The shift solenoid is an integral part of your Honda Civic’s transmission and is essential to your vehicle’s shift points and drivability. When your shift solenoids begin to experience problems, you may have a OBDII check engine light or a TCS light that may turn on in your instrument cluster.
We’ll be showing you how to test a Civic Shift Solenoid in a 1996 Honda Civic EX, but the procedure is the same for 1996-2000 DX, LX, and CX models. Although these instructions are just slightly different for the 1992-1995 Honda Civic, the 2001+ Honda Civics are just a bit different when it comes to the shift solenoid.
The term shift solenoid actually refers to the shift solenoid assemblies found on your 1.6 liter transmission. When these solenoids wear or break down, your transmission will not shift properly. Other symptoms may include harsh engagement, long shift points and your car not shifting fast enough.
There are two specific tests we will be using to test both shift solenoids in your Honda Civic. The first of which includes testing the resistance between the terminals on your shift solenoid connector, and the other is sending power to the solenoids themselves.
First locate your shift solenoids, which should be under the front radiator hose mounted near the headers on your 1996-2000 Honda Civic SOHC.
To access the wiring connectors to your Honda Civic shift solenoid however, you must first unplug your upstream oxygen sensor and your coolant temperature sender.
Disconnect your upstream 02 sensor connector, shown here and move it to the side so you can gain room.
Disconnect the temp sender here to give you access to the rear 10mm bolt that holds the Honda Civic Shift solenoid on.
Here you see the two wire shift solenoid connector, pull up on the back of this unit and depress the clip to pull this connector off.
After pulling up on this bracket and depressing the clip, you can pull off this entire wiring harness as a whole. Then depress the connector clip to pull apart this shift solenoid harness.
With your Honda Civic shift solenoid connector unplugged, you can now being our How To test a Honda Civic Shift solenoid guide. Take your voltmeter and measure the resistance at terminal A and terminal B of your Honda Civic Shift solenoid connector by using the chassis ground.
Using the power probe of your multimeter to check terminal A and B while grounding on the transmission should net you a solid resistance reading.
To test shift solenoid 1, measure the resistance between terminal labeled with the #1, and a vehicle ground. You may use the battery if your ground seems poor or there isn’t enough wire for you to reach. Shift solenoid 2 can be tested at the terminal labeled 2.
You should see a range of 14-25 Ω at each one these two pins on the shift solenoid harness. If you read this value then your shift solenoid checks out. Move onto the voltage test where we will be sending 12volts to the pins to see if the solenoids still click over.
If your solenoid’s resistance range falls outside these measurements, then you are in need of a replacement shift solenoid. Remove the 10mm bolts circled here, and gently remove this unit to replace. Or check out our How To Service your Honda Civic Shift solenoid article shortly.
Powering your Shift Solenoid
The second part of our how to test a Honda Civic shift solenoid is powering the solenoids to hear for activity. To do this however, you may need a special tool to send power to any wire you wish. Using a tool like our handy Power Probe allows us to send ground or switched 12v power to any wire at any time.
If you do not have a power capable probe of this kind, you can use a wire with a inline fuse to send power to one of these wires. Make sure to use an inline fuse as you do not to damage any fuses or relays connected to your engine harness.
Now go back to the shift solenoid wiring harness, NOT THE ENGINE HARNESS SIDE but rather the short connectors that run 2 wires to your actual solenoids. Send 12v to terminal 1 on the harness side and listen for the actuators to click open and shut. Repeat for terminal 2 and listen, if you hear the solenoids they may be worn.
Remember, you are NOT sending power directly back into your engine harness and back to your ECU. Doing this may damage or cause premature failure from your relays, fuses, or PCM. You are testing the shift solenoid side of the harness and sending 12volts directly to the solenoids themselves.
If you can not hear anything from both Honda Civic shift solenoid 1 and 2 while testing, then your solenoid unit is bad and must be replaced.
However in the event that sending 12volts to both solenoids DOES indeed get them to click and open correctly, and the trouble code still comes up, you may need to replace the solenoids due to a lazy valve or leaky seals.
That does it for our How To Test a Honda Civic Shift solenoid article, please let us know if you have any questions or comments below.
Thank you very helpfull
You are very welcome Garvey!
Does a defective solenoid on a 02 honda partner cause delay shift when engine is cold?
Hi Garvey, thanks for reading!
Sorry, but the Honda Partner will most likely be very different than the Honda Civic. If your B18 transmission is shifting slowly when cold and then gets better when warming up, it could very well be your solenoid.
This guide will help you test your shift solenoid, but the resistance range for your car is different, if you wish I can have our next Acura Integra automatic tested for this range and update a post for you.
Thanks for commenting!
I have a 1995 civic. Still the same test procedure as above? Thanks
Hi Charles! Yessir! the 1992-1995 Honda Civic is the same engine and transmission! Best of luck sir!
Hi there, I have a 2001 honda civic , I changed the transmisión 6 Months ago and I wondering if a defective solenoid could cause delay shift I have to do it manually seem like transmission does not have the power enough to go from 1rst, to 2nd sped, but once I do it manually car runs fine. Any ideas I would really appreciate some help thank you
Hi Carlos! Thanks for commenting!
Okay! so you replaced the transmission but NOT the shift solenoid? is that what happened? If so I would try replacing the solenoid first to see if that’s the cause. This year Civic is slightly different than your 01, and the testing procedure won’t be exactly the same but if your transmission shifts well manually, that would be the first place to look!
