I have 2009 Fit Sport. 70k miles. Giving low acceleration, I get a sort of grinding sound between shifts (between 1-2 and 2-3). From searching Google, I've been reading it might be a torque converter lock up problem. It doesn't happen when I use S and not use the paddles. Has anyone else had this problem? I've tried full transmission fluid swap to no luck. Any help/advice would be great before I just go out and have it replaced blindly. Mahalo 🤙

Also if it isn't obvious it is an automatic transmission.

 

Thatd be crazy early for a tranny failure. 70k?! Have you been towing?.. a lot?
Can you consistently get the car to manifest those symptoms..? Before i wrote off the tranny id slide under her and make sure nothins blown out. No greased up rubber. And check for wheel bearings.. and brakes.
If the tranny is filled properly it shouldnt be grindy. I'd stick my finger in the level check hole and make sure its actually full too..

 

It's pretty consistent. If I give it a little more gas and accelerate a little harder through 1st, and 2nd, it seems to by pass the grinding sound. And I don't tow anything 😂

This video is exactly what it sounds like
https://youtu.be/jHxcwxtqCAk

​​​​​​A lot of what I've read was also mileage ranging from 30k out to 70k+

 

Oh and on another note, it's been happening shortly after I bought the car at 56k...I bought it used as daily driver.

 

Ok weird, I replied a whole paragraph.

It's pretty consistent, but if I give it a little extra gas and accelerate a bit harder, it gets through just fine. Also there feels like a slight power loss after it shifts into third. No I don't tow anything 😂

This video is exactly what is going on

 

No towing huh? What about drag racing?
And you bought her with that noise, so that rules out a lot of helpful questions.
who did your tranny flush and when? I assume that was your attempt at resolving this issue.

I'll go look in the manual. In the mean time get some stickers and plastidip, just incase we cant fix it.

 

None of that. I use it for daily driving to work. Took it to my Uncles Shop to have a full flush. Even bought the Honda trans fluid, Atf Dw-1 as recommended for Honda trasnmissions.

Did you take a look at that video? That is the same symptoms I'm getting. I really wanna say that it's that 😂

 

It happened on mine when it was less than 3 years old. Switching to DW1 fixed it. It might be an accumulator releasing pressure.

I would do another drain/fill on the transmission, it retains a lot of old fluid each time. I'm not sure what your uncle's shop did, but short of a power flush there's no way to change it all, and few people outside of the ones selling the service recommend doing power flushes. The machine would have their own fluid in it and not DW1. A drain/fill is all that's needed.

Here's an old thread on the subject. I think you'll see me there .

It had 35K on it at the time. Now it has 146K. The noise didn't reoccur after changing the fluid. I change it about every 30K now. Just a drain/fill of course.

 

They did the drain, fill, drive bit, drain and fill again method as they were doing it free for me. I used the DW1 back then also.

So in old thread you mentioned an oil extractor, will this be able to get all of the oil out? Especially the torque converter area? I know you'd have to take it apart and get into there to really flush it.

This makes me feel a lot better hearing that. This sounds by far, cheaper than a new torque converter! Thanks

 

When I change out my ATF (use Honda DW-1 / 35,000 mile intervals / currently have 73,000 miles on it) on my '11 Sport AT, I drain 3 qts / refill 3 qts / drive about 15 miles on back roads (plenty of up/down shifts) then go home / drain 3 qts / refill 3 qts. I do that routine until I use all 12 qts of DW-1 in the case ($90). I can see and smell a big difference in what comes out on the last drain versus the first drain.

I'm not familiar with or how effective a "power flush" or "oil extractor" would be. I do know the local dealer wants $90 - $100 to simply drain 3 qts and refill 3 qts with DW-1, so for the same $90 and my time, I can end up with approx 95% all new ATF (total tranny has a capacity of 6.2 qts of ATF), including that in the torque converter. I haven't changed the external filter yet but will in 2019 just to do it.

 

No, an extractor wouldn't be any more effective. It's just slightly easier if you're going to be doing it many times.

There are diminishing returns doing multiple drain/fills. I'd drive it a while and see if it goes away. If not then try it again.

Honda changed the formulation of the AT fluid after 2009 so ours had the older formula from the factory. DW1, the newer stuff just works better.

By the maintenance minder, it calls for the first change around 70K and then around every 30K after that. I don't think you hurt anything by waiting until 70K. The DW1 may just take longer to clean whatever deposits were left by the older fluid. I just do a single drain/fill every 30K miles.

I've heard multiple times that power flushes can cause problems by forcing crud into passages where it wouldn't normally have accumulated and plugging these. These passages are needed for the fluid to work the mechanisms hydraulically.

 

When Steve244 says "diminishing returns", I think he means this:
Since the AT & torque converter hold a total of 6.2 qts of ATF and it only drains approx 3 qts when you remove the plug, a 12 qt "flush" should produce something like this:
1. 1st stage 50% changed = 50% old ATF;
2. 2nd stage 50% of that 50/50 gets changed = 25% old ATF;
3. 3rd stage 50% of the 25/75 gets changed = 12.5% old ATF;
4. 4th stage 50% of the 12.5/87.5 changed = 6.25% old ATF or approx. 94% new ATF;
5. You can see that this method is asymptotic and will never achieve 100% new. The only way to do that is to take the AT apart.

 

How much do you get out changing the transmission filter?

 

Hmm so doing more drain, fill, drive and repeat will be better? Because they did it drain, fill, drive, drain again and then fill again.

On the other hand, having it taken apart and drained would be best?

Thanks for the info, sorry my email did not update since Saturday morning only got emails now.

 

Never changed the filter. I have 73,000+ miles on car. I do need to adjust the valves - noisy until warmed up (~175 deg F).

 

So far we've got. Redo the fluid change. Which honestly should be enough. Let us know, OP.
Grinding gears in an automatic..

 

Alright, so I'll probably get around to doing that my next payday,

Noisy valves? Does it sound kind of like clicking? I notice that while I drive as well. When I accelerate i hearbit, when I let off it goes away.

 

Also would doing the trans fluid swap every oil change help? I wouldnt mind the extra work until things clear up.