Auto gear box question - 91 Civic

[yfin]

I have a 1991 Civic with a boring 4 speed auto box.

If someone has this model can you please confirm that from a stand still - the gearbox changes to 2nd gear as high as 4000-4200rpm (ie 1st to 2nd gear)??? :confused:

No matter how hard you push the pedal that is as hard as it goes in 1st gear before changing to 2nd. If you keep the pedal mashed to the floor it will change from 2nd to 3rd a bit higher - 4200-4300rpm as well.

Give me revs baby - revs! Frustrating gear box. That is no where near red line.

[Mr_will]

hello, i am captain obvious. checked the tranny fluid level?

[yfin]

hello, i am captain obvious. checked the tranny fluid level?

Yeah, it was replaced 2000kms ago.

I actually think this is normal for the box - just want to confirm it is as crap as it is.

[destrukshn]

your kick down cable is off..
it goes on your throttle body.
there are 2 cables, the throttle, which comes from teh pedal, and the other one from the box.

tighten the one that come from the box. i.e. give it less slack.

[destrukshn]

also, tighten it a little, then drive your car.
see how it goes.
it takes a little to play with sometimes.
tighten it too much and you will jerky late shifting.

[yfin]

ahh thanks man. I'll see if I can work it out.

[yourfather]

pics of said civic ??

[destrukshn]

easy as.
it should be 2 10mm nuts or 12mm ones can't remember.
have to use a open end spanner

[yfin]

pics of said civic ??

Control your excitement please...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/yfin/IMG_3892.jpg


easy as.
it should be 2 10mm nuts or 12mm ones can't remember.
have to use a open end spanner

Cheers thanks.

[yourfather]

did that just roll off the production line or what.

thats the cleanest 91 civic I have ever seen

[yfin]

did that just roll off the production line or what.

thats the cleanest 91 civic I have ever seen

Nah that photo was taken a month or so ago - right after I detailed it. It doesn't normally look that good.

[yourfather]

is that the wifes chariot?

[yfin]

is that the wifes chariot?

Sort of - but 99% of the time it is to get me to the train station and back.

[yfin]

easy as.
it should be 2 10mm nuts or 12mm ones can't remember.
have to use a open end spanner

I will post up some pics tomorrow as I am not sure how you tighten it. I found the cable going from the box but can't see where you make it tighter. It kinda links up in a "loop" with the throttle cable so I imagine there but not sure.

[destrukshn]

any updates?

the cable has a thread, near the thottle, and is tightened and kinda locked onto a bracket with 2 nuts, loosen the nuts and move the cable, and lock it into place.
kinda understanding what i'm saying?
lol.
if you get me a engine bay pic of it, i'll show you.

[yfin]

^^ thanks mate - I have been getting home late this week so will post up a pic on Saturday. Is this easy to do? As I can't really afford to stuff things up with this car as it is all I have at the moment. I don't really need to go past 4000rpm to get to the train station anyway :) In other words how hard do I have to try to **** this up??? hehe

[simonnowis]

hey, isnt auto trans ment to be like that, change gear at around 4000-5000rpm even if ur flooring it?
on the prado 4wd we have, iv floored it many times and it always changes gear at max around 4500rpm. no higher.

[destrukshn]

easy to do.
take you a few minutes
all you do, is loosen the nuts, move the cable so it tightens a bit, then tighten the nuts so the cable stays in place.
and adjust to how you think it right, so it might take a few goes.

[destrukshn]

hey, isnt auto trans ment to be like that, change gear at around 4000-5000rpm even if ur flooring it?
on the prado 4wd we have, iv floored it many times and it always changes gear at max around 4500rpm. no higher.
nops, i've played around with the auto hondas, like yfins, they will go to or very close to redline when flooring it.

[simonnowis]

srs. hmm interesting... i dont think i ever actually floored a auto trans honda before. lol...man i love honda!

[yfin]

Hi - here are some pics - if someone can tell me what I am adjusting and where that would be appreciated.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/yfin/IMG_4588.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/yfin/IMG_4586.jpg

[yfin]

This seems like the right spot as it leads to the auto box ---so I losen the nuts. What is the best way to tighten the cable - just pull on it at top of picture then tigten the nuts?

Cheers
y

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/yfin/IMG_4589.jpg

[yfin]

All sorted! Thanks for your help guys I figured it out. Gears change up to 5000rpm in 1st and 6000rpm in 2nd gear now. Close to how it should be I think for an automatic.

If I make it any tighter it idles too high so this is a good comrpomise for a 16 year old car. Car kicks along nicely for a little 4 cylinder - I think the 900kg kerb weight makes all the difference though.

ps - do you think I should change the ignition leads? Will the car run any better with new leads (still getting crap fuel economy - around 300kms to low fuel so around 400kms to a tank)? They have sumitomo 1990 written on them so they must be the original leads (now at 200,500kms). They don't appear to be frayed or damaged but perhaps there is a benefit. Not sure when the spark plugs were last changed and the carby tuned - probably a while ago.

[STTICH]

interesting.

when does the gear change now if u drive normally wthout flooring?

is it still smooth or does it feel a lil jerky now as mentioned by destrukshn?

