My 2005 S2K is hard to shift and Honda says it is normal. They call it Notchy. It is the worst shifting car I have ever had. Anyone else have this?

 

Sweetest shifting tranny I've ever owned. A little notchy when cold on the 1-2 but clears right up. Also, important that you pull straight back on 1-2 not to the left and down.

 

ditto. If you wanted a smooth tranny with no feel/feed back, should have bought a different car.

 

I do, didnt think it was normal, always figured I need a fluid change, but you have now relieved me..Thanks!

 

I have the exact same problem. Everyone praises how smooth the shifter is, but I feel like I'm dragging a stick through a box of rocks when I'm shifting (at times). First to second is especially tricky as it occasionally grinds no matter how much I baby the shifter, my grandma would probably make fun of me if she watched me do the 1-2 shift.
I took the car to the dealer and they told me the same thing you did. I wish we could have the butter-smooth shifts like an RSX or Civic Si gearbox.

I've changed my fluid not too long ago with the new Honda fluid but the results are pretty much the same now. The car was purchased brand spankin' new too.

 

When I bought my 03 s2k brand new it was hard to shift, sometimes in like cold weather. However, after awhile it went away and shifted just fine. Mainly it seemed to happen during the winter time or really really cold mornings... I even noticed that sometimes getting into reserve was hard to get into upon starting up the car. Now that I have put the new Honda manual tranny fluid in I don't notice the problem anymore. Though I haven't drive on the fluid for a long period of time yet (less then 500 miles).

Maybe next time when you shift and it doesn't want to go into gear... give it a little rev match that should help it a bit.

Hope that helps!

there are two guys that might be really big help to you. I don't think "xviper" is around anymore... however you might try asking "redmx5" though I'm not sure if he still around anymore.

-Alan

 

the most fastest shift i ever had ...
fast and ez

 

put in some redline oil. made my shifts much smoother

 

I get this every once in a while in 1st and 2nd.

It just doesn't like to go into 1st or 2nd on down shift some times.

You go to push it in, and it hesitates for a moment while the revs drop to the point of about... <2K and then it just glides into place.

All this occurs within a time frame of about.... 0.5 - 1.0 second.

 

sounds to me like most of you guys just don't know what a good shifter should feel like. just about every automotive journalist who's ever driven the car has called the S2k's the best feeling shifter in any production car. period. i tend to agree