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before going any farther... do this test

i would take a digital volt meter...

set it to 20 volts DC scale...

start the engine and turn on the headlights..

1. test between the positive and the negative battery posts.  14.1 to 14.8 volts is expected.

2. test between the negative battery post and the engine block. 0.04 volts is expected..

3. test between the negative battery post and the body... 0.02 volts is expected..

4. test between the Engine block and the body..  0.02 volts is expected.


if you get 0.00 on the last 3 tests.. change the meter setting to 2 volts DC scale.. and retest.. the last 3...

this test takes about 2 minutes...

post your results by test number..

if you get more than the 0.04 or 0.02 volts on the display...

you have a bad ground between those parts..  

there are several thousand more wiring diagrams on the az site.. but i think you will mostly need these...  and you are lucky these are on the first page... there are 136 pages with 30 images per page... yea.. 4000 possible images..  

Usually when the pressure solinoids start to go you don't notice anything until the clutch packs are damaged. I have also seen many hondas where the clutch material just falls apart from age.Eventually the clutch material will clog the filter and the car wont move. That is the symptom with 90% of the hondas that get towed in to the tranny shops. The filters get clogged by clutch material from the drums or the convertor or both. You most likely need an overhaul .  

Wayne, here are my test results for the bad ground that you suggested (used the 2v scale for 2~4)
1. 14.5
2. .04 or less
3. .006 (not .06)
4. .006

I also tested the countershaft speed sensor (the one on the top of the transaxle) and it appears to be bad. I'm not very good with knowing which ohms settings to use when testing for continuity, but on the audible continuity setting I got about .5 (no tone) and on the 200 setting I got infinite resistance. It wasn't until later that I found the mainshaft sensor, so I still need to test that one, but it looks like I might as well try replacing the countershaft sensor to see if that was the problem.

I have also noticed that the "slipping" problem is most consistent when starting up a hill at a slow speed (going from 1st to 2nd), which just makes me think it's a clutch failure, but I don't know enough to say whether a sensor could cause such a consistent shift issue, rather than more random shift issues like I would expect from a sensor failure. (again these are just my assumtions and I don't have experience to back them up!)

I found several honda parts sites, but can you recommend one over the other?
hondaautomotiveparts.com
hondapartsdeals.com
hondapartscheap.com
robertsonhonda.com
hondapartsunlimited.com
hondapartshouse.com
hondapartssale.com

I tried searching on rock auto parts, but could not find the parts in their catalog  

Duralast/Sensor - Transmission Speed
For your 2001 Honda Accord DX 2.3L MFI 4cyl
Price:$124.99        
Part Number: SU6707
text from sales page... Transmission speed sensor reports transmission output speed to the on-board computer.
When not replaced, transmission may not shift out of low and vehicle may experience inaccurate transmission shift points, high fuel consumption and/or CEL illumination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Duralast/Sensor - Transmission Speed
For your 2001 Honda Accord DX 2.3L MFI 4cyl
Price:$92.99
Part Number: SU5619

more from the sales page.. Transmission speed sensor reports transmission output speed to the on-board computer.
When not replaced, transmission may not shift out of low and vehicle may experience inaccurate transmission shift points, high fuel consumption and/or CEL illumination.


those voltage drop tests look good..

i will look up the resistance specs for them later tonight..  

If you mean the resistence specs for the speed sensor, you actually already gave that to me, which was 400-600 ohms, but I wasn't sure if I could have been using the wrong meter settings when I tested, but basically I was getting no continuity.

Thanks for the part #'s and the description info, which looks very promising based on my issue.  

i should have mentioned that to get a reading at 400 to 600 OHMs....   setting the digital OHM meter at 2K ohms is where you want to start..     you will want to reduce to the 200 OHM scale..  and go to up to the 200K setting also..

i will try to include that type of info in my future posts....


wayne  

Okay, I'll change my settings and test again. Thanks!  

