I jacked the back of it up and started and put it in gear. When just idling the tires spin then stops, spins and stops. Forward and reverse. If I push the accelerator at all the wheels lock up and you can tell the engine is under a load
Hmmm....
Let's get
@HondaTech involved.
When you put a 700 in gear, it doesn't engage the 1st/reverse clutch until it sees throttle opening. The other time it does so...I believe, is when it sees movement in gear via the speed sensor. Like if you put in gear on a hill and just let it start rolling. Jacked up with no resistance, there is sometimes enough drag from the spinning parts to move the rear wheels, esp when oil is cold. Or...if there is a LOT of drive...like the machine creeping forward off the gas, another clutch could be trying to engage (see below).
My guess would be....esp if the move/stop cycle of the wheels seems very rhythmic, is that the ecu "Sees" the wheels turning (IE-movement), tries to then engage the 1st/reverse clutch. Something in there is binding, so when that happens, the wheels stop, the clutch is released, and the whole thing starts over again.
I wonder if it's possible for theses things to "cross shift", which is applying more than one clutch at a time (engagement of 2 gears, causing binding). Hydraulic leakage in the valve body or elsewhere seems likely, since shorted solenoids/wiring "should" set a code. As far as that goes, I guess you could unplug all the connections on the valve body, screw in the emergency screw, and see what happens. The problem there is if oil were bleeding to some gear other than 2nd, it might not tell us much.
You may also be able to see cross shifting with oil pressure tests on the ports. Pressure where there shouldn't be would be a clue.
