The Honda Civic is a popular Japanese car that offers the owner a minimum of problems with the proper care. However, sometime in the life of the vehicle it may need work on the transmission. This short guide will tell you how to troubleshoot a 2001 Honda Civic automatic transmission at home so that you can assess the problem yourself and be better able to decide what steps you need a mechanic to take from there. It should take you about a half hour to complete this task.
Look for fluid leaks. A dark red fluid means the car is losing transmission fluid. The leak could be coming from the main seal or it could be escaping from the transmission housing. Look under your vehicle to find out which of these is not performing correctly.
Assess the transmission fluid for either a brown color or a smell like something is burning. If either of these is the case, the fluid has been burnt. This commonly happens because of low transmission fluid, but there could be other reasons for it.
Turn the car on and drive in 3rd or 4th gear to assess whether or not the transmission can downshift while the accelerator is pressed down to the floor. If it cannot, then the throttle valve cable may need to be adjusted.
Test whether or not the car will start in any gear besides neutral or park. If it will, you have a faulty safety start switch.
Assess whether or not there is slipping in the transmission, rough shifting or problems with having a lack of drive in the forward or the reverse gear. In this case, there may be low fluid levels. It could also mean that there is a gear failure inside the transmission. Solve this problem by keeping your transmission fluid properly leveled and maintained at all times.
