okay. well first of all i have a 98 prelude ss, and i seem to be having problems similar to those of other ss's out there. my car revs up 1000 rpms between shifts and has a 2 second lag between 1st and 2nd gear, and sometimes it will rev up through all the gears, it also make a clunking noise when i put it in reverse. i think my tranny is starting to go, i bought the car for 6200 and it has 130,000 km on it, i'm pretty broke at the moment but will honda replace the tranny free of charge as it is a known issue? thanks, ps i live in canada, if that helps.
Go to a honda dealer and get 6 qts of Honda ATF. Change the ATF 2 times, using 3 qts each time you drain it, and driving around the block in-between the changes.
There is a chance that if you call Honda care and give them a song and dance that they'll pay for the transmission if you pay for the labor, etc.
...but the dealer is going to tell you you need a new transmission. Given that reverse is having that problem... your in deep doo-doo.
pIERCE,
I asked the gentleman about his transmission and he said he has never had work done on it. I believe the odometer read 298,987km. He looked surprised when I told him that the SS transmissions are problematic.
Hi there folks,just found this thread after searching google about the SS transmisson on my 97 Prelude and im abit worried now.
I am from the UK(Scotland) and have just picked up a 97 5th Gen Prelude 2.2 Vti auto.
Now i know im not having problems with my tranny but i just want to be sure everything is tip-top so have a few questions for those in the know.
When i use the Sport Shift,how long should it take to shift up a gear once ive pushed the stick??No more than 1 second??
When using the normal auto drive(D4)should i feel it changeing up and down the gears??Or should it be silky smooth??
Also when going from park(P) into drive(D4) how long should it take to engage the gear??Same with going from drive(D4)into reverse(R)??
I know the above are probably stupid questions but i have no idea so would just like to be safe and have some reassurance that my tranny is fine.
Hi Nik, I am in Cardiff. welcome to the Prelude owners club my man. I have an imported SS 'lude with 62000. When in Park and shifting to D4 it takes atleast 1.5 seconds to engage, same with reverse. Sports shifting takes up to a second. You can certainly feel the gear changes in auto and SS mode but it's reasonably smooth. When parked on a hill, sometimes there is a bit of a clunk as the gearbox is under load in that situation. This has been my experience so far, having owned the car for a year. Please let me know if this matches your experience, then I'll have a better idea that everything's fine. Good luck mate.
__________________ JDM '97 SS 2.2 V-Tec with 60000 miles
Last edited by JupiterJoe : 07-10-2009 at 12:47 AM.
Hey Joe,its nice to know some1 else from the UK is on here as its mostly USA based from what ive read.
Anyway,yeah,mines does exactly as you have described.It is relatively smooth in D4 mode and definatly dosnt jerk when it shifts up the gears,but you can feel its shifting up the gears.I suppose all autos are probably like that tho.
Yep when selecting reverse or forward drive from park,it isnt instant,as you say 1.5s tops.
Also do u find that when in SS mods,coming down the gears is a tad quicker than going up the gears??Have u taken it to the redline in 1st gear then went for 2nd with the revs nigh on the limiter then its touched the limiter just before it engages 2nd due to the time it takes to shift up??
When your car is ticking over in N or P,can u hear the autobox or is yours just purely engine noise??I can hear mine(not in a bad way though)spinning which may just be the torque convertor or something else associated with the autobox.
I had my tranny changed back in '05 for free under warranty. How can I tell if they replaced it with an updated model? It's taken on almost 50K miles since the fix. Should I be worried about the replacement tranny dying?
Yes, you should be worried about the replacement trans dying.
And about the updated trans...yeah, see, whats funny about that is no matter what people want to think, or whether Honda updated anything at all doesn't matter....Their SS trans fail. Period. They fial in '97's just like they fail in '01's.
There has been no information of significant differences in the lifespan or longevity of trans from any years. In other words, they all seem to be weak and fail at random, but premature occasions. There are other threads you can read up on.
