1998 Transmission Replacement

Ok, here is the latest update on the saga of the transmission replacement, Overboostin replied to my PM and said there was no reflash needed, a buddy of the guy installing the transmission works at honda and he checked and said there was no reflash needed. Last Friday night i brought it over around 7pm. Beforehand i asked if he could replace the timing belt/water pump/front seals/rear main seal and he did, he was done by 9am Saturday morning, i picked it up 7 pm Saturday evening and its been driving great ever since. The only issue that came up was an axle seal that was torn accidently, i picked up a new one on the way to pick it up and he installed it in less than an hour. I've put at least 200 miles on it so far and its been driving great, no more giant clunking when coming to a stop, and a bunch of maintenance was taken care of. Still have the oil cooler o ring and the rotor and cap but the tall wagon is on the road again! Thanks for the confirmation about the TCU from Overboostin!

It is with a heavy heart that i report that i am having transmission problems with the van again . About 6 weeks ago it started clunking into 1st after coming to a complete stop, then about a month ago i was driving the van for around 2 hours and it started slipping into gear really bad, clunking into 2nd and 3rd. I have performed 2 drain and fills since it started acting up again, the first time the drain plug had about a 1/4 inch - 1/2 inch layer of gunk on the drain plug, cleaned it off, on the second drain and fill there was gunk but nearly as much. I had about a week between those d&fs, i just did a drain on the transmission but haven't filled it back up yet, there was gunk on the drain plug but not as much again. On the current d&f i had driven the van about 2.5 hours before draining. The fluid smells pretty hot, almost burnt. I am wondering if this issue might be caused by the radiator not cooling the fluid enough, maybe the fluid path is blocked, or something. The radiator fluid had looked rusty, i drained the radiator about 2 months ago and refilled, it looks better but is not perfect, thats why i am considering the radiator as a culprit. The temp gauge always stays at the same level once warmed up, when i blast the heat in the van it gets really hot, i imagine one could burn their skin if exposed long enough. I was thinking of replacing the radiator and the thermostat just to be safe, i was also thinking of pulling the trans hoses from the radiator and using a hand pump to force fluid through, maybe its blocked? Maybe i need to check the solenoids on this new tranny? Does anyone have any ideas? I am thinking of taking it back to the gentleman that installed it to see if he has any ideas. Sorry for the long post!

Oops, never got a new torque converter with the new tranny, oh well, lol, i did know about the solenoid screens, i had replaced the a, b and c solenoids on the old tranny with no luck, earlier today (2 hours ago) i pulled the a, b and c solenoids, b and c were fine, screens were clean and i was able to connect them to the battery and they clicked on, awesome, checked the a/lock up solenoid and the screens were quite gunked up, ah ha! Cleaned the screens (don't have a replacement gasket/screen), reinstalled, disconnected the tranny connections to the radiator and pumped fluid through it, it did come out the other side so that was good, put it all back together, just got back from driving it for about 1.5 hours, it still clunks into 1st when coming to a stop but it shifts into 2nd and 3rd much better than before, i am going to drive it to Portland tomorrow and we'll see how it does, i think i might want to check the a/lockup solenoid in a month and see if there is anymore gunk, thanks for the replies!