Turbocanon

Thought I'd pass this along for what it's worth. I purchased my '02 S2K about
3 months ago, and immediately replaced the tranny fluid with GM synchromesh
FM, having used it succesfully in my MR-2.
I noticed that after the car had warmed up, if I ran 1st gear out high, 7k to 9k
rpm, I'd get a 2nd gear crunch, but only occasionally. This issue was specific
to 2nd gear only.
It's been my experience that you should'nt have to worry much with a hydraulic
clutch on a low mileage car, (28k miles), as they are very reliable and do not
require much attention. As it turned out however, this was not the case with my
car. For what ever reason, the clutch fluid was contaminated and very low.
After careful inspection for a leak, I decided to bleed out all the old brake fluid
and replace with new. Apparently, there was air in the system and I was not
getting a full throw on my clutch, because after I finished, the pedal released
a little higher, and I have not had a 2nd gear crunch for a month. I have tried to
duplicate the earlier event with the tranny, and apparently the problem has been
solved for my car.
Really makes me wonder how many cars out there had similar problems that were
attributed to the 2nd gear synchro, and not the clutch hydraulic system...

hondamanwill

Makes sense brake fluid collects moisture and will cause fluid to leak past seals in the clutch master/slave cyl.

Gernby

If it really were just an issue with your clutch fluid and NOT the 2nd gear synchro, then you would have been getting a "crunch" on all gears. However, by flushing your system, and raising the clutch engagement point, you effectively give the 2nd gear synchro more time to do its job. I acomplished similar results by adjusting the clutch pedal to raise the engagement point.

Turbocanon

I agree with you that the 2nd gear synchro is a problem, since it's been
documented on so many cars. Bleeding the clutch, raising the pedal,
and changing the fluid are all good measures to minimize the weakness
of the design, but I'd be willing to bet that for every "gearhead" owner
that figures out how to make the best of this situation, there are at least
two or three owners that would'nt have a clue, and it's this demographic
that I refer to.
At any rate, my cars shifts great for now, and hopefully it will stay that
way for a good long while..maybe

Gernby

I don't dispute anything you've said. I just think it is important to state that the reason why bleeding the clutch fluid or adjusting the pedal helps is because it increases the time and amount by which the clutch disk is separated from the flywheel and pressure plate.