I was pulling into a parking lot and went to put it into first and all of a sudden my shifter started going around in circles like there were no walls separating gears. I took it to Honda and they said its the clutch by just sitting in it and they wount even take it apart to see if it might be anything internal since my warranty is over. If you know what this problem could be PLEASE let me know because they are saying $1,800 for a new clutch and plate.

Also, i bought a slightly used 2002 clutch and pressure plate with 7,000 miles and i was going to upgrade since the 2002 tranny was upgraded. Do you think this could fix the problem? Should I even put the new clutch in?

thanks

 

From what you are describing it doesnt sound like a clutch. Something more to do with the actual assembly of the shifter such as bushing or springs. Someone with more knowledge can help you out here.

Also, why not upgrade the clutch to an after market one? It would be cheaper and you would have a better quality clutch.

Just my 0.02

mbitton

 

i got the 02 clutch and pressure plate for $50 and its in really good shape. my budget is super tight so i can't get anything too nice.

 

If you mean you could physically move the shifter to all four corners without any reisistance (i.e. couldn't find a gear to save your life) then I would bet it's not the clutch. I had this happen on one of my previous cars and come to find out I had broke the clutch fork. The tech said it was the first time he had ever seen one break and in order to replace it they had to tear down the whole tranny.

I'm not saying that this is definately your problem but I don't think it is the clutch. This was on an 89 toyota truck but I don't think manual transmissions have changed a whole lot in the last 15 years.

Gabe

 

Did you perhaps mean to say, "shift fork"? The closest thing this car has to a clutch fork is the actually lever that is actuated by the clutch hydraulics to engage and disengage the clutch.

Snowbebe, can you elaborate a bit more? When your stick was going around in circles, were you holding it at the time? Was your clutch in or out? Can you now still move the stick with your hand in the same motion either with the car off or on? And how big of a circle are you talking about? Like would it be as large as what would encompass ALL the gear slots?

 

Is the gear lever any higher than you remember. You may have pulled it upwards and dislodged a circlip. The bottom of the gearknob may not be engaging in the circular loop at the gearbox end.

I would pull the shift lever out of the box for a look. You will need to pop off the centre console and from memory you need to remove some white plastic circular loop, and get under the car and undo 4 10mm head bolts that hold the level in the gearbox before pulling the whole lot up through the top.

Speedracer.

 

I just had a problem like this a few weeks ago. It was where the shifter lever it self went into the rod that controls what gear your in. There was a small plastic bushing around the lever that had worn out and fell off making my shifter move around about 2-3 inches in any direction. It was part #8 in the pic

 

right now my car is at honda and they tore that whole assembly shown above apart and they said my shifter and shift linkage is fine. they have the shifter completely out but won't mess with the trany unless i give them $1,100 to pull it apart.

A macanic had also told me that it might be the fork but i can't find out because honda insists that my clutch is bad but there is no smell and the clutch had just as much pressure as it did before. the shifter goes into the position of every gear but there are no walls separating it, hense the forks are broken. I believe there is an upper and a lower one. Like i said i have another clutch to put in but they want to charge $1,800 for the install and will not cover under warranty if someone else puts it in. The warranty on the car is out but they replaced the 2nd sync about 6,000 miles ago. If it turns out to be something to do with the 2nd gear sync then they will cover it under warranty but if not then i have to pay the $1100, plus whatever it is to fix the problem. PLEASE someone help me, I'm 17 years old, have no money and barely make enough to coever car payments. If anyone has had this happen before and know how to fix it then i know many many mechanics that can do it as a HUGE favor. thanks for all the help.

 

Although it "could" be the shift forks, it might be more likely to be the shift "pieces". There are fewer of these than forks. For the shifter to "row" around like that, almost all the forks has to be broken, whereas one shift piece controls more than one fork.
In either case, the tranny needs to be removed and disassembled (assuming that it is one of these issues).

 

After studying the Helm's manual, I would bet that the failed part is going to be the part that is called "SHIFT ARM B" in the Helm's manual. This is the part that connects the shift lever to the shift arm rod. It is the part that the shift lever plugs into. It may also be the little nylon bushing/bearing referred to as part #8 in the drawing earlier.

I had to replace this part twice on my car. I disassembled the shift lever to grease everything and discovered that this bushing was cracked in two places. I ordered a replacement and it immediately cracked when I snapped it onto the shift lever and I had to order another one. This one was modified before it was installed by making twice as many cuts into the bushing, allowing it to flex more when it was snapped onto the shift lever. It has been OK.

Good luck with your repair,
Bob