98TypeR#21

I've read up on problems with the 5th and 6th gear synchros, and I have a very strange problem on my 2001 S2000 with 80K miles that may or may not be related.

A couple of months ago I noticed that moving the shifter from neutral to 5th (from 4th of course) was EXTREMELY hard to move. Not like a synchro wasn't letting me in, but like the gear shifter was stuck on something. Getting out of gear was just as hard. Then from neutral to 6th (from 5th) was just fine.

It got better for a few weeks, but has now been back for about a month.

The kind of force I'm talking about needing for getting in and out of 5th is like 50x more than the other gears. AND the syncrho is not a problem. physically pushing the lever all the way from neutral to 5th and back is really hard.

So it's just a problem from 4th to 5th (only from neutral to 5th), and from 5th to 6th (only from 5th back to neutral).

Can someone explain this? I want to know if it's likely internal, or if it's maybe just in need of gear lube, or if maybe it's linkage-related. If it's likely internal, how much does it cost to fix? (I'm WAY out of warranty).



FYI - I've also had a shaky shifter (the gear would vibrate when going over bumps) for the last few years. Honda dealer thought it might be a bushing or something, but that it's pretty expensive and likely wouldn't cause any problems. Not sure if it's related or not.

Thanks in advance!

Tex_S2K

Look in the librairy at TSB-02-046. The shift problem can occur after very hard accleration. It is very difficult to move the shifter into 5th, and feels very difficult to get out of 5th. It will gradually get better with time, but may never feel right.

Hockey

When is the last time you had the tranny fluid changed?

98TypeR#21

Very interesting - thanks for the pointer.

I guess it could be this. Doesn't sound too expensive to fix either.

Thanks - maybe I'll have it in next week, have them do this, check for the shifter vibration, and change gearbox fluid all at once.

98TypeR#21

Probably 25K miles ago.

Probably time to change.

Hockey

.....an easy place to start.

Good luck!

xviper

Can you easily row through the gears with the engine off and the clutch in? This may rule out some things.

98TypeR#21

Good thinking xviper - I'll check it out later and let people know...

Squeezer

bent shift fork?

98TypeR#21

Turns out that the difficulty is there even with the engine off and clutch in.

Not sure what that eliminates, however.

I do notice that the problem varies, sometimes very hard, sometimes not-so-much. Seems like maybe it's worse once warmed up (but maybe I'm misreading the symptoms).

Maybe it's a shift linkage problem that's being exacerbated by a loose bushing, such that it gets moved around and sometimes is "in a bad place".

Any other ideas are appreciated!

I'll definitely have it checked out and mention: 1) TSB-02-046, 2) the vibration in the shifter over bumps, and 3) the fact that I haven't changed gear lube in a long time.

Thanks for all the help everyone!