Oh man, I got a story for this. I work at a honda dealership as a tech and the tech that works next to me had this 2000 auto Prelude. To make a long story short, he had to install 3, I SAID THREE, reman'd SS trannys before this one ran fine. 2 of them had bearing noises around 40 mph (if you stuck a long screwdriver right where the imtermediate shaft meets the tranny, you can hear it bad). I dunno if Honda reman'd a bad batch of trannies, but damn, you hate to see someone go through that crap.
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i have a 97 prelude base SS
i just bought it from the orig owner
and uhm it seems that the transmission
turned garbage at 182k
my 1st to 2nd gear change is horrible
it always overrevs 1st gear
the car shakes a lot
Im on my second transmission. I give up. Hail damage, oil leaking, SS auto trans ****.. this car is a POS. I am going to convert it to a 5 speed but right now its going to go into a deep sleep for the winter. i love the car just not so many issues. this car was beat and i bought it from a drug seizure bank repo for 1500.00 two years ago so i cant ***** too much. i will take some before photos with the neglect and hail damage.
i have a 97 prelude base SS
i just bought it from the orig owner
and uhm it seems that the transmission
turned garbage at 182k
my 1st to 2nd gear change is horrible
it always overrevs 1st gear
the car shakes a lot
Hey man, i had the same prob w/ the 1st to 2nd, mainly when my engine is barely warming up; Also sometimes when it was already warmed up.
Anyway, are you using regular fuel or premium? Ever since i've began using premium, the shifts are smooth as sh!t. As for the shaking part, i have no idea what that is... Good luck
I'm in the process of buying a black 2001 Prelude base with SS, I've been reading alot of ur guys' reviews about the SS system in the 97-99 versions of the prelude, but how is the SS treating the guys with the 2000-2001 SS? I'm hoping that they actually did mod the trannies for those year models to last a lot longer.
The car I'm buyin has 58k miles on it, basic tein suspension, JDM fog lights, 6000k HIDs, alpine type-s speakers, pioneer deck, T1R catback exhaust, and a V1 AEM cold air intake (no bypass valve on, but planning to put one on if I do get it).
Its a SS. It will fail at some point. I have 165K on mine, but it still hasnt failed completely yet. Did have to change the tranny fluid b/c of bad slippage. But i consider myself VERY lucky. I plan on swapping it to a manual in the near future. If you buy it, your fist mod should be to swap it...or just find a manual...
I fought with the local Honda dealership with my 98. I knew I would lose because I just bought it (for $800) and none of the info matched my name. I said to hell with it and put one of my 5spd. swaps in it. If anyone wants to know more, I will post a thread and kick out some pics because it was stupid easy. In a nutshell, ALL EXISTING AUTO PARTS WILL WORK EXCEPT THE FOLLOWING;
half shaft
shifter/cable ass.
THE PARTS THAT SWAPPED OVER;
mounts
axles
HARNESS-DONT BOTHER WITH THE MANUAL HARNESS
ECU- study evryone elses work on making it work??? IMOBILIZER
I also discovered that the 4th gen. clutch pedal, hydro lines, shifter and cables will fit. Alot of info has been shared by others who have done this, it is just alot easier than what it sounds like. Quite fighting with these trannies and do the swap.
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Anything Honda can do, Nissan can do better! -NISMO
I fought with the local Honda dealership with my 98. I knew I would lose because I just bought it (for $800) and none of the info matched my name. I said to hell with it and put one of my 5spd. swaps in it. If anyone wants to know more, I will post a thread and kick out some pics because it was stupid easy. In a nutshell, ALL EXISTING AUTO PARTS WILL WORK EXCEPT THE FOLLOWING;
half shaft
shifter/cable ass.
THE PARTS THAT SWAPPED OVER;
mounts
axles
HARNESS-DONT BOTHER WITH THE MANUAL HARNESS
ECU- study evryone elses work on making it work??? IMOBILIZER
I also discovered that the 4th gen. clutch pedal, hydro lines, shifter and cables will fit. Alot of info has been shared by others who have done this, it is just alot easier than what it sounds like. Quite fighting with these trannies and do the swap.
Are you sure about the mounts? Honda has different part numbers for the transmission mounts.... Im sure if it would have been the same, they would have made it to save some $$ in design and manufacturing.
I used ALL existing mounts on my swap. If they have different part numbers, maybe they are a little different, but not enough to notice by eye, drivability or assembly. With the Prelude, Im starting to think Honda lost focus and just threw the car together. Anyhow, I used all the mounts-driver, passenger, front and rear, for the swap. I did have to go with the manual pork chop if that is what you are asking.
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Anything Honda can do, Nissan can do better! -NISMO
I plan on doing the 5 speed conversion when I have ample funds to do so, but till then I'm fairly confident my transmission will hold up.
The cars engine was replaced with a JDM OBDI H22A4 motor with about 35-40k on it. But the transmission was the original.
The body's miles and transmissions miles are the same, right now at about 135,XXX miles.
It runs very strong, smooth, and good. I'm not just saying this either, as I honestly feel I have lucked out. A 5 speed transmission is a must in this cars future though. First though is the h22's top end rebuild.
The 2nd gear has pretty much gone out on me. When shifting from park to reverse it "drops" in a bit, when going forward and shifting from 1st to 2nd it will rev HARD, like 6k hard, sit at it for about 10 seconds and then drop in hard, when you give it to much gas it will do the same thing, and then do the same thing again when you shift into third. Third and fourth do the little drop in thing as well.
The over rev of 2nd gear started happening about 6 months ago when I raced another car from downtown cr to the blairsferry exit which is about 10 miles, we did anywhere from 90-110 the whole way, I took the off ramp, slowed down for a light, went to take off and ended up in the current situation I thought it was just me being to rough on the car but I guess it's others as well.
