I was driving yesterday, and a very peculiar thing happened to me. I was redlining from 1st to 2nd to 3rd and then directly into 6th. When I went to 6th gear, I had to force it in and there was a real bad sound and it felt bad. Then about a couple hours later, I went from 1st to 2nd and then into 6th. This time there was a really bad sound and I could not even force it into 6th gear. Did I damage my car in any way, or is this how the engine and clutch is suppose to work? Or is this the grind people have been talking about, except I'm experiencing it in 6th gear? I have about 3500 miles on the car, and I have not experienced anything like this before until yesterday.

 

It's just bad practice to redline so high in the low gears so frequently especially when your car is still so relatively new. Then you're skipping gears straight to 6th which i don't know why you would want to do such a thing but i'm pretty sure that can't be good for your clutch. As a general rule you should allow the car to go as high as 4k-5k rpms, but since this is the s2k 6k-7k to allow the VTEC time to kick in. other than that you're killing your engine. Unless you're racing. I read in a driving magazine from some pro drivers that everyday driving for best performance while still enjoying the cars potential should be around 6k-7k most likely on the s2k.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Swurvydel
[B]It's just bad practice to redline so high in the low gears so frequently especially when your car is still so relatively new.

 

I would suggest not skipping gears (unless you are pausing and speed matching, doesn't sound that you are). The differential speeds of the shafts in the transmission are a lot higher if you skip gears. Plus, I don't think 6th has any syncros. If you're shifting into 6th after redlining in 2nd (assuming you're engaging with revs at about 7krpm), then the car is going about 100 mph slower than it should be going.

 

That doesn't sound right, have you tried double clutching?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by S2WOOOW
[B]I would suggest not skipping gears (unless you are pausing and speed matching, doesn't sound that you are).

 

Any time you redline you're forcing the engine to work at maximum performance levels which increase wear and tear on the engine and reduce engine life. Unless you plan on only having your s2k for a short time (i.e. leased) then there is no problem with constant redline. If you'd like to keep yours for a while i would suggest not doing that. I get by fine without redlining and have never lost a street race. Time your shifts properly and make smooth transitions between gears and the s2000 will do the rest of the work.

 

Swurveydel, shifting from second to sixth or third to sixth will not affect the clutch in any way. The clutch is not related to what gear is engaged, it's only purpose is to disconnect the link between the engine and transmission to remove load from the drivetrain for shifting operations. You can damage a clutch with excesive slipping or harsh/abrupt releases but it doesn't matter what gear you are coming from or going to.

S2WOOW, this is not correct. Nearly all modern manual transmissions have syncros on all of the gears with the exception of reverse. In fact the S2000 has double synchros on all gears, and even has syncro on reverse. The 5th/6th gear syncro cluster is part #23626PCY306 and it costs $163.25 from Honda.

The syncros act as a 'brake' or friction surface that engages before the transmission engages the desired gear. The larger the speed differences of the shafts, then the longer the syncro will take to match the speeds. If you want to move from second to sixth or third to sixth, there is NO reason why the transmission should not engage properly. You might however, have to engage the gear slowly to give the transmission time to sych shaft speeds. The harder you try to 'force' it into gear, the more friction you are putting on the synchros, and the faster the shafts will match speeds. However, if you try to force it hard enough you can actually bend internal transmission parts such as shift forks (although this is pretty hard to do, and it's likely that other stuff would bend/break first). For a good explanation of how a manual transmission works, see:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/transmission.htm

Also, I don't see why approaching the redline of the engine is 'Killing' the engine. The redline is set at a certain RPM because it is the speed at which the manufacturer has calculated/tested/specified that the internal parts of the engine will be operating within normal conditions. If you exceeded the Redline, say went to 10,000 RPM, then yes you might be 'killing' the engine. After you exceeded the redline you would be running a chance of doing things like exceeding the lubrication ability of the engine, breaking the timing chain, throwing a rod, contacting the piston with a valve, or a number of other things which could result in damage. Approaching the redline in first and second is no different than approaching it in any other gear as far as wear on the engine is concerned. The pistons, crank, cam, valves, etc.. all still move at the same speed, and the engine is producing the same amount of power. With the very short periods of time that the engine spends from 7000-9000 RPM during a first or second gear acceleration to redline (less than 2 seconds) the additional wear that is imposed on the engine is very, very small.

I often accelerate to redline in first and second, just to feel how fast the car is, I'm not even racing anyone. Usually this is when I am getting on the freeway and by the time I reach third, I'm at legal freeway speeds. I then move it over to sixth with a nice smooth shift and it works great. To answer your question Jerry1189, I think that this might have just been a fluke. Maybe the clutch wasn't down all the way, it happens sometimes. As long as you make it a smooth shift and give the transmission a little bit of time to match shaft speeds by gently holding the shifter against sixth, it should slip right in. If it doesn't, and it happens often, take it to the dealership and show the problem to them. It's best if you can reliably reproduce it for them so that they can experience it firsthand.

 

Just see how long your engine/transmission lasts you if you continuously redline the car. I'm sure you won't be happy with the results.

 

You know you are probably right swurveydel. I was really surprised when my '90 accord's engine gave up after only 300,000 miles. Maybe if I hadn't reved the engine to redline all the time in first, second and third gears, it would have lasted a lot longer.

However, this has nothing to do with the original question. The original question was whether or not the transmission should be hard to get into 6th when coming from 2nd or 3rd. The answer is still no. It should shift from any gear to any gear with the exception of reverse.