Honda updated the original transmission in the Prelude by reducing the stall speed of the torque converter.
This has the effect of lowering the original perfromance specifications on the SS units (slower off the line, etc.).
However, it has the benefit for getting about 70-100k miles of life on the unit due to decreasing the beating the transmission takes.
In addition to the T-converter, they also had issues with the clutch packs and some needle bearings, both of which have been fixed.
So, unless you have an electronic control issue (e.g. solednoid, etc.) or have been boosting, you really shouldn't have a serious issue if you are changing the ATF everything 20k.
No AT is going to last like a manual transmission, and even those are sort of frail in the Prelude. (Penty of folks have issue with reverse and 5th gear...) Of course, they are easier to have rebuilt...
So they really did enhance them? I thought that was somewhat of a myth, at least what I've read so far. The topics about the so-called improvement never got specific.
Yeah, basically any transmission (AT) in the Prelude that is replaced get's a new t-converter that's had its stall speed lowered, and the updated parts.
Honda was anything but quick to fix the issue. (That's way the 97,98,99 model years had tons of failures...)
They also spent a buch of time screwing around with solutions, which included sending the transmission out to 3rd parties for rebuilding, etc.
In the end I spoke with a guy that is/was an engineer for Honda, and he filled me on the specific problems. (Under the condition of not indicating where I go the information.)
Another way I was able to verify the issue was a parts search. Interestingly, TRW and others make replacement parts of the SS Autos in the Prelude, which include clutch packs and needle bearings.
[Of course, Honda requires that the t-coverter be replaced, which more or less ensures at this point that you end up with a reliable transmission... which probably will not happen if you go to Lee Myles, Ammoco, etc... "We can reuse that t-coverter, don't worry about all the metal bits and crap in the turbine housing!"]
[quote=Gerhard;3033909]In the end I spoke with a guy that is/was an engineer for Honda, and he filled me on the specific problems. (Under the condition of not indicating where I go the information.)
[quote]
Furthermore, we have recently discovered that Honda recalled all of the 1997 SS Auto Preludes in Turkey and replaced the transmissions with updated M6HA units.
---------------------------------
I was thinking about it did the updated transmissions work fine or did they have problems too?
__________________
^dirty car been raining alot and i live down a dirt road
Hey, im new here, been browsing the site gathering info. I have a 98 Prelude Base AT with 198,560 miles!! Everything was fine until last week after i got smog done, the car just didnt want to roll while in D4, just stayed but slightly rolled backward! I pressed the gas and the car lunged foward hard! But second 3rd and 4rth shifter smooth and fine, but now anytime i put the car in any gear it wont roll on its own i have to press gas pedal and feather it so it wont clunk hard. From what i read it might have low ATF but it was full, so I drained and refilled, I did the whole add 3qrts drive drain add 3 more. Still same issue, so I guess its had a full run with nearly 200k it was bound to give out, I tried contacting everyplace to rebuilt but not worth the cost i guess. A buddy's shop who imports clips has 15-18 97-01 Tranny's avaiable so Im going on monday to pick one up its a off a 01 SiR prelude with 65000km so very low miles. Total cost wont be so bad, tranny and install $750. I got off easy, Im almost temped to pick up another tranny incase this bs happens again. I will be installting an tranny cooler and chaning the ATF religiously.Im just hoping this is the problem and not some electrical issue!
Why the hell are eyou going to raplace a bad auto tranny with another bad auto tranny. Just do the 5 speed swap and be done with it.
Cuz i was quoted about $1500 to do it, i dont have that right now. I dont use this car for racing or driving hard. Reason it has 200k miles is cuz i work in Vegas and drive it 4800-5000miles a month. Just simple transportation, i paid $2000 for the car so its not worth it really. I have a 93 Del Sol with a k20 swap so this is just a daily driver.
Last edited by unrealspeed : 10-08-2009 at 01:26 PM.
Yeah, basically any transmission (AT) in the Prelude that is replaced get's a new t-converter that's had its stall speed lowered, and the updated parts.
