until later indicating that there was a malfunction somewhere. I pulled out my code reader and hooked it to the obd outlet on my car and it indicated, low torque shift solenoid circuit. I checked the internet to see if any other honda owners had this same issue with their honda accords, and it appears that I am not alone with having the same symptoms. It also appears that honda has had these problems with the craftsmanship of their transmissions on the accords from year models 1998-2002. However, so far from what I have researched on the web their has been no accidents or fires reported yet. I am urging the federal safety agency or to immediately investigate this issue. This is a safety issue that I believe needs to be addressed. Although my car is a 1998 model, their have been customers whom have had their vehicles have transmission failures with mileage as low as 56000. This type of mileage of 56000-117000 miles for a transmission to fail is not normal. Especially if the vehicle has been very well maintained, with maintenance records to back it up to date. Anyway, please investigate before someone gets seriously hurt or even killed. I don't want anyone or honda to suffer like firestone tires did a few years ago. Come on honda, fix your product that you have been standing behind. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Sep 14, 2012 · Transmission · 91,150 miles · GA

1998 honda accord complete automatic transmission failure at 91,150 miles. Incident below resulted in near collision when my vehicle pulled out to merge into traffic and vehicle would not accelerate more than approximately 15 MPH. Other vehicle had to slam on brakes to avoid side collision. I have a 1998 honda accord lx, 4- door, 4 cylinder, automatic transmission. At approximately 91,000 miles, I noticed that the automatic transmission started to "slip" shifting from first gear into second gear, especially right after the vehicle was just started. This issue would get worse under medium to heavy acceleration. Having had another 1997 honda accord lx, 2 door, automatic transmission, that failed at 66,000 miles, I suspected that the transmission was failing on this 1998 honda accord lx. The vehicle was taken to cottman transmission for evaluation, and the technician test drove the vehicle immediately after starting up the vehicle in the morning. The technician confirmed the severe "slippage" from first into second gear and ran diagnostic tests on all the electric components, including automatic transmission solenoids. Upon completion and additional examination of the problem, the technician stated that the automatic transmission was failing, and required a total rebuild. Once the honda accord automatic transmission was removed from the honda accord and taken apart, it was noted that the internal metal filter was plugged with metal savings, the clutch bands were burned, and an internal electric switch was defective. Expect no help and/or compensation from honda corporation as pursing that route has been futile. It would seem that honda corporation had been over confident in the sale of hondas in the united states, that the "quality" of their product now suffers.

Filed Sep 26, 2011 · Transmission · 149,000 miles · GA

Tl* the contact owns a 1998 honda accord. While driving approximately 20 MPH, the contact noticed an excessive vibration in the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostics where the technician stated that the transmission would have to be replaced. After the repair the failure continued. The transmission was replaced seven times to no avail. The approximate failure mileage was 149,000. Updated 11/22/11*lj updated 06/13/2012

Filed Feb 10, 2010 · Transmission · 87,000 miles · TX

1998 honda accord ex-v6. Transmission failure. 1. I was driving on the highway and suddenly the transmission started to disengage and re-engage by itself and then locked the transmission. 2. Before the failure, I started to notice the transmission slippage around 55,000 miles. I brought it to honda dealership at around 60,000 miles and they just replaced the transmission oil. However, the problem was just getting worse. 3. After the transmission locked up, I almost lost control, I have to put the transmission to neutral and had it towed to honda dealership. I was told that transmission was out and need to be replaced. The replacement transmission cost was about $3000 4. I just noticed that there were similar recall for honda and acura transmission.

Filed Aug 15, 2009 · Transmission · 160,000 miles · IN

Car began to shift roughly occasionally several weeks ago. Car is now slipping gears especially when engine is warm. Transmission was replaced at ~143000 miles 16 months ago because of slipping gears. This would be the second replacement if I am told this is because of transmission failure. The car has ~160000 miles on it.

Filed Mar 29, 2009 · Transmission · 105,000 miles · AL

1998 honda accord v6 automatic transmission failure. The transmission slips when shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. The vehicle will not be repaired since the costs is approximately $3500 for a remanufactured transmission.

Filed Jul 3, 2008 · Transmission · 67,000 miles · VA

My honda coupe v6 had 67,000 miles on it when the transmission started slipping. As a consequence of this, I cannot safely make left turns as the car won't accelerate immediately and passing is not safely done either. I do not drive it now except to work, 2 miles away, and locally. The repair shop said I need a new transmission and the cost will be between $2,500 to $3,000. I have not had it fixed yet.

Filed Mar 14, 2008 · Transmission · 49,278 miles · FL

Tl*the contact owns a 1998 honda accord. After four years and 49,278 miles, a new transmission was installed in july of 2002. The dealer stated that the new transmissions were malfunctioning; therefore, they only charged the contact $1,000 for labor. In march of 2008, the vehicle needs another new transmission. The failure mileage was 49,278 and current mileage was 102,658.

Filed Feb 26, 2008 · Transmission · 40 miles · GA

My 1998 honda accord automatic transmission has failed. There are 130k on it. In sept 2007 the transmission started to slip. When I came to a stop it would jump. The more that I drove it would shift hard into every gear. On oct 30 2007 the transmission began to jump from 1st to 3rd gear and then would not shift into 2nd gear at all. The rpms were at 3k in 1st gear and would begin to jump wildly. I have not been able to drive the car since it is a hazard on the road. It will cost around $1200 for a new transmission which I do not have.

Filed Jan 11, 2008 · Transmission · 93,000 miles · MD

I own and drive a '98 honda accord ex 4-cylinder with automatic transmission. The transmission had been having a rough shift in the 2nd gear for about 1 year when driving the car from stationary to moving. But the car was running fine on the higher gears. I was able to drive on highways till few weeks ago. Around the 15th of dec 2007 I suddenly started to have vibrations in the car and strange hitting noises came from the engine when driving on the highway. The car felt dragging on the highway (i270s) which panicked me and I have to give more gas to pull to safety. The car still rust, but I'm not using it for about a month now because of fear of getting into an accident because I have heard cases with similar transmission issues where the car down shifts to 2nd gear suddenly on a highway without any warning, which will lead to an accident with the car coming behind me. Dealer says that to fix this problem, the transmission needs to be replaced with a cost of around $3200. I referred the case to american honda, but they refused to do anything to resolve this safety issue. The current mileage on my car is around 105000 but the problem started when it had around 93000 miles. The 90000 mile service was done at the right time and the transmission oil was changed at that time using genuine honda manufactured transmission oil. I also have changed engine oil regular and done all maintenance as per the schedules provided in the '98 honda accord manual. The car had been under professional care all through the time I owned. This transmission related issue is a real safety issue which was addressed in the 2001, 2002 and 2003 honda accords by voluntary recalls by honda motor corporation. Honda had changed the transmissions on these cars to resolve this issue. But that recall needs to be extended to the 1998 model cars as well because the accord model had been completely redesigned in 1998 when, I believe, this problem had originally started.

Filed Oct 3, 2007 · Transmission · 101,000 miles · IL

(1) my 1998 honda accord (v6 coupe) began jerking and failing to accelerate. After repeated occurrence of this, I took my car to the honda dealership to identify the problem (2) it was determined that transmission, specifically, the torque converter failed and needed to be replaced. (3) the transmission was replaced with a refurbished transmission.