frycow

There has been a rash of posts about warranty service lately, so I thought I'd give the forum lurkers one more to read.
My shifter has always felt somewhat notchy. I had a MY02 for a month or so before I got this car (another MY02). Granted, my previous car was not in stellar condition, but I believe I know what the shifter should feel like. Anyway, I occasionally ground gears 2 & 6 when shifting at high RPMs. I'd go from (obviously) 1->2 and sometimes it would grind, though not very often. But for the past two or three weeks, every time I'd go from 3->6 at high RPMs (for those times when I didn't want to go 90+ ), 6th would grind. Then came the big problem: I couldn't shift into 5th at all. I'm sure most of you are aware that there's a TSB for not being able to shift into 5, 6, & R. Well, the local dealer ordered the grease (under warranty, of course). A week of not using 5th later, the grease arrives. It doesn't fix the problem. I called today and learned that I probably wouldn't get the car back for a full week .. Anyway, they're apparently rebuilding my tranny. They provided me with a rental car (probably one of the more expensive at the rental company). Both were under warranty. I'm very impressed with Honda. My parents drive luxury cars (Lexus, Jag) and have never received such immediate, accommodating warranty service (or a loaner) from their dealerships.
I should qualify this praise by noting that I don't have the car back yet. They may turn around and accuse me of abusing the car (I haven't) or take 3 weeks to repair it -- but as of right now, I have to say I'm quite pleased.

On a different note, I'd be interested to hear anyone's theory about my tranny. When the gears ground it almost felt like the clutch wasn't fully depressed. However, after the first couple of times it happened, I made sure to shift slowly and carefully, as well as to be SURE my foot was completely down. The grinding never happened in any of the other gears. Thanks for reading.

S2KenC

How many miles on your '02?

I have a 02 myself with 30k miles. The 1->2 shift and 2->3 shift seems to be notchy (not grinding) only when the car is not fully warmed up. After about 5 minutes or so, everything is smooth.

I just had my clutch, trans, diff, and oil change recently and now shifting through all the gears feels as smooth as the first day that I bought it. It seems like yours is definitely more pronounced and I'm suspecting synchro problems.

I'm glad to hear that your dealer is taking care of you and hope things work out for you. Keep us posted.

Ken

twohoos

This is a well-known "feature" of the S2000 transmission:
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=145017

frycow

25k miles on mine. The shifting is notchy no matter what the temperature is. Synchro problems are what I suspected before I took it in, because the shifting sometimes felt like it didn't "keep up." My dealer is (I suppose) only looking into the problem with 5th gear. If the problems aren't related, I may have to take it in again. I'm going to call on Monday to make sure that they're trying to resolve both problems.

frycow

Thanks for the link, twohoos.

CRX 18

MY01 started getting notchy around 26,000 miles. I had occasional 1-2 grind early in the cars life even with slow deliberate shifts, but the problem seemed to subside. I also had the grinding 4-6. I changed the tranny fluid to Redline at 15,000 miles, At 27,000 my tranny has been making a clunking noise when it is it is disengaged (clutch down) and I go around a tight corner (like when parking) and it is now very notchy. I got the tranny fluid changed again and there were metal particles through out it (1/2 cm largest). The shop (King Motorsports) said I was going to need a rebuild. I have not gone to my dealer yet but do have an extended warranty. Let me know how yours comes out.

twohoos

Also see davepk's post in this thread:
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=139607

frycow

Well, the car is back and it's much better than before. According to the service sheet, they replaced the 5-6 gear sleeve and 5th gear. The car shifts like it was meant to again. I don't really have any insight concerning exactly what happened to my poor transmission (other than twohoos' links). I have learned one thing, though: don't skip gears in this car. I was taught that it was alright in other cars, but it's not ok in this one!
Continuing with the topic of the thread: Honda really impressed me with their warranty service from beginning to end. They gave me one of the more expensive rental cars and did the job quickly (and seemingly correctly). Good job, Honda!

S2KenC

Glad to hear this work out for you.