So I have a 2003 with 6800 miles and I've noticed that when shifting into second gear with the clutch pushed in entirely to the floor... the transmission grinds when shifting into second and I hear an unusual clunk in the gearbox. I won't pretend to know how the mechanics work, but what should I tell the dealer when I take it in?

The failure mode is not 100% repeatable and only seems to happen once every other day or so. I am fearful that a manufacturs defect is killing my car!

Your help is greatly appreciated

 

Same thing happens to my 02 but mine happens less than every other day. It happens when there is a hot girl in the passenger seat and than i find myself trying to explain to her the default in the car not my driving..

 

[QUOTE=Project,Jun 5 2006, 07:41 PM] So I have a 2003 with 6800 miles and I've noticed that when shifting into second gear with the clutch pushed in entirely to the floor... the transmission grinds when shifting into second and I hear an unusual clunk in the gearbox. I won't pretend to know how the mechanics work, but what should I tell the dealer when I take it in?

 

Thanks for the thorough explaination. Is there anything that Honda can do to rectify this? It sounds like a engineering issue, so I suspect it is just something that people live with. Yet, this grinding of the gears can't be good for the long run.

 

As I said, this is a common issue. Everyone has felt it from time to time, some worse than others. From all I've read around here on the subject, I think I've got one of the better ones. There are some folks on the forum that have had warranty replacement of the transmission due to this but they're definitely in the minority.

I tend to agree with you, it probably is an engineering issue but Honda hasn't done anything significant about it since the car was first introduced in 1999 as a 2000 model. I believe there was a TSB out for the 2001 & 2002 models but that's about it. They did change the synchornizers from brass (I think?) to carbon starting with the AP2's in 2004 but the 1-2 grind has persisted in spite of that. My take on it is that, in spite of the lip service this issue receives, it hasn't been a big enough problem to prompt Honda to do anything more about it.

The thing that's always gotten me, especially when my car was new, was how careful I had to be to avoid this issue when just putzing around but, rev it into VTEC range and try to do a speed shift, and it just snicks right in! No crunch or grind! What's with that? I even missed a shift at close to 80 mph. I was trying for 4th and wound up in 2nd. Fortunately, I caught myself before letting off the clutch so no harm was done but the point is, the transmission just slid into 2nd gear at almost 30 mph faster than the car will "go" in 2nd gear and it didn't complain a bit.

You can talk to the dealer about this but I'm not sure I'd expect much help. I hope I'm wrong. Try a search on the subject. There's LOT's of info on this subject around here!

Good luck,
Steve R.

 

I had this issue too with my car, however, it's only happened a few times. Like Intrepid175, I had my tranny fluid changed with GM Syncromesh a couple of weeks ago and have had ZERO problems ever since. Many other members have also experienced the same results with syncromesh.

 

Out of curiosity, what kind of mileage did you have on the car when you changed the transmission fluid?