traen

In the past few days it started becoming extremely difficult to shift into gears, and nearly impossible to get into reverse in my '00 S2K w/ 95k miles This happens when the car is not moving or going <10 mph. Once things get going, there's usually no problems. The clutch has not slipped once since I've owned it (6 months).

It's pretty easy to shift through the gears when the car is off. I've actually turned the car off to get into reverse!

I've not flushed the transmission fluid since I owned it, but was wondering if it would help? Or is there something else more serious? Thanks!

flyingtoaster

When this happened to me it was a bad pilot bearing in the flywheel. You need to replace it before thee end of your mainshaft gets worn out. The other possibility is the clutch lines started leaking all of the sudden, but if your reservior is still full, you are probably looking at a new clutch. Just bleed the clutch and see if anything changes.

traen

Thanks for the info. After some playing with the clutch, I discovered that I really have to exaggerate my shifts..

So, for example
1. When shifting into Reverse, I push extra hard to the right before putting in Reverse.
2. When shifting into 1st, I push extra hard to the left before putting in 1st.

It's not ideal, but it's manageable at least in the interim. Just shows that the clutch is wearing out. I'll look to do a transmission fluid flush very soon and see if that helps any.

One More Question:
If I were to get the pilot bearing fixed, would it make sense to just go ahead and get the entire clutch, etc. replaced? I've seen parts for about $500~ Any thoughts?

flyingtoaster

Everything seems to go bad at once. When my pilot bearing went bad in my Integra, the friction material only had a few hundred miles left before it would have started slipping. Plus, one of the disc springs was rattling around in the clutch housing and a little piece of the disc had chunked off. When my S2K clutch started slipping, the throwout bearing started going bad at the same time but the pilot bearing was fine. Here in California, there are a few reputable shops that charge $300 for the labor on an S. I would hate for you to pay twice because you only replaced the bearing. Another good idea is to order a rear main seal too. It's only like $14 and you need to open the clutch housing to get to it. The installation shop reccommended this for my car and it turns out that my old one was starting to seep a little bit of oil.