2008 Honda Rubicon Tranny Slips

I have a 2008 Honda Rubicon 500 with the auto tranny with about 1400 miles. Worked fine until about a week ago. When its cold (after a 10 min idle to warm the oil) it has a hard time in automatic mode. It will jump between 1 and 2 no matter how high I rev it it just jumps and jerks around but still moves forward. I put it in esp to manually change gears and works fine. If I run it in esp until it warms up after driving a while, I can switch back to automatic mode and it runs fine the rest of the day. I looked all over google and most everyone has issues when it warms up and the oil thins out. I am just the opposite.

Is there any honda guys that might have an idea of what to look at. I know if I take it to the dealer it will be 2K+ for them to just drop a new tranny in.

thanks for any help.

What kind of oil do you use? I think yours has a wet clutch that drives the hydraulic pump. Make sure and use an oil rated for wet clutches, not an automotive oil. An oil change is cheap try at least.

I have have only used honda oil that is rated for this machine since day one. I was going to try an oil change this week to see if that takes care of anything. Although an oil change just for supplies is 50 bucks! almost 5 quarts!
I did check the oil thinking it was low until it warmed up and expanded and it looks normal.

My foreman only takes 2 quarts, not as big a deal. I had an issue with it shifting when I used auto oil once. Maybe check in the manual and see if you can run a lighter oil with the cold temps we have been having. Hondas are known for being cold blooded, sounds like something that will be fine once things warm up.

This is common. It is a clutch adjustment. Northwest Honda in rice lake wi is the cheapest and fairest dealer. Only a few hundred. They did a entire rebuild for my 450 it was 700.