Lunging forward when shifting down to stop?

[jrider01]

My 98 Accord LX, 4 cyl, auto. never brakes smoothly when coming to a complete stop.

The car always shifts down to 1st gear (as it of course should) before coming to a slow stop. However, when it shifts to first - it's right before the car is almost stopped (causing the car to lunge forward).

You can never get a smooth braking to a stop (because the car lunges when shifting to first at the last second or two). Not sure if I'm explaining this properly. My 91 Accord's auto. transmission shifted hard too (normal for Hondas I think - but it was able to brake to a stop smoothly).

The car seems to shift normally at all other times. Not sure if related, but my Accord has the "hestiation from stop" problem at times. My local Honda dealership charged me an hour labour and found nothing wrong (no codes, engine idle was adjusted properly already, etc.).

Maybe it's a braking issue and not transmission or engine idle?

Any help is much appreciated....Thanks...Jason.

[SatinSilver]

I have the same car but it's a 99. I have always(9 yrs) had what you described when slowing down and downshifting into first. It seems more pronounced when going slow though. I'm used to it by now.

Never had any hesitation but I believe its been talked about on these boards somewhere. It should come up on a search I believe.

[jrider01]

Thanks for the reply. My Honda dealership wouldn't perform the Hesitation fix mentioned many times on this forum.

They said it's an American service bulletin and doesn't apply to Honda Canada - so they refused to perform the Idle Adjustment procedure. Thanks.

I might try some Transmission Additive - but I doubt if that will help with the surging at stopping.

[SatinSilver]

The surging should be pretty mild. More noticeable when cold. Just make sure your atf is clean. Do 1-3 drain and fills every 30k max.

What color is your atf fluid?

I would avoid any trans additive. Besides a waste of $$$ it can do more harm than good.

[jrider01]

Yes - the surging is definitely more noticeable when the engine is cold. The ATF is still a nice red colour.

I will have it drained and re-filled soon. Thanks for the help.

...Jason.

[98 Accord]

So how did you make out with the fluid change?Did it make any difference in the shifting.Mine does the same thing...I added some lucas auto to mt atf to see if it would help any..it did a lil at first but still seems to lurch of the line when the car is still rolling.

[Accordlover]

If it's REALLY pronounced, you can blame weak transmission/motor mounts. They probably need replaced.

[jrider01]

Just drained and filled the auto. transmission fluid 6 days ago with Genuine Honda ATF fluid.

$7.48 + taxes per litre (bought 3 litres, used about 2.75 litres).

Hasn't resolved the problem of lunging while stopping. This problem is only noticeable when the engine/transmission hasn't warmed up yet.

Could be the mounts as mentioned - but it would likely lunge all the time then?

Thanks guys. I'm sure the car needed a drain/fill anyway. I'll do the same again next Spring. Had to take the car to a mechanic to loosen the drain bolt for me (was on really tight).

Later...Jason.