Bought it last night. Enjoying it loads except it's going to be rainy today and tomorrow unfortunately. This after two days of sunny bliss. I get the car and now this.

Anyway, I had a few questions that search could not help me much with:

- Differential whirring during turns is ok as long as it isn't consistent right? I am not quite sure what people mean by the mechanical noise when they say diffs are going bad. It kind of sounds like my old 4WD RC car.

- The trunk foam tray has an empty spot: am I missing some tools Honda gave with the car? The empty compartment is like a square. I am going back to the dealer tomorrow and want to demand those if they are indeed missing.

- Anyone else have huge trouble getting that tonneau cover to go on? I don't plan on using it, but would like to see it on the car, maybe for taking pics.

- I see that notchy feeling in the shifter while car is cold is normal, but notchy to the point where some gears feel almost impossible to get into without the clutch, is this normal? It tends to get better as the car heats up, so I didn't think it was a huge issue - but I did not expect it to be this bad. I mean, I have to clutch in and try again to get it in gear, specifically for 2nd and 5th gear. 3 - 4 and 4-3 are always good, so that's why I am wondering.

Can anyone shed light on my questions?
Thanks, and pics should come soon with good weather!

 

Hmm maybe try some tranny fluid to smoothen it up a little? I have the whirring sound your talking about so hopefully its normal. lol. NICE year and color choice btw!

 

I think that area in the trunk tray is supposed to be empty and can be used as storage. I keep 2 quarts of oil in it

The top cover isn't the easiest thing in the world to use; most of the time its more of a pain than its worth.

Sounds to me like you could use some fresh tranny fluid. What do you mean when you say "impossible to get into without the clutch"? Are you not pressing the clutch in for shifts?

 

Sorry, it is hard to explain. So I clutch in and shift 1, 2, 3, 4, hard to get into 5.
Clutch out clutch in, and 5 is easy to get into.

same thing doing 6 5 4 3 , and then 2 is hard getting into without clutch out , in.

After the car is warm and I try this again, it is not so bad.

Edit: I'm surprised about the tranny fluid.. The car has ~24800 miles on it.

Edit 2: About the empty compartment.. Do you know for sure? I am a bit confused about what people mean when they say "Honda tools and the jack"

 

1. You should immediately change the diff fluid. You shouldn't really be hearing any noise out of the diff. It could be a sign that the car was launched a bit by the previous owner. Anyway, do the fluid change (I recommend LE607, but see the oil journals in the under the hood forum for more details).

2. Yeah, I think the foam tray does have an empty thing, but I can't remember. Maybe take a picture for us?

3. The tonneau cover... an endless source of amusement. Forget about it. You'll never use it.

4. Change the transmission fluid too. Honda MTF is fine, but I think there are some synthetics that people recommend (I used Redline recently). Again, check the oil journals.

Bottom line, do all your fluids, and welcome aboard!

 

the trunk should have a jack in the bottom of it.