Honda was anything but quick to fix the issue. (That's way the 97,98,99 model years had tons of failures...)
They also spent a buch of time screwing around with solutions, which included sending the transmission out to 3rd parties for rebuilding, etc.
In the end I spoke with a guy that is/was an engineer for Honda, and he filled me on the specific problems. (Under the condition of not indicating where I go the information.)
Another way I was able to verify the issue was a parts search. Interestingly, TRW and others make replacement parts of the SS Autos in the Prelude, which include clutch packs and needle bearings.
[Of course, Honda requires that the t-coverter be replaced, which more or less ensures at this point that you end up with a reliable transmission... which probably will not happen if you go to Lee Myles, Ammoco, etc... "We can reuse that t-coverter, don't worry about all the metal bits and crap in the turbine housing!"]
ok soo i bought my car a couple years ago, the previous owner had this problem and ended up replacing the transmission, so in other words, i shouldn't be worried about this one crapping out on me?
-you think if it did i could just ask honda to do the 5 speed swap instead and still have them pay for it?
im having hella problems with my 00 ss lude. i just spent 475 getting the trans cooling lines replaced and the trans properly drained and cleaned out with atf. i have every intention of doing the 5 speed swap. the obvious thing in question is all of the parts. i got the master cylinder, pressure plate, pedal assembly, and one line that i dont know what it is but its steel and has alot of bends, and fluid resivoir for 120. what other parts should i be looking for? do i need an ecu do i need special fabricated pieces and wiring. and once i get all of these parts what is the best place i can take it to in the san diego ca area. a place with good price and really good work. i hear 3000 i hear 1500, so i dont know what is a good guess. all information is helpful. also do i need a new cluster and will it need to be calibrated.
Last edited by BB6 3xtr3m3 : 12-23-2009 at 04:49 PM.
I have had my 97 auto for a long time now and the transmission runs just fine. I think it's just hit or miss with it.
Well, yes and no...
If you drive the car like a old lady, then it might actually last. If you drive it like a sports car, taking to the redline frequently, then there is a very good chance that the AT is going to blow up on you by the time you have 75-100k on it.
My original SS AT blew up at just under 36,000 miles. ...after I'd taken it to the dealer about 3-5 times indicating that something was wrong.
Most of the rebuilt units (by Honda) seem to last 75-100k miles ball park.
The 97s and 98s (and the rest) were known to have substandard clutch packs and needle bearings.
Add that to the inability of the dealers to properly troubleshoot them, and you're extremely lucky if you don't have a problem (real or otherwise).
For instance:
I ended up swapping out the AT in my Prelude after I finally got fedup for the last time.
It turned out that the ICM was going bad in my distributor. I took it to dealer and told them that the transmission was acting up, along with the symptoms (hard shifts)... and they couldn't find a thing wrong with it.
RPMs are read off the distributor, and that signal is sent to the TCM. So if the transmission thinks the engine is cranking along at a number of RPMs that it's actually not, it SLAMS into gear. [which is really bad for the transmission].
The dealer had no clue about this, and no ability to troubleshoot it [no codes are thrown when it happens]. They were content to tell me nothing was wrong, and that I was basically full of crap.
That's the story of the Prelude SS AT.
The only reason they actually ended up warrantying them in later models, is because a guy in an Acura in MA almost got killed when his transmission fell out of gear on the highway. At that time the Acura also used the same basic SS AT, and his lawyer was able to draw attention to the fact that the same parts were used in several Honda automobiles. [Preludes, Oddesseys, TLs, etc.]
Of course, Honda did their very best to screw the 97 and 98 owners... and they did so because all of those model year cars were past the 36 month warranty. So to them it was somewhat porblematic to warranty the older cars, plus, I'm fairly sure, they'd been charging people left and right for replacements. ...so they wanted to avoid law suits.
