I have a 2002 Accent with a 1.6 liter engine. The original owners never took the car in for dealership maintenance while under warranty -- not once! The first time the transmission fluid was changed was at 70K miles by me after the transmission started developing delayed and rough shift problems when going into third gear, plus some surging and a lack of power while in third gear. I put a new filter in as well. The new fluid has helped somewhat, but the new fluid has already turned dark.

My shop manual mentions inspecting and adjusting the end play on the clutches and brakes within the transmission to get them within factory tolerances, yet the procedure to do this is not described in the shop manual. Is there a separate transmission manual, or does anybody have instructions on how to do this and the tolerances?

 

I'm not sure where to get the manual from, but, there is something you can add to your transmission that might help it shift a little easier etc.. its called Trans Tune... they sell it at autozone and even walmart. I threw some of that stuff in mine, and it actually made a world of difference and its been working fine for about 40000 miles. So far, so good... I also did what you said about the filter etc... You might want to try the trans tune first, and see what happens, before you go into the expense of working on the tranny. You will probably have to have a shop look at the tranny, unless you can get a hold of the actual Shop Manual, that the dealers have. You can usually buy them at the dealer, if you can't find them anywhere else. They are usually a pretty penny, but, they are VERY detailed... Especially if you plan on keeping the vehicle for a while, its worth it.

Let me know what you find out.