Hello,
I have a 1996 Civic with 77,000 miles and automatic transmission. Generally, it's in very good condition although lately i've noticed a very specific condition which is my cause for concern.
The specific condition is when the car is at roughly 35mph, 3rd gear with light engine load (i.e. a gentle hill) which demands a specific throttle setting to hold speed. This causes the engine RPM to oscillate between 1900 and 2100 with a period of 1 second. I can both hear the note of the engine changing and see it happening on the gauge. Simply changing the accelerator position stops the problem.
Is the transmission starting to slip? Is this the start of a big problem or just a little niggle? I tried replacing the transmission fluid recently with Dexron III (it was due for a change). Gear changes are slightly smoother but it didn't fix this issue.
Any comments would be much appreciated! Thanks, Jez