I've had it. The gritch is getting me down. For newbies who don't know what I'm talking about, and who don't have a word to describe the condition, here it is:

Gritch: noun (can be used as verb when under duress). (1) that annoying feedback in the shifter when shifting at low RPM between 2nd and 3rd gears; feels as if shifter is lightly grabbing on some kind of spinning gear (syncro?) and making an inaudible, but very tactile, Griiiitch! as it slides into the gate. Sometimes happens when shifting 1-2.

When my car's cold (sitting out all night in 40 deg weather) or very warm (driving an hour at 80+ mph) it'll slide right into 3rd gear buttery smooth for a shift or two... but then back to gritching. When shifting briskly at high RPM, the gritching is masked by the overall harshness of the drivetrain.

After a first, frontal assault on the service department yesterday during my 15k check up ($96 oil change), the local dealer won't entertain my complaints on this matter. After driving a '95 Ford Probe owned by a friend, I find myself wanting to say that a 6 year old Ford/Mazda POS has a better transmission than my $35k high tech machine. While having a more sloshy transmission, the Probe's is at least is very smooth. I don't care that my car's tranny is notchy, but I DO care that it has unsavory mechanical feedback in it.

Question: How have others on this board dealt with this? Any 2001's got this problem? Does the 1-2 grind tranny fix also make this go away? Any experiences?

The fact that the car is perfect--in almost every other way--only serves to make this problem all the more annoying. On bad days, when work's got me down and traffic is stop-and-go on the way home, I almost want to get rid of the car because of it.

 

What you are describing does not really sound like the same symptoms as the 1

 

George,

I have a similar problem. It is definitely not the 1-2 grind. I've talked to a bunch of people on the board that have had the 1-2 grind, and you KNOW when you have that problem.

I hear a slight clunk or grind sometimes when I shift into 2nd and sometimes feel a slight pull when going into 3rd. I don't think it's anything to worry about. I'm sure if a grind does show up, Honda will fix it. Just show them the service bulletin.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by George:
[B]I've had it.

 

Guys, I have this gritch on 1st to 2nd and 5th to 6th in particular. I worried about it a lot initially and then just figured I had to live with it (as other local fellow S2k drivers have the same issue and the dealers don't want to know about it). However, I have started to think again recently after driving a long travel 'smooth' shifter rental car during my vaction over the last 2 weeks.

I think what we are seeing here is a classsic case of physics lever theory in action. We have a short throw shifter with little travel and little lever action.

If you were to change gears over a longer throw then correspondingly less pressure would be required and the 'gritch' would be virutally unnoticeable. Because our gear lever travels a very short distance then consequently higher hand pressure is required to move it.

Frankly, I think this is a case of you can't get one (short throw) with out the other (higher pressure and a noticeable gritch).

Over to you guys for a little further debate

 

Sometimes the gritch happens, then other times 2-3 shifts are buttery smooth. Feels like a small-caliber bullet is ricocheting off the shift lever as I move it up into 3rd gear. It is spine-tingling mechanical feedback. The lever theory, then, I dunno... sometimes the shifter feels smooth. Why would it be intermittent?

Cdelena, I do not correlate this gritch with the otherwise velvety and barely noticeable "kerplunkuhplunk" feel as it shifts into the other gears--the movement past the syncros, etc. This is standard for any manual-transmission car.

I KNOW it's not the 1-2 grind. I KNOW what that is.

2KTurkey, I don't have it from 5-6. Interesting--all my high gear shifts are smooth. Maybe there's another issue with syncros and stacking tolerances and this is how it is manifesting iteself.

Anyone else get fed up with this gritch problem and try to have it fixed? Anyone have this problem as WELL as the grind, and got the grind fixed, and noticed the gritch going away after? Any 2001's have it? You mean to tell me that your shifts, from 1st all the way to 6th, are buttery smooth???

 

George, I think we are talking about the same thing although my symptons vary slightly. My problem is definitely not intermittent though - the gritch is there EVERY change.

I seem to remember a post a while back from one of the first people who got their grind fixed and they mentioned that the gritch was still there (their post was quite specific in this regard).

The other issue I have is that on flat out shifting (espec. on the track) it is very easy to change from 2nd to 5th and often quite difficult to find 3rd at all - this may be related to your problem George.

I have quite an early vehicle (engine #36) and maybe these problems are not so apparent for later vehicles.

 

I feel this sometimes from 2 to 3 on my almost new S2000. I have thought that it felt like the syncros didn't quite get the gears up to speed and that I was feeling the gears mesh. I guess I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who's felt this.

 

George,

I have what sounds like the same sort of problem. 1 to 2 used to "gritch" about 70% of the time and 2 to 3, about 40% of the time. After taking it in for repair, 1 to 2 "gritches" about 40% of the time, and 2 to 3, about 70% of the time. Some fix, huh? Well, I'm going to take it back in this Thursday so they can see for themselves, again. It seems to be my dealer's practice to verify that their customers aren't hallucinating about the symptoms they describe before they do anything rash, like order parts. I'm going to push for a new trans. We'll see