lolls

Anyone have this happen? Your at the light in neutral and the light turns green so you press the clutch in and go into first and feel a ever so slight clunking noise? If you do it slower, it doesnt happen, also ever notice a real slight grind in 2nd gear if the car isnt fully warmed up?

thomsbrain

A common question. You are feeling the still-spining input shaft grind into the synchros and be ground to a quick halt, transferring a small amount of rotational energy to the rear wheels. So you hear and feel a clunk.

Stop letting the clutch out in neutral at stoplights and you'll never feel that again and save wear and tear on the synchros.

Basically when you clutch-out in neutral with the engine idling it spins up the input shaft to ~1000 RPM, then you're clutching in at the last second and ramming that poor shifter into first and the synchros have to grind the input shaft to a complete stop before first can be engaged.

2nd gear shouldn't ever be grinding (like making bad noises), but a more balkly engagement is normal when the transmission is cold. Go easy on it and don't force it around until it gets warm and things seem smoother. Lots of people report that 3rd gear is always a bit balkly regardless of temperature.

SgtB

wait...are you telling him to hold the clutch at a red light? That's horrible advice. You never hold the clutch longer than is necessary to get into and out of gear. The thrust bearings in the motor are splash lubricated. Holding the clutch will kill them much quicker. The first gear ring will take the counter shafts tiny amount of force all day. To the OP: Don't worry about it. It's normal.

s2k aok

a slight clunking from the rear might be your lugnuts aren't tight either. that's a quickie check too. i swap between my ap1 rims and my 18" tsw's and i found the rears loose one time, i was wondering where that noise was coming from too, thought it was my differential, but after tightening the noise went away...

zeroptzero

if it really bugs you, give the throttle a little jab before you shift into 1st and it should lessen or eliminate the effect. I do that once and a while as I hate the clunk also.

Almost every cold manual tranny will be a bit notchy or rough in cold temps until it gets a bit of use and things heat up. For the second gear issue, hold the clutch in a little longer during the shift before you shift into 2nd gear, something like the aP2 slave cylinder tries to do on the newer models.

Other advice is to change the Honda MTF in the tranny if it is more than a year old, and consider lubing the shifter as per the TSB on this site if it hasn't been done in the last few years. These two things really help smooth out the shifting, have worked wonders on my car recently.

lolls

Thanks for the advice..im geting the fluids changed on tues so i ll have them give the car a once over.

zeroptzero

if you don't specifically ask them to lube the shifter they won't even think about it. It is something you can do yourself if your a bit handy with wrenching on cars and if you get the appropriate Honda Hi temp urea grease and Shin Itsu silicon grease.

here is the tsb info on the lube
https://www.s2ki.com/stor/library/TSB/A02-046/index.htm

S2kracka

Terrible advice
First of all, the transmission is designed to be shifted into 1st and reverse while the car is stopped. Secondly, sitting there holding the clutch is puts a lot of additional wear on the clutch throw-out-bearing and crank bearings.