I got my car back today. Finally it is home after transmission surgery. Honda Canada created a delay of more than a week thanks to them denying warrantee. For next time, make sure the part that is giving the problem should absolutely fail or be easily duplicated or you'll run into serious hastles and delay. The warranty work process is a complex one and there are 3 stakeholders with differing interests and ends goals. Thus a misunderstanding gave my experience a bad start.

T&T took it upon themselves to open my transmission up to physically examine for the problem even when Honda Canada said they wouldn't cover it. T&T took a risk in paying out of their own pocket for the labour and parts involved
They didn't find any wear except for 3 tranny bearings and had to order these bearings in. They also changed the 1st-2nd gearset on my insistence

Originally, when I brought the car in for the repair, they didn't have a courtesy car available which made life tough for a week and a bit but they gave me a nice Civic for 4 days.

I was a tough customer to deal with since I have a lot of passion for my S. When it came time for T&T Honda to step up, they did. Ian (Calgarian), Service Mgr Mark, Shop Foreman Bill, and the tech that did my tranny teardown and assembly, all were very helpful and ultimately went beyond protocal to attempt to resolve my problem. Thank you very much guys.



Is my tranny fixed? It is too early to tell, all my normal gears are working perfect like before. However, I am breaking in 2nd gear since it is new and I wouldn't know till I visit vtec land and shifting into 2nd. 2nd gear feels different for sure, a bit more firm, which I like since it didn't get rubbery in the heat like the old one. Taking it out of reverse is different but just requireds a slight change in motion. Hopefully, this fix will make a difference and all the hard efforts wouldn't go to waste.

I've learned a lot from this experience and hopefully it might help future owners with similar problems with 2nd gear. One suggestion though, don't fix it if you just grind occassionally, once a couple weeks or month. I saw my 2nd gear, it had no wear what so ever. The dogteeth weren't rounded, they were sharp as new even being grounded close to 20 times. Fixing it might introduce new problems and might not be worth the risk. Listen to xviper, he will tell you the same.

 

Wow! Thanks FormerH22a4 for sharing this info, My 02 (28,000 miles) has all the symptons you've had and I've been wondering what to do with it. Dealers have just not been of any help.

So, did you ever adjust the clutch pedal? I guess I should seriously start thinking about trading in the car, I was hoping it would last till the end of the lease period. I can't take being honked at red lights cause I can't shift into first or can't get the car out of 2nd. It sucks! I am going to change the tranny oil and check the clutch pedal (already changed clutch fluid) and if that does not fix the problem it's bye bye S2k.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mas
[B]Wow! Thanks FormerH22a4 for sharing this info, My 02 (28,000 miles) has all the symptons you've had and I've been wondering what to do with it. Dealers have just not been of any help.

 

I have changed the clutch fluid already. Need to change the tranny oil now and will probably try adjusting the pedal before that.

It seems weired that some days the problem just goes away completely! This leads me to believe it is a problem with the clutch engagement/disengagement. Anyways, like you said, there's nothing to loose by trying out a few things.

 

I've noticed this is a standard issue on many stickshift cars - BMW, Honda, Mazda are ones I've tracked on boards. FWIW Royal Purple tranny fluid seems to do the best with my Miata that has the same issue.

 

No, we're not talking about any "standard issue". This is a problem that was not there when the car was new, at least in my case. If this is standard, I hope I wake up in the horse & carriage age tomorrow.

 

Have you changed your tranny fluid since the beginning? I think the Honda MTF should be changed at least once a year. My S never had the problem last year either, then something fell out of spec.

 

That's a different story, then. If you've bled and checked free play maybe start suspecting the master/slave. After that I'd be worried about the tranny itself.