It has, however, been pretty typical that if you call Honda care about your failing SS AT 97/98, that they'll generally give you the transmission or the labor. (Provided you have low milage on the car...)
im having hella problems with my 00 ss lude. i just spent 475 getting the trans cooling lines replaced and the trans properly drained and cleaned out with atf. i have every intention of doing the 5 speed swap. the obvious thing in question is all of the parts. i got the master cylinder, pressure plate, pedal assembly, and one line that i dont know what it is but its steel and has alot of bends, and fluid resivoir for 120. what other parts should i be looking for? do i need an ecu do i need special fabricated pieces and wiring. and once i get all of these parts what is the best place i can take it to in the san diego ca area. a place with good price and really good work. i hear 3000 i hear 1500, so i dont know what is a good guess. all information is helpful. also do i need a new cluster and will it need to be calibrated.
On this website are at least two posts that have been FAQ'ed, one by me.
Both basically tell you everything you need to know about the parts you'll need for a AT -> Manual swap.
In short, you remove the TCM from behind the kick plate in the passengers side floor, and you can modify the AUTO computer to operate as a MANUAL ECM by soldering a connection on the circuit board.
There should also be posts about that here... but I may have put them on one of the other Prelude sites that may be defunct.
I've looked through my stuff, but it's been so many years now that I've deleted most of the prelude related material (for instance, I once had an electronic copy of the manual...)
My 97 had already had a new transmission put in before i got it. At the time i didn't know about the ss problem so i didn't think much of it. Well that was about half a year ago and the transmission works okay for the most part it just shifts rough sometimes. usually before it gets warmed up. I'm just hoping it doesn't go completely because i don't even have the money to convert to 5spd
If you drive the car like a old lady, then it might actually last. If you drive it like a sports car, taking to the redline frequently, then there is a very good chance that the AT is going to blow up on you by the time you have 75-100k on it.
My original SS AT blew up at just under 36,000 miles. ...after I'd taken it to the dealer about 3-5 times indicating that something was wrong.
Most of the rebuilt units (by Honda) seem to last 75-100k miles ball park.
The 97s and 98s (and the rest) were known to have substandard clutch packs and needle bearings.
Add that to the inability of the dealers to properly troubleshoot them, and you're extremely lucky if you don't have a problem (real or otherwise).
For instance:
I ended up swapping out the AT in my Prelude after I finally got fedup for the last time.
It turned out that the ICM was going bad in my distributor. I took it to dealer and told them that the transmission was acting up, along with the symptoms (hard shifts)... and they couldn't find a thing wrong with it.
RPMs are read off the distributor, and that signal is sent to the TCM. So if the transmission thinks the engine is cranking along at a number of RPMs that it's actually not, it SLAMS into gear. [which is really bad for the transmission].
The dealer had no clue about this, and no ability to troubleshoot it [no codes are thrown when it happens]. They were content to tell me nothing was wrong, and that I was basically full of crap.
That's the story of the Prelude SS AT.
The only reason they actually ended up warrantying them in later models, is because a guy in an Acura in MA almost got killed when his transmission fell out of gear on the highway. At that time the Acura also used the same basic SS AT, and his lawyer was able to draw attention to the fact that the same parts were used in several Honda automobiles. [Preludes, Oddesseys, TLs, etc.]
Of course, Honda did their very best to screw the 97 and 98 owners... and they did so because all of those model year cars were past the 36 month warranty. So to them it was somewhat porblematic to warranty the older cars, plus, I'm fairly sure, they'd been charging people left and right for replacements. ...so they wanted to avoid law suits.
