Recently my gear shift has begun to start to feel like it needs more force to go into each of the gears. Does that mean my clutch is going, or do I have some sort of other issue? The car's got about 36,000 miles on it and it's a 2000. I drive it pretty hard sometimes and have run a couple of SCCA events and some races up at Thunderhill.

Thanks folks!

 

Have you changed the transmission fluid recently?

 

...and check the clutch fluid.

 

I'm having the same kind of problem except it's only when I heel toe downshift into 3rd or 2nd. It'll just grind! Upshifting is ok and downshifting regularly without rev matching seems to be ok too. I changed to Honda M/T fluid but haven't bled the clutch slave cylinder and don't know if it's ever been done. Any ideas?

 

do a clutch bleed and see if that fixes the issue.

if not, it could be your synchro's.

 

Can you point me in the right direction to find some explanations as to how to do a clutch bleed?

 

I couldn't find out how to bleed it so I did it the old school way, I used a turkey baster and took some out of the Resevior under the hood.
Hold clutch to the floor, while someone sucks the old out and puts in some new. Drive it a little and let it circulate, The fluid will begin to look dirty if not the same (after driving), do this until the resevior has clean fluid showing up inside. I did mine about 4 times it's perfectly clean now I have 23K on MY04 My pedal feels better and it's easier to shift esp to 2nd when cold.

 

wow...this is such an incomplete way to do a clutch bleed.

there is a DIY on this site...

the recommended method is the gravity bleed.

1 - remove fluid from master cylinder...clean reservoir...it will be dirty at the bottom.

2 - fill cylinder with brake fluid, dot 3 at least. leave the it un-capped.

3 - under car, next to transmission, remove clutch bleeder cap, and open bleeder valve (loosen the nut).

4 - attach a tube (that fits snug) to the bleed valve...and let gravity drip the fluid out on its own.

5 - watch the fluid level in the cylinder and top off (do not allow it to go empty or you will introduce air into the line)

6 - make sure there are no bubbles bleeding out of the tube (only open the valve slightly...if you open it a lot, you will see LOTS of small bubbles)

7 - once you've used one bottle of brake fluid (one honda bottle will suffice) and there are no bubbles bleeding out the tube, you should be done.

there are other methods as well, but this one is the easiest and only requires one person.