AT transmission question??

[BimmerMan]

My friend has a 98 Accord 4cyl with an auto tranny. He has all forward gears but no reverse. don't honda's use solenoids or something of the sort to switch gears? could one of those be bad or is it something else?

[Z28]

Just start with the basics.

Whats the fluid look/smell like?

If you drop/dropped the pan, any debris/chunks in it?

Can he physically get it into reverse, and nothing happens? The RPMs climb but no movement?

[BimmerMan]

I haven't checked the fluid or anything. he's told me about it and I haven't had time to check it out. He's been driving it like that for a couple of weeks. he says when he puts it in reverse it sounds like grinding a gear in a manual tranny. It's kind of vague since i haven't been over there but I was trying to see if there were any common issues that would cause this.

[green91]

it could be as simple as a linkage adjustment or internal failure

[iEvo]

yea start with fluid but it could also be a seal in the tranny that went bad for the reverse solenoid. if so then u coukd fix it but its a mess. if he could find another tranny then it would be the easiest thing other then a fluid change