It has, however, been pretty typical that if you call Honda care about your failing SS AT 97/98, that they'll generally give you the transmission or the labor. (Provided you have low milage on the car...)
so what about a 99 ss lude? cause thats what i have and i literally have to sit in my car for 15 mins before goin anywhere unless i drove it less than 2 hrs prior.... what do we do now?9besides swap it to 5spd of course) is there even a point in getting it serviced? i was really considering a swap to 5spd but i started to think " hey if i can just get it serviced and it runs better i can just use this lude as my DD and the s2k(future car hopefully) as my project car." what to do? where to go? im in CA btw
so what about a 99 ss lude? cause thats what i have and i literally have to sit in my car for 15 mins before goin anywhere unless i drove it less than 2 hrs prior.... what do we do now?9besides swap it to 5spd of course) is there even a point in getting it serviced? i was really considering a swap to 5spd but i started to think " hey if i can just get it serviced and it runs better i can just use this lude as my DD and the s2k(future car hopefully) as my project car." what to do? where to go? im in CA btw
Hey dude its longshot4450 from SocalPrelude . I totally forgot about the warranty that only applies to the 99-01 ss ludes. Take it to a Honda Dealer before you hit 100,000 miles (your at 84,000 if I remember) in fact take it to several Honda Dealers until 1 either gives you a re-manufactured tranny or rebuilds yours for free.
Hm. After reading this thread I decided to check my 1997 ss auto prelude's maintenance records and found that it's never had it's transmission replaced, nor worked on and my car has approximately 163k miles on it. Lately it has been shuddering when shifting gears and kind of clunking. Can anyone tell me if that means my car's time is coming? I hope not, because I absolutely love my car, and I've only had it for a year and a half... If it is coming... time to buy a 5-speed manual.
Hm. After reading this thread I decided to check my 1997 ss auto prelude's maintenance records and found that it's never had it's transmission replaced, nor worked on and my car has approximately 163k miles on it. Lately it has been shuddering when shifting gears and kind of clunking. Can anyone tell me if that means my car's time is coming? I hope not, because I absolutely love my car, and I've only had it for a year and a half... If it is coming... time to buy a 5-speed manual.
If it has never been serviced, drain the tranny fluid and replace it with Honda ATF, drive it for 500-1000 miles and drain it again and replace the fluid and that should hopefully fix you problems since it has never been changed.
So, is there a list of places/businesses (I live on the East Coast in PA) that are reputable to do a SS > 5 spd stick swap? And what's the final cost for people who have done the swap?
I ask because I'm looking at purchasing a '98 Prelude-SS with 62k miles on it and when I test drove it today, it shifted hard from 1st to 2nd gear. It didn't slam and would probably have hardly been noticeable for most people but I certainly picked up on it. So, before I agreed to purchase the car I started searching around online, which lead me to this thread.
So, I'm trying to see what a tranny swap would cost to see if I can work the price of the car down enough to justify purchasing it.
So, is there a list of places/businesses (I live on the East Coast in PA) that are reputable to do a SS > 5 spd stick swap? And what's the final cost for people who have done the swap?
I ask because I'm looking at purchasing a '98 Prelude-SS with 62k miles on it and when I test drove it today, it shifted hard from 1st to 2nd gear. It didn't slam and would probably have hardly been noticeable for most people but I certainly picked up on it. So, before I agreed to purchase the car I started searching around online, which lead me to this thread.
So, I'm trying to see what a tranny swap would cost to see if I can work the price of the car down enough to justify purchasing it.
- J.
It depends if you look around enough and do most of the labor yourself or know someone who will hook it up it can be as little as $1,000-1,200 or as much as $2,500-3,000 or even more if you want to add a bunch of goodies.
It's almost pointless to buy a car knowing the tranny would go out? That is unless you use it against the seller and get a Really cheap deal on it to where you actually save money by doing the swap. Otherwise I've seen manual preludes for around 4-5k and you could spend the savings on better things, like an h22a swap.
__________________
"If you really loved Honda's as much as you think you do, you would move to Japan to be as close as possible." Guess we're all moving to Japan?
Do the swap! I paid $3000 for it and the performance shop said it was slightly tricky. I have had no problems since. Also did the G23 swap, took 10 months and $4000.
Rediculous!
Hi guys. I'm thinking of a 5 sp swap for my 1998 prelude vtir.
It has 140000km on the odometer. And overall the car is in very good condition. The transmission changes smoothly. No strange sounds. So it seems fine for now.
I live in australia. Anyone know a place in australia that does the swaps? and what price range am i looking at?
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