gktapper 0 Posted January 10 Quick background, I bought a 2001 Honda Rubicon 500 at the end of October from a guy on marketplace for $2,700. The wheeler wouldn't shift when I rode it but he told me it was a $100 angle sensor so I purchased it and took it to a pro cycle shop to get repaired. After waiting 4 weeks for the stupid angle sensor to show up they call to say that it might me the computer so they waited for a used one from another warehouse to come and tried that.... wasn't that. After spending $1,100 for troubleshooting they determined shift motor was working fine, throttle sensor was good so it must be the transmission which would be another $3,000. Nope, not doing that. My good friend said to bring it out to his place and he would check some things... he installed a new oil filter, chain for oil pump, and sprocket and put it back together because he saw where the chain was rubbing on the housing and found aluminum shreds in the old oil filter. No dice. so now I have over $4,000 in this thing that is in really nice shape but doesn't shift... what would you do with it at this point? (and "I would have never bought it" is an obvious statement) Also, I contacted the guy I bought it from and told him... crickets... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,619 Posted January 10 I hate to hear that. I see a lot of the old Rubicons for sale with "Runs great, but won't shift/ pull, just needs angle sensor, ECU etc" and a lot of the time it's the oil pump/ Hondamatic that is bad. But, if you want to get it right, you can look here and contact @Brian Bertram. He might be able to rebuild your Hondamatic (Honda considers them "non-serviceable") or have a used unit you could buy. But first, let's do a little reading. Brian's contact info is in this thread. He's not on here much, but is very responsive to emails. And here you can kinda see what's inside of these things. I've always been a footshift guy, but wife wanted an auto, and didn't like the newer DCT I got her, so into the Rubicons we went, and now I have one running, one that probably needs a Hondamatic (read below thread) a 2004 that I think is good, and an extra 07 engine that I'm hoping I can use to fix the one in the thread below. Please let us know how it goes. There aren't many people who "know" the Hondamatics like Brian does, and I'm trying to learn all I can without bugging him incessantly with every little question. I'd like to get quite a bit of info about them on this site to help others out in the future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,619 Posted January 10 At this point you gotta decide if you want to be "in for a penny, in for a pound" or give up on it and take a big loss. Given what you've put into now, and the fact that there is very little demand for parts for the early Rubicons (high-ish failure rate on the early models) I think I'd try to fix it. How handy are you with a wrench? Doing it yourself you'd only be out time and effort, plus whatever Brian recommends on the Hondamatic and oil pump. Paying someone else to do it you're probably better off cutting your losses. We can walk you through it if you decide to move forward. Toodeep and Rich450es walked me through my first engine rebuild about 10-12 years ago, and since then I've probably rebuilt 20-25 engines for myself, family, and friends. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
