69chevelleSS

I have a 2000 S2k. I bought it roughly end of May 2003 with 11,800 miles.

On June 16th 2003, I found out that my second gear was grinding usually at 8000 RPM. Read that the 2nd gear was a problem, but only repairable upon request. Having only 2 weeks left on my warranty I decided that now was the time to have it fixed. A week later I have my rebuilt tranny. Things seemed better.

In Febuary of 2004, I had a lockup in 5th gear. . Pulled over, and frantically thrashed it around. It finally disengaged 5th gear. I tried to push it into 6th. It was like molasses. Worked it around a bit and things seemed to go back to normal. Yeah, really concered. So I tried to look up information on it. I have not seen any accounts of it.

Soon after, I started to get it to grind in 2nd gear again. But, now it will grind as low as 3500 RPM. I would have not waited so long, but it was hard to decide if it was user or car malfunction. Several weeks later, it locked up in 5th again.

I decided ok, I am going to take this to my buddy who owns a import used car dealership specializing in mercedes, porsche, and ferrari. He took it for a spin. He said that there was not any doubt that the syncros where going out again and Honda needed to repair it on their dime. And it was obvious that their repair job was not fully effective. He also indicated that he has seen this sort of thing on many different cars. He said that some time I was going to be stuck in 5th gear and be unable to get out. He said that I needed to take the car in ASAP.

Since that was what I thought he was going to say, I took the car in immediately.

At the shop they where very helpful. But, the obvious problem is that they need regional service approval to work on it. The car has 30,650 miles on it. Yep, clocked 30k+ last week. They said no problem. This should still be taken car of even though it was not under warrenty anymore. (Thank you so far Honda!)

The mechanic took me for a ride in my car. Drove about a mile and he said that he could not find this "grinding sound" that I spoke of. We made a right turn. He reved to 9k, shifted, and a big grind (worse than I had ever done)!!! The guy turned white as a ghost and said "yep it grinds in 2nd". He said that he would take care of 2nd after he got authorized. He would try to figure out what was wrong with 5th when he was in there.

So, I am still waiting for honda since I dropped it off today.

I love my honda a lot. In fact I think I like it better than my 1969 SS 396 Chevelle (Yes, but it is still my high school and my dad and I's project car). But, 2 rebuilds done by a dealership(with just over 30k), this is a major concern. Yeah, I get on it a bit, but if I want to roast the tires that is what my chevelle is for. I have taken it to street races, but never raced. I do enjoy blowing away Mustang Gts (Yeah they really get pissed).

Now, the big question....

Is this a problem with this year of S2000 or what? I don't know if I should hope that they are going to fix it for good? or if I should swap years? or get a different car?

If it happens once, I think it is bad luck.
If it happens twice, it is a coincidence.
And if it happens 3 times, it is my fault for not learning the last 2 times.