Five problems related to transmission gear slipping have been reported for the 1997 Honda Prelude. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I recently bought my Honda Prelude back in November 18, 2007 from a used dealership. The car came with 167k miles and now I'm at 169k. The main reason why I am filing a complaint, is the automatic transmission is going out. I take my car to work, school, drive my mom to work, and even my younger brother to school. This is the only car we have. The transmission slips and jerks at low rpms from 1k-3k in 1st-2nd gear. I've done research on 97-01 Honda Preludes and the automatic transmission has the most fails. If my automatic transmission goes out I wouldn't have the funds to replace it while I'm still paying for insurance and monthly payments. I believe that Honda should replace the transmission without cost even with cars without the extended warranty. Also I hear that the 99-01 automatic transmissions were stronger than the 97-98 years and were also given an extended warranty for the 99-01 years with under 100k miles.
Automatic transmission began shifting extremely harshly. Auto transmission failed prematurely. The transmission will slip into neutral while shifting from gear to gear. While under any kind of acceleration, the transmission will slip into neutral and the engine will climb rpms before the transmission engages, causing it to slam into gear. Also the transmission will cause the car to stall at a stop, causing the car to shutter and die in certain situations.
I have a 1997 Honda Prelude sport-shift automatic. Like most owners of this type of vehicle, the transmission went out. The gears begin to slip and will not engage. The dealer wanted $4000 to get a rebuilt transmission. I had it replaced, but then about 20,000 miles later, it went out again. This time the first gear did not engage. I am basically afraid to drive my car around anymore. I do not want to get it rebuilt again because of the fact that it may as well break again. However, the 2000-01 Honda Preludes with this type of transmission get an extended warranty and I find it very unfair that the same exact car with the same exact transmission gets an extended warranty, but the 1997-99 Preludes do not. If Honda knows of the faulty transmissions, why not replace all of the transmissions instead of the later year ones? I used to love Honda vehicles, until I learned of many others with this same exact problem.
While driving, the transmission slipped, causing the vehicle to surge forward. Ts the transmission stalled, didn't shift gears properly, and would jerk, all while in motion and/or speeding up. Scc.
When vehicle is cold, the transmission will slip into neutral while shifting from gear to gear. While under any kind of acceleration, the transmission will slip into neutral and the engine will climb rpms before the transmission engages, causing it to slam into gear. Also the transmission will cause the car to stall at a stop, causing the car to shutter and die in certain situations. Dealer is well aware of the problem, but refusing to fix it.