Two problems related to automatic transmission torque converter have been reported for the 2003 Honda Civic. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2003 Honda Civic based on all problems reported for the 2003 Civic.
1. )I bought my used 2003 Honda Civic lx almost a year ago and about 3 months later, the transmission started to have issues. I hear it is a very common problem with this model for the torque converter to fail. Every time my car is about to shift, the rpms jump very high, and then pulls back hard when the transmission shifts. This occurs every single time a drive and has gotten worse over time. I travel 2 hours every week to visit my girlfriend and I am afraid the transmission will fail while I am driving 70mph leaving me in the dust. . . Or worse. Honda has recalled vehicles with similar problems at or around the year of my vehicle, but for whatever reason (money) they did not recall mine. The failure has yet to be fixed as I can't afford to fix the issue.
I purchased the car used in 2006 with 21,000 miles. The transmission failed at 56,000 miles (1/27/08). Told needed transmission overhaul. The transmission also failed again at 89,000 (2/4/09) miles, requiring another transmission overhaul. 6 months later experiencing similar symptoms (shuddering/shake/vibration between 30-50 mph) as before took it to aamco to get an outside opinion and I am told the torque converter is failing and if not replaced will cause transmission failure once again. The car currently has 124,000 miles on it. So much for Honda reliability.