Thanks for commenting sir and let us know how it turns out!!
thank you for your guidance and advice, I will keep you post,
No problem at all Carlos! Thanks for commenting sir!
I think you advise and guidance is very helpful and much appreciated. My son’s first car a 04 civic minor issues. I’m trying to teach him but couldn’t do it without you. Awesome.
Sir, i have honda civic esi matic 95, my solenoid leaks, now when its cold or every morning, when i try to use the shift reverse, my car getting hardtime i have to wait 5mins to get hot and reverse will work., my question is.. Does the leak soleniod has a connection to my malfunction shift reverse?
Hi James, thanks for reading!
I would remove and reseal the Honda shift solenoid right away, this can be done by simply buying a new gasket or even being creative with some high temp black RTV gasket maker. Either way you want to stop that leaking and ensure that the pressure going to your automatic transmission is steady. Yes problems with this solenoid will cause issues with your shifting and transmission efficiency.
Thanks for commenting! Let us know how it turns out!
I have a b18b automatic in a Honda 2000 Civic ek3 having trouble with transmission not shifting
Hi Levaun, thanks for reading!
have you tried to tests to the shift solenoid? Is the green indicator on your instrument cluster blinking? or not on?
Yes sir I have a 2004 honda civic Lx,the transmission was change 1 year ago and now it doesn’t shift at all neither foward or back,I did change the fluid,please advice thank you.
Hi Albert, when you say it doesnt go forward or back do you mean the shifter? or the transmission itself? Can you move your Civic shifter? When you do does the car not move?
2004 honda civic Lx doesn’t shift at all,please advice
Hi Albert, thanks for commenting. Is your shifter moving even with the shift lock depressed?
98 civic ek automatic , tranny slips in all of 1st gear but if I put it in 2nd it goes with out slipping , how do I do test to see if it needs replacing
Hi Ryan, thanks for reading and commenting..
I would use the Civic shift solenoid to isolate yourself to 2nd gear, or force it using your gear selector. This should give you a good idea of how bad the slippage is in your transmission. Try driving uphill to get an even clearer picture of how bad the transmission is slipping.
2007 Honda civic lost reverse but shifts fine in drive through all gears only reverse lost absolutely no movement in reverse bad shift solenoid or something else?
Jamie, sounds like a bad Civic transmission. Sorry to say. Best of luck to you
My 95 civic slips pretty bad and shifts back and forth up hill would this be the case or is my tranny ready to go?
Hey Todd. Sorry to say but sounds like your Civic transmission is on it’s last legs. Best of luck to you
I have a 2000 civic lx and have an issue with the d4 flashing. I’ve swap the solenoid and ECU or PCM from a running same vehicle and the problem is still there. I’ve also check the harness from the ecu connection connector D pins D1 and D3 to see if there was a break and so far no break. I’ve ran out of ideals on what to check and get the car running again. Any help at all would be great
Hi thanks for reading
Have you had the Civic transmission serviced lately? Or has this issue just cropped up? any problems with your shift interlock or your shift cables?
Would bad shift solenoid a and b cause a transmission to whine. And are solenoid a and b located on the bottom passenger side of the trans on a 1999 honda civic ex
Hi Corey,
No unfortunately transmission whine isn’t one of the obvious symptoms of a bad shift solenoid. I would first try to flush your transmission by taking it to an experienced mechanic. Second I would remove your shift solenoid and make sure there’s no buildup in the port of your Civic transmission.
Hope that helps out.
I’m checking out a code that the AT shift solenoid either not working or going bad. I’m having no issues with shifting while parked or driving. No slip or hesitate nothing. Only thing I notice is when in drive the shifter is more on the D3 then the D. If I put the shifter in the D it doesn’t ingage and my dash shows N and the car doesn’t move. Would that set code for shift solenoid? When dash shows D the car runs and shifts great?
Hi Fern, I would start by checking the shifter to ensure it’s properly lined up. If your dask shows N for neutral, then what your shifter is displaying is wrong. Good news, it should be an easy fix. Hope that helps
My Civic LX I recently replaced the shift Solenoid B. It was having issues getting to 3rd gear. I replaced the speed sensor, it wasn’t that. I replaced the solenoid B and then it gave me the P0758 code with the flashing D4. It gif y do that before. I checked the solenoid resistance, it is within specs. I power probed it and it clicks on both terminals. So I figured the pigtail connector must be at fault. I power probed ut to see if there’s current and got nothing. I checked for resistance and ground and got nothing. It seems as if the line to send signal to the ECU/ PCU is dead. The ignition fuse is working fine, the car starts fine but when put in D4 it gets the CEL triggered with the P0758. I am trying not to replace the computer but will test the pins on the harness to see if it’s showing anything. I’m stumped. The last thing I wanna do is to peel away at the harness and find where the line is fractured and not communicating with the ECU. Any suggestions?
Hey there BW. Wiring nightmares are definitely no fun at all.
After reading through your description and symptoms, it definitely seems like you are onto something. Are you on stock ECU? If so it should be easy to find the ECU wiring and test continuity between those terminals.
Hope that helps!
today my 2007 Honda Civic SI Coupe 5 speed will no longer shift smoothy …it locked in reverce and fought to get it out ..none of the the 5 gears shift EZ