[yfin]

interesting.

when does the gear change now if u drive normally wthout flooring?

is it still smooth or does it feel a lil jerky now as mentioned by destrukshn?

Driving with light throttle the gears change at around 2500rpm which is normal. Those changes are smooth and lazy.

1st gear from standstill with full throttle results in a thud of varying force changing into 2nd. But it was doing that before too.

The other gears at full throttle are changing smooth.

The thing I have noticed most is it kicks down to 2nd at reasonable speeds now - say it is cruising in 4th at 60kph - it will now kick down to 2nd with full throttle (where the best acceleration is). Previously it would kick down to 3rd only which was slower to accelerate. So that is the most useful difference.

[cristian]

i have the same engine and changed my spark plugs to ngk's as well as using bosch ignition leads...also running a 2.25 exhaust system and its currently doing about 440km's for the full tank...thats driving with the occasinal flooring from time to time...
im going to be doing a dual air pod install in a few weeks time so if ur interested i can write up a 'how to' with photos to go through it step by step

[yfin]

i have the same engine and changed my spark plugs to ngk's as well as using bosch ignition leads...also running a 2.25 exhaust system and its currently doing about 440km's for the full tank...thats driving with the occasinal flooring from time to time...
im going to be doing a dual air pod install in a few weeks time so if ur interested i can write up a 'how to' with photos to go through it step by step

Thanks for your post - - do you remember how much the bosch leads were for this model?

[cristian]

umm...it was a while ago, i got it through autobarn, they had to order it in, 90bucks i think...

[STTICH]

Driving with light throttle the gears change at around 2500rpm which is normal. Those changes are smooth and lazy.

1st gear from standstill with full throttle results in a thud of varying force changing into 2nd. But it was doing that before too.

The other gears at full throttle are changing smooth.

The thing I have noticed most is it kicks down to 2nd at reasonable speeds now - say it is cruising in 4th at 60kph - it will now kick down to 2nd with full throttle (where the best acceleration is). Previously it would kick down to 3rd only which was slower to accelerate. So that is the most useful difference.

arr.. cool :thumbsup:

would u feel the jerk when it kicks from 4th to 2nd? or it's still reletively smooth? i dun normally drive an Auto, so the 'jerk' feeling is very weird to me when it changes gears. perhaps tats just how an auto tranny is.

btw. how did u end up tighten the cable? looking at the indicated arrows i created (dun mind my drawing :))... u losen both nuts in the direction pointed (red). then then pull the cable towards the direction pointed (yellow) ?

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1795/img4589wp5.jpg

[yfin]

arr.. cool :thumbsup:

would u feel the jerk when it kicks from 4th to 2nd? or it's still reletively smooth? i dun normally drive an Auto, so the 'jerk' feeling is very weird to me when it changes gears. perhaps tats just how an auto tranny is.

btw. how did u end up tighten the cable? looking at the indicated arrows i created (dun mind my drawing :))... u losen both nuts in the direction pointed (red). then then pull the cable towards the direction pointed (yellow) ?



The 4th to 2nd kick down is smooth. The thud only happens in 1st with full throttle. Less than full throttle it is fine. I think this is more to do with the auto box being 200k old - it can't last forever. When the auto was new I am sure every change would have been smooth regardless of throttle.

You diagram is pretty close - except the screw at the bottom ends up going higher along the thread towards the top of photo. So I basically moved the whole bracket and screws towards top of photo - that tightens the cable.

[Uncouth]

I have a 1991 Civic with a boring 4 speed auto box.

If someone has this model can you please confirm that from a stand still - the gearbox changes to 2nd gear as high as 4000-4200rpm (ie 1st to 2nd gear)??? :confused:

No matter how hard you push the pedal that is as hard as it goes in 1st gear before changing to 2nd. If you keep the pedal mashed to the floor it will change from 2nd to 3rd a bit higher - 4200-4300rpm as well.

Give me revs baby - revs! Frustrating gear box. That is no where near red line.

Hi, im driving the 92 GL but dropping my gear to the lowest from standstill i can push it to 5-6k which i then push it up 1 to d2 where the gear will change and reaching abt 5k i push it to d... having said that, i suppose we are using the same gearbox?? :) hope that helps. i have never tried to push it beyond cos i dun have that much faith in the auto box but til now, it has not let me down. just waiting for the day when i have enough money for a new engine, i will let you know how many times this gearbox can hit redline. :P

[cristian]

:D
i've held it to 6500 on d2...i think the auto gearbox on the d15's are L4

[EDCivic]

[QUOTE=yfin;1217289]Hi - here are some pics - if someone can tell me what I am adjusting and where that would be appreciated.
B4
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/yfin/IMG_4588.jpg

After +45K's and this is what I do on week ends. I need to get a life :confused:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a88/serneckr/eng2.jpg

[yfin]

Great work edcivic! My engine bay has never been cleaned since 1991!

[55EXX]

damn thats clean!

[cristian]

Great work edcivic! My engine bay has never been cleaned since 1991!

hahaha same here...