SnailShoes2k

I recently started feeling a notchiness in all of my gear shifts. I've got an '05 with ~60k miles on it, and for the last few months I've had it it's been shifting smooth as butter once warmed up.

Suddenly, the shifting in the transmission feels notchy, even when warmed up. I've actually noticed that it feels a little notchier when the transmission is warm versus pulling away from the driveway completely cold, and I can feel the resistance of the gears spinning slightly as I push it in. I'm kind of at a loss for what could be wrong as I've done the following already:

1. Transmission fluid (~1k miles ago)
2. Regrease shifter (~250 miles ago)
3. Reduce clutch pedal free play (now)
4. Replace + bleed clutch fluid (now)

Reducing the free play and bleeding the clutch helped slightly, but it's definitely still noticeable. The clutch fluid was a little dirty prior to replacement, but I'm not noticing any leaks anywhere.

If anyone has any insight/advice it would be greatly appreciated!

Chuck S

What oil did you use in the gearbox?

-- Chuck

starchland

Maybe the plastic ball on the shift lever cracked? Generally notchy shifting seems to be an issue of poor clutch engagement. Shift gears sans clutch to rule out clutch mechanics being the issue

SnailShoes2k

Honda MTF in the trans, High Temp Urea for the shifter.

I was thinking this could be a possibility? I notice some resistance going into gear with the engine off and car parked. I.e. If I select 1st, go back to neutral, then select 1st again, there will be some resistance (and a slight friction feeling if I do the same procedure in 2nd). I don't have the time today to take a look, but might be able to check in the next couple of days. Going to feel real stupid if it was a cracked shifter bushing after I decided not to replace it when I re-greased the shifter a few weeks ago.

Live Fast

If it's notchy from gear to gear and doesn't like coming out of gear buttery smooth it could be detent springs

starchland

Air bubbles in the line ?

MintBolster

Just to be sure, check the trans drain bolt to make sure the fluid hasn't been leaking out of there, otherwise idk seems very odd.

SnailShoes2k

So I have the car up on jacks right now and looked at the trans case. I've noticed a couple of drops in the driveway but haven't been able to reproduce any leaks over the last couple of days when putting cardboard under the car. I popped open the trans filler cap and was surprised to see it still seemed pretty full and oil dribbled out. I closed it up, but then noticed there's an actual leak that started coming from the output of the transmission into the drive shaft.

Is this likely just a gasket failure? I also notice a sort of crack on the left side, not sure if this is just a flash mark or something serious. Can this be sealed just using some type of spray sealant, or does it need to be taken apart to have the gasket reapplied?

SnailShoes2k

I came across another thread where someone had a similar leak and ended up just using Permatex Spray Sealant. https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-un...n-leak-879922/

Thinking draining the fluid and then doing the same.

Car Analogy

The proper clutch rod adjustment is to eliminate play, not reduce it. There is sufficient play internal to mc on this car.

There is an excellent YouTube video on proper clutch rod adjustment. Easy to find.

Your symptoms are classic failure of clutch to fully disengage. One possibility is the clutch disk has a spring which breaking loose. This can cause cronic clutch drag which no amount of clutch rod perfection will resolve. Eventually the spring will drop, and fully jamb things up.

When this happened to my car, I was able to greatly improve clutch by lengthening pedal stroke, by raising pedal resting height. There is an adjustment for this. Rhe extra stroke was enough to almost eliminate drag. That is until one day the spring fully dropped, and clutch was hopelessly jambed.

But I got a lot of miles outta of it before that happened.

Spring drop is classic failure mode of virtually all aftermarket replacement clutch disks. They never get a chance to wear out, as spring drops before that can ever happen. Not uncommon for these disks to only last 20k miles.

Many, many people have been fooled by Exedy calling their disk oem. People assume that means its the oem clutch. Its not, and it has the same spring drop issue as all the others.

What they mean by the name oem is its not a higher performance clutch, but rather oem equivalent performance.