S2Nice

I have also driven plenty of sticks in my 16 years as an Army mechanic, and my '02 S has been giving me some trouble with shifting, as well. One thing I've noticed is that there is an appreciable difference to be made by ensuring you have depressed the clutch pedal completely. The 1-2 and 2-3 shifts on mine were the most problematic. Today I put it on the lift and changed the diff and trans lubricants. Although the trans lube looked fairly fresh (amber in color, pretty well transparent), I noticed a definite difference in the smoothness of the shifts. Try the newer Genuine Honda MTF and see how that does for you, and vary your shift timing (rpm and lever movement) to see if you can improve your experience with the car. I've had mine a little over a month now, and I'll still throw a bad shift on occasion. Just for shiggles, any time is a good time to flush your clutch system with fresh fluid. Who knows what gremlins could be hiding in there?

4bang6

the Ap1 has a history of syncro crunch from 1st-2nd and 5th-6th, just don't shift so fast, when I wind out 1st I let it drop with the clutch in down to 6k before putting it in 2nd, and the tranny fluid change AND diff fluid change all contribute to smoother shifting.......try some click here and some LE 607 diff luid

SpitfireS

4bang6 Posted on Nov 30 2007, 07:51 AM
Diff oil has nothing to do with gear shifting.
LE-607 is no longer produced, it is replaced by LE-1605.
Honda MTF III is the OEM choice for Honda transmissions.

What's the level & colour of your clutch fluid?
Is there any sign of clutch fluid behind the carpet where the pedal/master is?

SIIK2NR

Just remember that the throw on the S is relatively short so your hands are most likely moving faster than your feet.

Try moving your seat up or back and see if it helps with shift timing.

Remember to shift directly back and not diagonally towards your hip or you will grind a lot.

Shifting directly back will help significantly in finding the gates and decrease your shift timing.


Tim

S2Nice

Why does the Redline website call it "geal" oil and not "gear" oil? You'd think that a respectable company such as Redline would be able to prevent itself from looking foolish with such mis-spellings on their www.

iam7head

why don't you email them about this? they might send you a case of oil or a pencil and it's not like we can fix it for them, right?

to the OP: is the clutch property adjusted and there's no sight of failure? sometime if you have a leaky slave, it will not push the rod enough to have the gear fully disengaged.

it's common for this car to have a "mechanical" shift feel during cool, maybe it's just the thinner oil weight honda use, maybe it's something else.

checking the fluid often helps big time, they always came out clean but once you swap the juice, you'll like it 10 times better. i change the tranny juice 6-9k with gmsyncromesh FM

tonster

how many miles are on the car? at what rpms are you shifting at? unless the car has a lot of miles, i'm finding it hard to believe that the problem is with the tranny and not you. have you tried shifting a little bit faster, easing off the clutch a little more, etc.?

The Twanksta

Once again, it is completely normal. While cold it is a bit notchy, i noticed however if you tend to shift a bit "quicker" not HARDER then it will go in a bit smoother. Also if you rev up a little further to like 4k then its also a bit smoother. Give the car about 5 minutes and your in shifting heaven!

you do not need to change your tranny oil or anything like that if it stops once its warm. Its just the way this car works.