I have started using the auto stick option to "skip" 2nd gear when driving, it's worked so far but I don't know how long it will last. I want to have it looked at but I don't have the money for it anyways so I haven't gone to a shop It's been a very sad fall and winter for me.
I know that I will have to have the tranny replaced, unfortunately this is a salvage title vehicle due to excessive body damage received after a theft in Chicago so the Honda dealer tells me the warranty is void.
Can anyone suggest where I can get the proper parts to fix everything?? Since it seems that the honda tranny is not a good one to use are there any aftermarket trannys out there that are of better quality??
I plan on doing the 5 speed conversion when I have ample funds to do so, but till then I'm fairly confident my transmission will hold up.
The cars engine was replaced with a JDM OBDI H22A4 motor with about 35-40k on it. But the transmission was the original.
The body's miles and transmissions miles are the same, right now at about 135,XXX miles.
It runs very strong, smooth, and good. I'm not just saying this either, as I honestly feel I have lucked out. A 5 speed transmission is a must in this cars future though. First though is the h22's top end rebuild.
Sounds like you definitely lucked out. If your tranny runs that smooth and may continue to I might be willing to take it off you when you do your conversion. What's the usual cost to do a auto to manual conversion?
I was hoping my transmission was the one that was going to prove the SS myth wrong, since it's been holding up so well this long and this many miles, but just this past Monday it finally gave out. Out of the blue too without any real indications...so you guys with a ok running SS tranny beware, it can go just like that. I was on the freeway going from one work facitily in Palo Alto to our main office in Sunnyvale when the rpms spiked from 3000 to about 5000 in a split second. The car didn't really jump or anything. I took my exit and came to a red light and no sounds or any evidence of it being blown, so the light turned green and I step on the gas and the engine really reved up before the tranny caught and the wheels spun out. The next light was only about 25 feet away which I caught red again...same thing happened. Instead of heading back to work I figured I better go home and see if it's low on fluid or something....but as I was driving home...it got worse. Really long story short...it literally crawled home with the engine reving about 4000 rpm and me going about 10 mph. Now when I turn the car on, the thing sound like if you dropped some spoons or forks in the garbage disposal and turned it on.
I had my mechanic take a look at it and he said a new one (not remanufactured) would be around $4700 ($700 core) and installation close to $1300, so that's a $6000 repair!!!
I belong to bayareaprelude and someone there said the 5 speed conversion runs about $2500 so I may go that route but I would really hate to spend my own hard earned money if Honda knows about this issue and is not stepping up to the plate to do something about it. IF ANYONE KNOWS A GOOD PLACE THAT DOES THE 5 SPEED SWAP IN THE SF/SJ BAY AREA, PLEASE CONTACT ME WITH THE INFORMATION!
Like many others here, I bought the car based on Honda's stellar quality reputation and didn't find out until after I bought it that it's week point was this SS transmission.
My question is whether or not I would have any luck filing a complaint to them as my car has from what I know the most miles on a orignal SS transmission?
Thanks for reading my rant....I am kind of pissed I'm having to go through this crap with my car!
I know this was written in 03, but it's 09 now and I have a 98SS with 132xxx and I haven't had any issues yet. I hope that I have enough money saved up for a conversion before something happens.
I am in the UK with a Japanese Import '97 SS 'Lude. She has only 60 000 miles on her but reading this thread has made me wonder if the transmission is gonna hold out much longer. Is it crazy to think that because it's a JDM car it's tranny wasn't built using the same cheap parts are the downfall of the American SS model? Is there anybody on this Forum who can confirm that they have a JDM car and had the SS Box go?
Last edited by JupiterJoe; 01-22-2009 at 09:43 AM.
I just bought my car a couple of weeks ago, and after I first got it, coming to a complete stop would jerk a little bit, but I was just low on tranny fluid. So after that has been filled up, it's been running fine... hope it lasts. The car has 112k on it.
So I'm in the market for a 2000 SS Auto with 60k miles. Reading this thread is making me just forget the Lude and move onto a 2007-8 TL-S. Money is a small issue but I like the Lude because of its unique two door look and the fact that I've always wanted one growing up but couldn't afford it.
I'm reading that 1 in 4 SS's will fail and others saying all will eventually fail. Who to believe? I'd wonder also if a synthetic tranny oil like Amsoil could help as its superior to the Honda ATF. It seems like a crapshoot.
I can honestly say that AMSOIL or other synthetic trans fluids are not going to make a huge difference.
The tranny problem dealt with inferior metal components in the needle bearings and the clutch discs.
Honda eventually solved this problem by lowering the stall speed on the transmissions and improving the parts. Of course, you only get the new parts and torque converter if it's been replaced.
If the prospective car has less than 100k on it, it should be under warranty. I don't recall there being a time limit to it.
BUT: You'd better not be boosting or anything like that, or they'll absolutely screw you.
FYI:
There are 4 basic things to check on the transmission when a problem occurs:
1) That the ICM in the distributor is not bad. This is what what reads the RPMs and reports them to the computer / TCM. If the RPMs are being read wrong, the transmission will shift like crap.
2) The the shift control solenoids are not messed up. If one of those fails then the fuild pathways don't get set correctly, causing the car to not shift properly.
3) Extremely dirty transmission fuild. NEVER use a flush machine. Simply buy 6 qts of Honda ATF, drain, add 3 quarts, drive around the block, drain, add 3 qts, and drive the car to check the symptoms.
1) That the ICM in the distributor is not bad. This is what what reads the RPMs and reports them to the computer / TCM. If the RPMs are being read wrong, the transmission will shift like crap.
HOW do u check this?? can this issue be resolved by changing cap and rotor.?
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I thought it was just me being to rough on the car but I guess it's others as well. 
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