hmt

Hey guys...

First time here...I just bought a 99 prelude base from a friend of mine....it's automatic and has 163k miles on it…he bought it new and is the only owner…he hasn't done any of mods at all...I'd never driven a prelude before so I don't know if mine is normal, but I noticed when chaging from 1 gear to another, it's really rough…I could feel the sound of the engine getting really loud when the gear change and not smooth at all..like someone who doesn't know how to drive a stick shift.…I am just a normal driver and not "pushing" the gas pedal hard at all…If this a typical for a 5th gen prelude? Is there anything I can adjust to make the gear shift smoother? Is this a clutch problem? Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated…

Thanks

pIERCE

Jesus ****ing Christ. Another one. Now you should have searched

Read these threads first, please: If you have an SS Auto, Please read this:

Have you ever had your SportShift tranny replaced?


The auto trans in ALL 5th gen ludes, commonly known as the SS, are failurse waiting to happen. Your transmission, if it has never been rebuild, acutually lasted MUCH longer than many I've heard of, bet they are still pieces of ****, and are over $2.5k to replace.

You made a big mistake purchasing an auto lude, and you should have been patient and looked for a stick.

Please do not post again until you have read both of the threads I posted above. You will learn a lot, and use the search feature. It is on the TOP black/dark colored bar at the top of the page.

Good luck.

bouckarooo

wow....you just got f-u-c-k-i-n-g told.......

hmt

Just read both of the threads...now I am scared...I guess there's nothing for me to do but to wait for it to happen...The irony is that I was about to buy a Benz S and after I researched and found it has problem this is why I bought this car to drive in the meantime to save more money for the later year of benz I loved and I now found this :~(...

I did researched before I bought this car but all the comments I saw was positive and no one has any complaints with this car whatsoever until I found this forum (guess I didn't research hard enough)...

Thanks for the threads...

Nc97Lude

dont feel bad i did the same thing but i've learned from my mistake i may end up selling my lude for a 5 spd lude... or keeping and taking good care of it to try to stall the inevitable and get a 5 spd lude and sell the auto to my mom and try to make them twins

or just have 2 ludes :P

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^dirty car been raining alot and i live down a dirt road

pIERCE

For now, you can change the trans fluid. That may help. Like I said, if your trans is the original to the car, you amy be one of the more rare cases, at least that I've heard of. Most of the trans usually go before 80k miles.

Just go online and immediately start looking for another car, or another Lude if you one that bad. Try craigslist(please be reasonable and look not justlocally, but within 4-500 miles), autotrader.com, and cars.com. Ebay is OK, but most of the cars there are overpriced, and at least when referring to CA, most of the cars are nowhere near.

That prelude may have cost you a lot of money, if you are willing to tell, how much did you pay for it(some people are private about that stuff)? If you can, sell it. Get it off your hands and out of your mind, that thing will cause you worries and cost you money, gauranteed.

Good luck.

Kronn 98SH

Automatic transmissions are for girls.

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1988 Prelude S - victim of an 80mph backflip
1991 Prelude Si - sold
1989 Accord DX - impounded
1998 Prelude SH - totaled on 3/29/12
2006 CRF150F - sold
2006 YZ250F - sold

hmt

I got it from a friend for $4500....good/bad? Saw the same cars in craigslist listed for $6000

You said change the trans fluid may help, but I should NOT flush the trans fluid right? At least that's what I read from the thread you sent…Just drain, and refill???

hmt

just called the friend who sold it to me and he said the trans is 100% original.

DeadFish

its going to die... it inevitable.
My lude is in the shop as we speak... getting its second trans. and I am keeping the one they are taking out... I might have that one refurbished... and swap them in like battery packs as they die. Until I can afford a different car... but I will never get rid of the lude until the paint looks like total crap, etc.

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WWDFD?...
"Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, 'Make me feel important.'" - DF

pIERCE

^^^awww man, dead, is that waht is happening now? That really sucks. I hope your paint is really nice, because you seem to be dragging yourself over hot coals....

hmt--I am not completely sure, I have never asked(I own stick)I am getting most of this info from recolection of reading and discussing. If I were you, I would only replace. NOT flush, at least for now until you do more research. Sorry, my minimal knowledge only goes so far.

However, that trans being the original means it actually last a VERY long time! However, that is just that specific trans, even if you got your exact trans rebuilt and re0installed, it may only last you 40k miles.......You see? It is all chance, that is the best explanation anybody has come up with, sort of sad, but that's just the way it is, for now. Every different trans/rebuild has a certain amount of life that is determined randomely no way to know how long it will last.

The original owner got lucky, and unfortunately, you didn't.

Once again, try and get it running as good as you can, and then sell it. It sucks tricking people into a ****ty car that will fail them soon, but are you any less of a victim?(I know, bad justification, but...........)

Please do not spend the thousands of dollars you would to fix it.

Good luck.

hmt

Thanks for all the advices and sharing....It'll prob. try to sell it...hopefully it'll last before it's sold...lol......

Was $4500 good or bad price? interior is really clean, 1 owner, few paint chip on the outside...overall a very nice looking car...

indylude18

4500 would have been a good price for a manual..... auto's are harder to sell due to the well known tranny problems. That may be a fair price, but your buddy didn't bend over backwards to get you a great deal on it. Don't think you are going to resell it for a big profit or anything like that, but you might be able to get your money back.

M0BManBB8

it was a good price for an 01

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hmt

One last question guys...now is this tranny problem ONLY (or more than likely to happen to) for those who used SS all the time (or most of the time)? My buddy has never used SS and neither have I? We just put it in D and drive like SS doesn't even exist...Is that the reason why it's lasted this long and may not break down? I am sorry but i'd hate to let it go until I know I have no choice..you guys know what I feel....

MarxmaN

The real question is: Did the tranny problem happen with your friend before he sold it to you?

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indylude18

Nope doesn't really matter, that transmission is doomed to fail eventually either way. If it was never put in SS it may be a good sign the car was never really pushed hard, which may explain the longer lifespan of that transmission, or it just might be luck.

hmt

he said no, but will check with his Ex to confirm...what's the difference?

DeadFish

In SS mode... most people shift near redline in every gear to squeeze out as much juice out of that vtec engine.... on a weak transmission.



163k with no SS shifting is kinda hard to believe. It is a sports car.. do you really think he never dabbled with the SS...ever.

Unless he is like my dad who has an Acura TL and never uses the SS ever.... he is up to 193K before the trans needed work. Ofcourse this is a different model car completely... so maybe you will have another 10k miles before it gets really bad.

I gotta make more bank at work... I do really need a new car...well actually I want an FJ Cruiser.

__________________
WWDFD?...
"Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, 'Make me feel important.'" - DF

pIERCE

Yeah, the trans are all bad, no matter how you shift. There are myths that if you don't use the SS mode it will help, but the funny thing is, those are myths. There is ZERO proof that it actually helps prolong the trans, and with failure rates as high as they are, I'd say it probably doesn't help. But I will not take a side.

The price, naaaa, you should have got it for around $3k, that would've been ok, but preferrably even lower.

Like I would say to anybody else, sell it to an ignorant fool who knows nothing about preludes and their notorious SS trans, and you may get your money back. It sucks having to skrew someone else with your problem, but unless you are willing to take the loss, that's the only (so-called)reasonable way out.

Good luck.

FJ cruiser? eeeeewwwwwwwwww, Not a big fan of those, not a fan at all. They look way to, funny, not ugly, but just plain funny.

Good luck getting one though, a dream car is a dream car!