I would appreciate if any of you have any insight, or know what I'm talking about, please share. I have done a search on this topic, but I would just like more specific clarification.

I have an MY03 that came off the boat in October, one of the last MY03 S2000's built. I have 500 miles on the car. The situation I will describe occurs when the car is warm, the weather is about 70-80 degrees.

About twice a week, I will experience the following occurences. When shifting into 2nd gear, at around 5000 rpm, I hear a cranking noise that sounds like metal being mashed against each other. It sends chills down my spine when I hear it. However, the shifter does go into 2nd gear and I can still engage the clutch and resume driving. I was told that in a gear GRIND, you would not be able to push it into gear, it is like hitting a wall. So I suppose this is not a gear grind. ? At first, I thought that I had not pushed the clutch completely in. However, this past week when it occurred again, I am positive that the clutch was depressed FULLY before I shifted into second. This is when I suspected that something is wrong.

Second occurrence: When shifting from 2nd to 3rd, something would block me from entering 3rd gear. It feels like a wall, there are no noises when I hit the wall though. The wall would be felt at the neutral location, I wouldn't get it past neutral. At first, I thought that I had missed the 3rd gear slot, and that I just hit the center point between 1st and 3rd gears (thats how hard the wall kept me from moving past neutral). This would occur about 5 times a week. I now realize that, I can't be missing the 3rd gear slot, the distance is so short, it would just fall into 3rd or 5th gear. The manner in which I hit the wall, it must be something wrong with the transmission.

Tonight, I am almost positive that these are problems with my car. Explanations, recommendations, solutions are all very welcome and appreciated. Have a good night.

 

One other thing, I do not want to take it to the dealer to have them check it out because I am sure that I will not reproduce the problem. I drive the car eveyday, and this occurs about twice a week. So out of all the times I shift into second, the probability of reproducing this is very low.

I will just report it to them so that they have it logged.

 

I can only speak for the issue that you are having when going from first to second. I've had a very similar thing happen several times. It sounds like grinding for a fraction of a second but the car still goes into gear. I have determined that with my car it happens for two reasons. The first one is when I don't have the clutch down all the way or I start to release it too early. The second one is when I move the stick very quickly from first to second. A combination of both things may also cause the grinding. I'm teaching myself to eliminate the first cause by simply timing things better. As for the second cause, I think that it's a timing issue between the gears and is just the downside of having a short shifter. Most cars have a much longer throw between moving the stick from first to second so it is not an issue with them simply because it take so long to change gears. The S2000's throw is very short so consequently it doesn't take much time to change gears. But, if you shift too fast it will grind.

I'd suggest that you try slowing your shift down just a bit to see if that eliminates the problem.

 

Bret, thanks for the reply. The first two weeks that this happened, I brushed it off and just figured that I was shifting too fast or that I didn't push the clutch all the way.

However, this past week, it happened three times. These last three times, I was positive that the clutch was pressed all the way before I shifted. This is the reason why I'm suspecting something is wrong with the transmission.

I noticed in TSB-55 that the 2nd gear grind service bulletin applied to S2000 models 2000-all...so I assume they also need to fix this on my MY03? Hopefully that will fix the problem. Does anybody know whether MY03's have the problem already corrected, or do we MY03 owners still need to bring it in for the TSB-55 service?

 

from what i have seen with honda they never try to reproduce my issues they just go off what i say and fix it!

 

Thats the same thing my stock tranny did its life until it went boom! with only 13,000 miles on it. So know I have a Spoon tranny and its as smooth as hell.

RAT

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jyeung528
However, this past week, it happened three times.

 

Thanks...I will look forward to this at 13,000 miles.

 

I have an 03, which I bought in November 2002. I have a little over 7,000 miles on it now. With regard to the first issue you asked about: During the first 1,500 miles, I used to experience something which I think might be the same thing you're experiencing. When shifting from 1st to 2nd, the shifter would resist a little, and the transmission made a sound like a "snapping" sound as I forced it through. Someone else described it like the sound of breaking a tree branch over your knee. Definitely NOT a grinding sound. It freaked me out greatly, so I made sure that I had the clutch depressed fully at all times. This didn't seem to make any difference. Slowing down the shift motion helped a little, but didn't always eliminate the problem.

I'm happy to report that after about 1,500 miles, the sound went away altogether. I think it might take that long to break in the transmission. Now I feel that my transmission is very strong, smooth, and dependable. The only issue is an infrequent and very small noise on the 2nd to 3rd shift, but that is almost unnoticable and does not concern me.

So, keep hope alive because your transmission might break in just like mine did. Since you live in Temple City, maybe we could get together and test drive each other's cars if you think that would help.

 

Thanks for the feedback, Brian? It's odd how we might have the same occurrences, but the was we describe the sound is totally different. I don't think it sounds like a tree branch snapping...it sounds like metal grinding together, sort of like scratching a chalk board, but with a metallic twist to it.

Anyhow, at 1,500 miles, did you change the transmission fluid?

I don't think test driving each others cars will help, because we both probably wouldn't be able to reproduce the problem since it doesn't happen to you anymore, and since it happens about once or twice a week for me. We could always do a meet since you're in the area.