Honda & Acura – the New Generation
This has now become a very frequent question on the tech line: “Hey, what are all these solenoids, and what in the world do they do?” The questions started in the 1997 model year, when the Honda Prelude came out with the M6HA transaxle. This was one of the first vehicles to receive this new-generation 4-speed. This article, I hope, will clear up some of the questions on shift strategy, clutch-pack applications and solenoid application. After all, how can you fix something if you don’t know how it works?
EEC-IV and EEC-V Systems – Odd Behavior
EEC-IV and EEC-V systems sometimes may exhibit odd behavior such as erratic shifting, OD or engine light blinking, nonsense or unrelated codes, with no apparent cause.
AX4S/AX4N – No Go/No Charge
With their fingers crossed and the cooler-return line still in the bucket, they start the car up. The cooler line makes a little pop, a spit, some foamy fluid then, lo and behold, a nice clean steady stream of fluid comes out of the line. Mission accomplished. The converter has charge. After the cooler line is re-connected, the trans is topped off, road tested and everything works perfectly. End of story you say. Not quite yet. The question that remains is what did we do to correct whatever was wrong with the unit? We did not find anything to point a finger at as to the cause of the problem.
Acura Legend G4, L5 & PL5X Transaxles
As best I can tell there are about 60 versions of the Honda/Acura four-speed transaxle to date. Some of these units, at a glance, look the same. Of course, as you know (usually found out the hard way), they are not the same. As a matter of fact, sometimes even when you look a bit closer they still look the same. This is mainly because of very subtle differences in the pieces and parts contained in these units.
It’s a Game of Tag, and You’re It!
A 1995 Mazda Millenia equipped with the 2.3-liter supercharged engine and the LJ4A-EL (JF4O3E) transaxle came in for a basic overhaul.
During the road test after completion of the job, the traction-control OFF lamp came on, as did the traction-control-system lamp and the Check Engine lamp. Holy mackerel, what the #%A* is going on here?
Maxima Malady
This problem came to me from a shop that was working on a 1997 Nissan Maxima with an RE4FO4A transmission that came in with a complaint of late and harsh shifts.
