Hi guys,

Doing some research before I buy an S2000:

Is the infamous 2nd gear grind something that happens only in AP1 cars? Or do you see it in AP2's also?

What causes the 2nd gear grind? How do you prevent it?

Thanks,

 

I have one of the infamous cars, and from what I have gathered mine is a bit more severe then most, however it isn't super frequent. Yes it can be annoying at times but it hasn't seemed to be a reliability issue. I have over 100,000 hard miles on it with no problems or signs of pre failure of any kind.

From what I understand it is only in Ap1's. It seems to have something to do with when the trans has been driven for a wile and gets up in temp, like driving on the freeway for some time and then parking the car or driving in the city stop and go, stop light to stop light. More or less a heat soak situation, this is when it is more likely to happen.

I haven't been able to find a real direct answer for why it does it, I have heard of making a clutch adjustment at the master cylinder to fix it, but only seems to help some of us. Hope this info helps you.

 

It's your shifting technique that causes it to grind. Shifting into 2nd is a little bit tricky. When you shifting into 2nd gear, you feel it's a little bit different than any other gears. I think Honda made like that so you would know if you mis-shift into 2nd.

 

Thats a pretty bold statement for how much of a phenomenon this has been for Ap1 owners. And thats the first I have ever heard of that reason after all these years and after getting to know my car for many years now, it really makes me question your reasoning. Where did you come up with that? Have you owned an AP1 before? If you have owned one, maybe it wasn't a problem for your car. Some are worse then others and if you don't hit Vtec often your chances of having it happen go down.

As I stated before, when you know your car well and you have an issue, you start to see a pattern. And when you hear other people discribing very much the same situation when the problem occurs, naturally you come to my conclusion.

Even if no one else had this problem but me, I could still tell you for certain that it is not a technique thing.

 

I have a MY07 with 2500 miles, and I have the 2nd gear grind.

 

How sever is it? I assume your talking about when its up to temp, not first thing in the morning right?

Mine will not go into 2nd gear at all, I have to let off and clutch it again for it to go in. Your does this too?

 

I have not owned an AP1 before, but my AP2 has that grind when I first got it. I thought it was a problem. It concerned me until I came across this site (don't ask I don't remember). It says that gears grinding is most likely causes by your shifting technique. I started paying more attention from 1st to 2nd shift, and I think it might be right. Most of you shift 1st to 2nd like you shift from 3rd to 4th, but 1st to 2nd is different from 3rd to 4th. I have no grinding from 1st to 2nd, but I occasionally shift from 1st to 2nd like I shift from 3rd to 4th and "CLANK".

PS: Some suggested that switching to the new Honda MTF might helps, but I am unable to snap the bolts. LOL. But I will try again sometimes soon. Until then, shifting technique seems to do the trick for my 1st to 2nd grind.


Try this:


When shifting from first gear to second gear, place the palm of your hand on the inside of the shift knob and apply pressure towards the drivers side of the shifter while shifting downwards.

I found this technique works best, the rest of them look retarded so I don't bother to post. The site's logo is on the pic, go there if you want to see the rest of the techniques.

 

Thanks for your input but I think your misunderstanding the severity of the problem. This is not a clink or clunk, this is a full on buzz saw grind, the gear will not go in.

Technique won't fix the severity of what is happening to these older Ap1's. It acts as if you didn't even try and engage the clutch and it just buzzes the gear and won't go in at all until you let the rpms drop and re engage the clutch again. It only does it in 2nd so its not a poor clutch engagement issue with the driver, when it first started happening to me I would anilize it and try and figure out if it was me not pushing the clutch in all the way to the floor, but thats not it.

For some reason the syncro's are more sensitive in this gear. I believe there was an upgrade in 03 and then again in the Ap2's with the carbon fiber syncro's, And this resolved the severity of the problem but some people claim to have some notchy shifting still but this is not the same problem we are experiencing. Hope this clarifies better for you.

 

that grind is embarrising sometimes when driving down on a crowded beach front and all of a sudden you grind on a perfect shift and everyones is like wtf. its not to bad tho it happens like once in a while not often

 

Sounds about right, annoying. Yes thankfully it doesn't happen all the time.