2002 Honda Accord Faulty transmission 2years after accident

LCISCO

MEMBER
2002 HONDA ACCORD
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
61,200 MILES

My Honda had a collision on the front drivers side at drivers side wheel. Body repair consisted of front bumper. New hub cap door and fender all on drivers side with paint match. The car at that time had 47000 miles. Now at 61000 miles the transmission is slipping and leaking fluid from the right and left axle shafts. I tried to have a transmission replaced by a friend but he said the it was hard to drop it out and put a new transmission in. It seemed like the frame was off by a few degrees. My question is could and accident like this cause so much impact on a transmission? Could a few degrees on a accord frame cause problems with installing a new transmission? If the frame was not bent would an accident on a front wheel drive vehicle like this accord, give it trasmission problems. When my insurance company checked the vehicle they did not check for frame damage nor did the honda dealer that did body repairs. I' m trying to see if they are maybe responsible for this issue. Please help, thanks!

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 AT 5:46 PM

1 Reply

SERVICE WRITER

MECHANIC
9,123 POSTS

I assume it was aligned after the accident. Those specs may tell a story. When you say "frame" Do you mean the beam/crossmember? That has to come out. The engine is supported from aboove when this job is done. Often you don't have the room that you really need and have to remove or loosen obstructions along the way. Engineers are ruthless in their designs. It's a seven hour job or so for the pro with the tools to do this job.

Regrdless, It will be nearly impossible to attribute the collision to the transmission's failure. Honda had put out an extended warranty because of the tranny problems in the 00-01 accords. Now if yours was a early 2002, maybe it would apply. It was a 93 month extended warranty, so it may be expired regardless. A call to the dealer service department will verify one way or the other.

Hondas are more sensitive to particular fluids, It calls for ATF-Z1, I would use nothing else. Losing transmission fluid can cause the slip if it gets low enough and ruin the transmission. Axle seals can leak from the wheels being spun as it heats and disforms the seals. Such as when stuck in snow. Burnt fluid that isn't changed can lead to problems.

I would expect that if there was a problem stemming from the accident it would have shown up much earlier. IT isn't wrong to say that it may been affected from the accident, but hard to prove and not likley IMHO.

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Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 AT 7:30 PM