Help me decide what to do with my unreliable Honda

I have a 2001 civic with the dreaded bad automatic transmission. I have done everything to keep this running. I've changed fluid several times, removed the solenoids and clean them up and verified their operation but I know this tranny is on borrowed time. I'm hoping to make it to warmer weather when I can use the  Miata as a temporary replacement while I either repair this or dump it for another car.

I'm trying to decide whether it's worth replacing this transmission. The car currently has 140,000 on it and for a northeastern car the rust is minimal. I know I can get at least two maybe three more years out of the body before it becomes an issue.
 

Junk yards want $300 to $500 for a tranny. Unless I find a low mileage tranny I'll probably have the same issue. I don't know if I trust the mileage quoted by the junkyard unless the tranny is still in the vehicle. I tried  pull a part, but nobody seems to have any low mileage units in stock in my area. I'm also not crazy about pulling a tranny in a PAP.

JDM trannies  can be bought for about 400 but I question their mileage claims as well.

So do I baby this car and get as much life out of it as I can and then send it to the scrap yard or do I replace the tranny. I don't want to put in a tranny if these 1.7 L are prone to blowing up.. Doing the work myself is not an issue so all I have is the cost of the tranny and my time.

What would you guys do?

The only 1.7 issues I've ever seen is a leaking core plug behind the inner timing cover.  That and they really do not like being overheated, the rings lose tension and they drink oil if you do that.

OTOH I've never seen one of these with a faulty automatic, either.

Why not just swap to manual, if the auto trans in these cars is known to be an issue? How much would that end up costing? $500 to keep a car on the road for 3+ years is really cheap if you think about it. You'd definitely spend more if you dump this car and buy something else.

TheRX7Project said:

Why not just swap to manual, if the auto trans in these cars is known to be an issue? How much would that end up costing? $500 to keep a car on the road for 3+ years is really cheap if you think about it. You'd definitely spend more if you dump this car and buy something else.

Also came here to suggest manual swap.

When I saw the words "unreliable" and "Honda" in the same sentence I nearly nearly spilled my Honda Koolaid onto my Honda shirt.

I'd do a tranny swap. Those are not known as a problematic transaxle. Maybe find someone on Facebook marketplace parting out a wrecked or rusty car. You typically get a better vibe as to what you're buying when it's from an individual. 

I will be the dissenting voice. Imho the 2001 is maybe the worst year of civic to drive. The first year they ditched the sla/multilink suspension for a less-than-optimal strut design, the fit and finish seemed to drop a few notches as well. I consider the 2001/2002 (model year) to be the year honda lost their way. The takata incident happening then was not in a vacuum. They were, ironically, in cost-cutting mode just as the US started accepting them as a quality manufacturer. The 90s (differince in) quality never returned after that, with every other car being functionally the same fwd/strut drivetrain as every other car. However the fanboyism continues long after the brilliance, much like the starwhores saga. 

Punt it asap, buy a golden era (88-00) civic if you want to understand the honda love, otherwise just shop your needs. 

Sincerely, a honda fanboy who owns at least 5 civic chassis cars. 

is an 01 auto honda even worth 1k?

MrChaos said:

is an 01 auto honda even worth 1k?

This was my thought $300-500 would by a whole parts car.

After 1991 the multilink suspension's camber curve mostly mimicked a strut cars', for dynamic reasons, and the only reason Honda used them in the first place was to get ultralow beltlines.  Once those went out of fashion for any reason you care to blame, there was no more need for the expense.

MrChaos said:

is an 01 auto honda even worth 1k?

Depends.  That's still a $3k-4k car in some parts.

This is my DD beater so I was never concerned about suspension design. I bought Honda because I was looking for a reliability and this particular car was relatively rust free for northeastern Ohio. I now know I should've looked at Toyota or The Korean brands.

I didn't know until I bought this that the 2001 and 2002 are especially prone to auto tranny problems. Apparently if the fluid is changed often enough this doesn't become an issue for quite some time but I don't believe too many people follow that interval.

I thought about putting a manual in this since I've seen a couple rusted out cars for cheap I'm not sure what's all involved on the electrical side. I'm assuming the ECU would be different. Well I can pretty much handle any mechanical issue I'm not that swift with electrical problems. 

Get the wire harness, pedal hanger, and ECU from the manual swap donor car?

I would not consider serious work on a near 20 year old chassis from the rust belt though.

Mid-Engine conversion, with a 3.8 V6?

I wouldn't think a transmission that's lasted 20 years and 140k miles on what was a budget car would be called unreliable. It's not like it's a 5 year old car with a bad transmission. 

I would think the problem now is any used transmission is still old, regardless of miles. 

Knurled. said:

After 1991 the multilink suspension's camber curve mostly mimicked a strut cars', for dynamic reasons, and the only reason Honda used them in the first place was to get ultralow beltlines.  Once those went out of fashion for any reason you care to blame, there was no more need for the expense.

Where did you hear this? This doesn't sound very plausible/likely.

Steve_Jones said:

I wouldn't think a transmission that's lasted 20 years and 140k miles on what was a budget car would be called unreliable. It's not like it's a 5 year old car with a bad transmission. 

I would think the problem now is any used transmission is still old, regardless of miles. 

I should have said the Honda's I've owned have not been reliable compared to the other beaters I've had in the last 35 years. I typically get 4 years out of my DD / beaters all bought at the same age and mileage. The last two Honda's have not been good to me. 

Dump it like an useless girlfriend