this was posted by Gerhard on preludeonline.com. original thread:
http://www.preludeonline.com/showthread.php?t=97370&highlight=SS
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Well everyone,
It may not actually be everything, but I figure that I should post information I've got on the SS Auto's here.
If anyone of you that own a 5th Gen have an SS Auto, then you may be aware that Honda has finally decided to warranty 2000-2001 Prelude Auto Transmissions up to 100,000 miles.
Of course, this means that the rest of us that have been *****ing about the numerous failures we've been experiencing with our 1997-1999 Preludes are out of luck...
Basically, SS Auto failures have historically fallen into two categories:
1) Never had a problem.
2) Transmission went very early on (under 20,000 miles), and possibly again afterwards.
I've been following this issue for a number of years and have a fair amount of information. I'm going to post that info here for everyone:
SS Auto Background:
Honda used the Prelude as it's test bed for much of it's new technology. This was the case for the SS Auto 5th Gen and the 4 speed version of the transmission.
Initially, Honda thought that the design would translate from paper to a decent product. Unfortunately, they ran into manufacturing problem - mostly quality control related due to the very tight tolerances in the transmission.
When the first problems started to be reported, Honda let the local dealers attempt to fix the problem. Generally, this entailed sending the trans out to a local trans shop to repair the unit with Honda OEM parts. Unfortunately, the trans' design was a little to new and a lot more difficult to work on. The failure rate was almost 100% attempting this form of repair.
So, Honda decided that they had to put a stop to dealers working on the transmissions. They immediately told the dealers that there was only one fix for an SS Auto: Let it completely fail and then replace it.
It turns out that Honda's own remanufacturing division started to have problems as well. They started to see a 40% failure rate on the SS Autos from the Prelude.
So, after a few years of horrible results, they turned to a company that was in the remanufacturing business. These guys were able to reliably rebuild the SS Autos and even offer a decent warranty.
That same company recommended a few improvements in the SS Auto parts, and in 2000 Honda silently updated some of parts and changed the part numbers.
The primary reason Honda has been so successful at ignoring Prelude owners and not dealing with the problem in a timely manner is that there are so few Honda Preludes with the SS Auto transmission. In a typical year Honda sold about 10,000 Preludes (5th Gen), and maybe 40 percent of those sales were SS Autos (4000 cars a year times 5 years of production = 20,000 car total!).
They would never be able to get away with this with a Honda Accord, which sells about 450,000 cars a year. So any problems would be reported by the masses to the NTSA and possibly risk a recall. (Hence the reason the SS Auto extended warranties began...Someone with a Acura TL was almost killed.)
Like many large companies: Honda's likes to screw the little guys. Unfortunately, it is more likely that someone will have to die in an accident related a sudden transmission failure before Honda will take care of all SS Auto vehicle owners. They simply don't want to pay for a recall.
Replacement Options:
As of this moment, there are two companies that appear to rebuild the SS Auto. The first company, Howard Engineering, has been doing so since the beginning of the problems. The second company has recently grown in name and is much less expensive and offers a less lengthy warranty: Phoenix Remaned Transmission.
Howard Engineering:
If your transmission fails out of warranty, you should consider having the dealer contact Howard and get a remanufactured unit from them.
They offer 5 year / 50,000 mile warranties.
Honda only offers a 12 month / 18,000 mile warranty on their replacement units.
With Howard, they will also pay for the removal and installation of the transmission if it should fail. In other words: Howard offers a dealer like warranty that costs you nothing out of pocket should the unit fail (and includes a rental car!).
http://www.hecreman.com/
Phoenix Remanufactured Transmissions:
Phoenix is no longer rebuilding the SS Auto trannies, so I've removed their information.
In General with Rebuilds:
Don't waste your time having a local shop rebuild your tranny, they'll just screw it up and you'll be without your car. (This has been the case in about 9 out of 10 stories that folks have reported to me using companies like AMMCO, Lee Myles, etc.)
You need to use either a company with a lot of experience rebuilding Honda SS Auto transmissions, otherwise you risk wasting your cash on an unproven quanity.
(This includes Level 10 IF you are not sending your COMPLETE transmission and t-converter to them! Period. No Exceptions.)
SS Auto Transmission Failure Symptoms:
These are the problems most people report when their trannies are failing:
1) Hard Shifts: A hard shift is when the transmission shifts from one gear to another, but BANGS itself into the next gear.
2) Soft Shifts: A soft shift is when the transmission takes a long slide into the next gear. So rather than crisply shifting into the next gear over 1 to 3 seconds, the transmission sides into the next gear over 3 to 15 seconds.
3) Slipping: Slipping is when the transmission either takes a long time to go into the next gear, or no longer goes into the next gear. When the unit attempts to shift to the next gear, the unit "slides" but doesn't quite get there. As a result the tachometer revs a few thousand RPM higher than it would normally, as there is no longer any load on the engine.
4) Grinding: Grinding is something the does happen, but it's really not typical. It's self explanatory.
Typical symptoms for a Honda SS Auto:
1) Pour shifting into reverse, especially during cold weather. Kind of clunks itself into the reverse from Park. (There is a noticeable shutter.)
2) Pour shifting into D4 from Reverse. Once again, Clunks itself into gear.
3) Hard shifts from one gear to another. Typically, 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 4th. (Imagine a steel I-beam being hit by a sledge hammer, and that's what this failure feels / sounds like.)
4) Finally, failure: Slips and never engages the next gear.
). But in the end, if you've got a tiptronic, you'll end up sticking it in Auto 95% of the time.
