2002 Honda Civic: stuck in gear or won't shift

Filed Aug 28, 2021 · Transmission · OH

Drove my Honda civic through town today for about 15 minutes. Came up to a stop light. When the light turned green. I took my foot off the brake and the car jerked forward real hard and then there was grinding noise coming from the transmission. The car wouldn't go into drive or reverse. With my foot on the brake the transmission wouldn't go into park. Had to have the car towed home

Filed Nov 16, 2012 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 170,356 miles · MI

I was driving early this morning around 6:45am. Was driving around to get coffee and such, then going 45mph to get to onramp of I-75. After accelerating normally to 68mph, the acceleration stopped and pressing on the gas did nothing. I slowed to around 20mph and that is the max speed I could go on the interstate until I pulled over. There were no weird sounds or smells or leaks, transmission fluid was full. I can start the car fine and drive it around going 20mph, but wont shift after that. Took to belle tire mechanics and they claim its a bad transmission. Everything I've researched online shows this to be a defective clutch pack carrier and is a known issue to honda and most mechanics, but they claim to not know anything for obvious reasons to avoid having to pay for their mistakes. This needs to be fixed by honda as this is not the fault of normal wear/tear. This is a blatant mistake by honda!! Someone needs to file a class action suit against honda for this. I've seen hundreds of other people with the exact same issue.

Filed Aug 21, 2012 · Transmission · 167,000 miles · WA

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 honda civic. The contact stated that while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate and would not shift into any gears. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnose that the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance since the vehicle was not included on any recalls. The failure and current mileage was 167,000.

Filed Jul 20, 2012 · Transmission · 164,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 honda civic. The contact stated that while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle started to make a loud noise and would not shift out of gear. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the transmission was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 164,000.

Filed Jun 22, 2012 · Transmission · 119,000 miles · FL

The vehicle's automatic transmission suddenly slipped out of gear from drive into neural (disengaged and did not re-engage) without warning while traveling at highway speeds, and the accelerator would no longer deliver power from the engine to the rest of the power train. Because I was traveling downhill, I was able to coast off the main highway to a side road at the next intersection. After this initial failure, the vehicle would not shift back into gear at all (neither in drive or in reverse) unless the engine is turned off and allowed to cool. Once the engine is cooled off, the vehicle is able to shift back into gear, but only for brief periods of time (less than 5 minutes) before the transmission disengages once again, and whilst in gear, the engine struggles to deliver power.

Filed Aug 29, 2010 · Transmission · 110,000 miles · VA

Transmission would not shift properly then would jerk into gear. Well the transmission gave out while crossing a busy intersection and I was lucky the car made it across. Needless to say $2600 and a new transmission later, it now works fine (of course). The torque converter failed causing the front pump to fail. Personally I know 3 people with the same problem, gee you would think that honda would realize the parts they used were crap and recall the cars to replace the torque converters. Never again!!!

Filed Dec 7, 2009 · Transmission · 87,900 miles · AZ

Complete transmission failure while driving my car. No warnings prior to failure. When exiting freeway the engine revved but the car would not go into gear. Concern is that this unexpected failure could cause an accident. All maintenance current on the car. 87,900. Miles many complaints online carcomplaints.com for this same issue.

Filed May 19, 2009 · Transmission · 130,000 miles · IL

My 2002 honda civic ex sedan with 130k miles on it started to exhibit a slight buzzing noise as well as a tendency to slip gears. Then one night the transmission completely failed and would not shift into any gear. Normally I would not think this to be an issue but after researching online, I found that there is an unusually high number of transmission failures in 2001 and 2002 honda civics. There is obviously a defect in the manufacturing of the transmission for this vehicle and is obviously a safety problem as it leads to complete loss of power to the drive wheels.

Filed Feb 9, 2009 · Transmission · CA

Driving in traffic, engine started to rev up but the vehicle would not shift into gear. Parked on curb, shifted to drive and seemed to shift properly, so drove back home to avoid any further problems. Noticed a burning smell from under the hood. *tr torque converter seems to be failing, need to bring it in to garage.

Filed Oct 20, 2008 · Transmission · 88,200 miles · FL

I started to feel the transmission slipping little by little and it just got worst from there to the point that the transmission just gave way. It just revs and does not shift into gears it will be more or less than about $1,500 to 2,000 to fix the problem. Wish they could had made a recall about this on my 2002 honda civic ex.

Filed Jun 17, 2008 · Transmission · 89,500 miles · FL

Car was driving fine, then started shifting hard from 2nd to 3rd. Lost all power and would not shift into any gear. Check engine light came on code p0730 "incorrect gear ratio" called honda repairs will cost $1,700. I searched the net and found that this problem is very common with civics 01-03. I feel honda should goodwill atleast the tranny.....

Filed Jul 7, 2006 · Transmission · 61,000 miles · GA

After pulling out on to road after oil change, car was fine for about 100 ft and then when trying to accelerate would redline rpms. Will not go into gear, transmission failed at 61k.