I have a 90 Accord EX with 256K on it with the original automatic transmission. I've seen these trannys go to 300K. I tried to find in the threads anyone who had the same symptoms, but I was unsuccessful. The symptoms I'm experiencing are an intermittingly shaking steering wheel at 55mph and above, and it feels like I'm driving over some minor washboards after each shift. If I accelerate moderately, I don't feel it. But if I slowly accelerate from a stop, the car will get that washboard shudder from 1500rpm to 1750rpm. And right after each shift, it will give a shudder when accelerating slowly. The steering wheel shake is not consistant with anything other than it will happen occasionaly at highway speed.

It started immediately after I put some bogus O'Reilly half shafts in (the fifth and last set from there). I thought it was the shafts again because I was getting so good at diagnosing a bad shaft. The lifetime warranty was nice, but when you have to change them out every six months using Honda Genuine ATF, it gets expensive. No, I don't drive aggressively at all. So I bought remans directly from Honda. The symptoms didn't go away. Could it be that my tranny is coincidentally crapping out the same time I changed shafts. Highly unlikely, but possible. I didn't do anything differently putting any of the sets of shafts in. I know it's difficult diagnosing a car on the internet, but what can I do? I have checked for looseness on the front suspension and it all felt tight. I had the car in the air and had the tranny in first gear. I saw the shafts moving as if the shaft itself was not centered in the joints. I put a pry bar between the engine cradle and the rear motor mount. It seemed to calm the vibration down. I honestly don't know what is wrong.

Has anyone experienced this exact thing? I feel hopeless at this point. Any help would be greatly (and I do mean greatly) appreciated. At least help a guy who is capable of writing a complete sentence.

 

I would say worn gears or clutch packs, but that's just a guess. It's extremely difficult to diagnose automatics without DTCs and feeling it for yourself.

 

It does shift hard, like all high mileage Honda automatics. Something inside of it is taking a beating every shift. It would make sense. I bought motor mounts to see if that would help. They should be at my door sometime next week. Luckily I know a salvage yard that would give me a decent tranny for little coin. My mpg doesn't seem to be suffering at all, if that tells you anything. I will just have to tolerate whatever is making my car shudder until something breaks.

 

my manual has that same problem, if i am going over 60 the car shakes like no tommrow, if i turn the wheel at all i feel like my tire is going to fall off. and i dont drive agressive either, mainly because i have an rx-7 to do that in. but yeah i change my axles like every 4-6 months and they are always bad.

 

I forgot to mention that my front torque strut is completely hollowed out. The engine easily bounces around. I'm still not sure it's my transmission because it doesn't slip. It is more reluctant to downshift than any other auto I've driven. When I step into the gas a bit when traveling at highway speed, I feel no slippage. What I don't feel anymore is the vibration associated with a bad inner joint. I do not regret spending the $350 on my front axles from Honda. I vow to never buy another axle from O'Reilly's. My friend will say the same thing about AutoZone's axles. Those were a nightmare.

 

I would try replacing the dogbone motor mount. It's easy and not expensive.

Another suggestion is to clean the EGR ports, if this has never been done. The rpm range of ~1700 is where the EGR opens under moderate acceleration. If some of the ports are blocked, the EGR opening will overlean a remaining open port and you'll get a lean miss which might feel like a shudder, but is usually described as a "flat spot" or lag in acceleration. However, the missing mount might cause the shudder at this engine speed.

Your experience w/ CV shafts reminded a recent revelation I had on CV shafts. My daughter's 97 CL 2.2L had a bad boot on LF shaft. She needed her car badly and I had to do the job on the weekend. After some problems locating a shaft (I buggered the shaft end threads to remove the shaft from hub), I determined to simply replace the boot and redress the shaft threads. One 1/2 shaft from a reliable local auto parts store was so stiff I couldn't deflect the joint. I called a CV jt repair shop and asked if they would replace the boot and fix the threads on my shaft. They agreed and went by the shop. I asked to watch the operation and it was accomplished in about 10 minutes total. The cut the old boot, slammed the joint down through a table w/ a hole in the top and separated a snap jt in the CV jt, wiped old grease off, slapped some new grease on, and reassembled. He had a neat split thread die mounted on vise grip pliers that clamped on the damaged shaft threads and chased them in a few more seonds.

While standing in the shop, I noted hundreds of CV jts stacked around the shop w/ new boots installed. I realized this shop is one of the sources of "rebuilt CV jts". I'm sure that no matter the condition the CV jt, it would get the same "rebuild procedure" that I witnessed for my boot replacement. This confirmed my suspicions about chain store CV jts. Avoid them like the plague. This place was a real Houston sweatshop likely paying hardworking guys by the unit to "rebuild" CV jts. The guy who repaired my CV jt was the foreman and was probably 18 yrs old.

good luck

 

That might be some useful information about the EGR valve. I ordered the front torque strut, which is also called a dogbone. TexasHonda, how was the axle nut to get off? I think Honda torques them down with a 1" impact at the factory. Your rebuilt CV shaft theory is likely true. My friend told me that when he bought a shaft from AutoZone, the outer joint only moved when banged on the floor. The sales counter people told him it was normal. But I'll wait until Monday to get a gasket for the EGR valve.

 

Axle nut was tough to break. It took a lot of pounding w/ an air impact before it finally broke. Problem was getting the shaft end through the hub. A little corrosion and a tight fit mean problems. Hammer got it out, but damaged the shaft end and threads.

good luck

 

Try it without air. You need a 6 foot cheater bar and another friend to jump on it with you. OK, maybe not another person, but you do need a long cheater bar. I've had to file the splines many-a-time. But only the remanufactured shafts newly purchased. What part of Texas are you in? I lived in Burleson for a year after living in Minnesota my whole life. I had never experienced humidity like that.

 

Does anyone have a rough estimate on torque figures for the EGR valve?