Here are the ohms readings for the countershaft speed sensor...
audible continuity: .551
200: 1 (infinite resistance)
2k: .460
20k: .44
200k: .3
2m: .00

Readings for the mainshaft speed sensor...
audible continuity: .527
200: 1 (infinite resistance)
2k: .426
20k: .41
200k: .2
2m: .00  

460 and 426 ohms are within spec..

were you able to measure them from the PCM or TCM connector.?? to verify the wires are NOT broken..


were you able to read the transmission trouble codes with an OBD2 scan tool????

if mechanical stuff is broken.. like the clutches burned out.. it may not set a code..


were you able to print the 3 diagrams above.?????

they are larger than you can see..


i also have not delved into honda diagnostics...   but you might have to have a more advanced scan tool to access the transmission trouble codes..

what model scan tool do you have so i can look at the owners manual online to see if it will do the job...  

So do I pretty much ignore the decimal in front of the numbers? I wasn't sure if the decimal meant it was out of spec since it was not "whole numbers".

How do I test to see that the harness connection is good on the connector/pcm side? I'm not too sure how to test that.

I have a fairly basic PC-based scan tool, which is paired with the OBDwiz scan tool software. I know it will at least show some transmission related codes since I got a code after I had removed some transmission sensor connectors for testing, but there are no stored or pending codes.

So far I've only looked at the diagrams on screen and I haven't tried to print them yet.  

i will have to look at obdwiz and see if it displays live data..     when first setting it up...  you might look carefully as most will ask you if you want engine or transmission data...    advanced will ask more than that..

printing the diagrams above...   you should be able to figure out where the wires go to the ecm.  so you could ohm them from there..   my printer is out of ink.. i will fix that this morning..  i can follow diagrams much better on paper.. . i have used acrobat and even dropped the diagram image files into word.. and drawn colored lines over the circuit i needed .. yep time consuming.  but sometimes needed..

you could also..   unplug one of the speed sensors..     start the engine.. take the car once around the block without forcing the transmission hard so it does not do more damage..   see if will set a code for that speed sensor...



as for colorizing wiring diagrams..  i had to print the 10 pages for a 300zx head light diagram..    then hand colorized 4 of the pages..    just the circuits i needed..    it was a pain..   i also had to identify what each wire did.. and if it had power for the left side.. power for the right side..       hi beam.. low beam.. flash to pass.. headlight  doors up..   what threw me.. is both high beams did not work..  everything else worked fine..  turned out that both high beam contacts in the switch were dirty..  sos after verification i tried to open the switch.. nissan actually put an easily removable cover over it... to get to the contacts so you could burnish the silver contacts with a angled tool..    

if you can verify that the sensors are working.. does it shift?   but it slips when power is applied.. the electronics are good and the clutches are worn away.. leaving no friction material to grab the steel plates..   steel against steel will slip..

a lot of mechanics look for only the electrical issues..   and a LOT of times.. they are the real cause..  but sometimes.. its mechanical...

send me a message by clicking on my user name..   click the send message button..   include your email address..  

Any luck yet. I have the same problem. My car has 205k and it has been slipping for 25K miles now. if you let off the gas for a split second it will down shift ok and not slam in. It seams like it is not upsifting or down shifting fast enough.  

Later Hondas require checking fluid level veh. Warmed up shut eng. off check level within 1 minute.  A lot of the Accord units crack 1st clutch piston which may cause slip on takeoff.  The 1-2 flare is a lot of times caused by a bad 2nd cl. Pressure switch as they are prone to moisture.  Other erratic shift problems are due to sticky CPC valves A&B( clutch pressure control ) which are in one the many valve bodies deep inside the trans.  Most common cause of these valves sticking are the differential tapered roller bearings shedding metal.  Most times you will not hear noise from these failed brgs. but you may see an axle seal leaking due to the loose brg.  If you pull the drain plug which is magnetized and see a lot of metal on it- no good.  

The wiring diadram was a big help. The problem is shifting from 1 to 2 and that is controled by the A solinoid. I used the wiring diagram to id the solinoid by wire color and it is on the top front of the tranny. it is on a common base plate with the lock up solinoid. I removed the solinoid assembly and cleaned the screens and the valve ports with starting fluid the blew them out with compressed air. I put it together and now it shifts fine. Found a new solinoid assembly for 225 but I'll see how long it lasts.