Civic (station wagon) gearbox

[Dino]

Dear ETCG members,
As a new member let me first first introduce myself, I am Dino from Bosnia and Herzegovina (which is in Europe), and wish you a hearty ‘How y’all doin’ 🙂

I am driving a Honda Civic Aerodeck, production year 2000, (that’s the station wagon model of the UK 6th gen Civic – MB8 chassis code) with a 1.4l single bump-stick engine (D14Z4 engine code) with 90hp. To be as specific as possible, I think that engine is paired with an S40 manual gearbox – to my knowledge that is the better one with steel forks. Here’s a picture, just to get a clearer picture. 🙂

It was bought new and it has now 183.000 kilometers on the clock (that’s about 110 or 115k miles), the engine oil looks like new with every oil change and the car is bone stock, driven very mildly and serviced regularly. It’s been in the family for 17 years now, so it was taken care of, never left me stranded.

Now the issue I am having is that intermittently it is very hard to shift from 1st into 2nd when cold, sometimes I can feel it in the gearstick that it is grinding ever so slightly – as if 3 or 4 teeth touch each other. Other times it feels like 2nd gear is completely dry, as if it had no oil, so I get this rusty-old-stuck-drawer like feeling when shifting. It’s a pain in the butt. Sometimes I can’t select 2nd gear when downshifting at 20 km/h (12mph) :sick: , it won’t let me through the gate, so I have to go back to neutral and retry once or twice. Every time the clutch is to the floor when shifting 🙂 and I have no issue with any of the other gears. It is only 1st and 2nd. Especially when shifting from 1st to 2nd, even at low RPM (like 2.1 or 2.2k – and I never go above those revs when cold, even when hot coz fuel economy 😆 ).
When everything is up to temp, some 10 to 15 min of driving, the gearbox is like new, everything is jolly fine, it’s a pleasure to drive. It is kept in an unheated garage, I would say the starting temp of the fluid is about 14 – 15 degrees Celsius.

Now before everybody starts shouting ‘change the oil duh’, I have to tell you that I did that already – as part of regular service. However, in my country there is no Honda dealer, so I brought some OE Honda MTF III with me from my summer vacation abroad – did that because I took your advice to heart that no other oils should be used in Hondas, btw I do all service and repair on my own – thx Eric :), you’ve saved me a bundle of cash and, more importantly, you’ve saved me from the ignorance of my local backyard mechanics.
Now, here’s the thing, I can’t get any original old-school MTF, it’s not available in Europe at all and I am now not sure if this new MTF III fluid is compatible with my older vehicle. Even though the Honda parts guy in Germany assure me that it was even better…
Could this be a synchro issue, though I find it hard to believe their operation depends on operating temperature.
Also I would also like to ask you for some alternative fluids (pleased bear in mind that I have no access to Amsoil or Pennzoil in my country, just Castrol and Mobile1), if there are any.

I do apologise for the lengthy post 🙂 I look forward to your valued opinions.
Thank you indeed for taking the time 🙂

Attachments:

• 1998-honda-civic-aero-deck.jpg

Topic

[zero]

It sounds to me like the second gear synchros are worn out. Confirm the fluid level. The temperature likely isn’t the issue, just a factor.

When a company like Honda re-engineers one of their fluid standards, they generally do so while keeping coverage for the older standards.

For gear oil brand shouldn’t matter too much as long as it’s the same grade and quality (ie synthetic).

[Dino]

Fluid level is spot on – checked it today. Thanks for the suggestion and comment.

[Chris]

Hi there,

Eric mentioned in his live talk that GM Synchromesh works fantastic. You could try and change the fluid into that see if it helps. He seemed confident for it on manual transmissions anyways.

Chris

[Nick]

I second that your 2nd gear synchros could be worn out. Is the clutch original? You said it was in your family for a while? Could somebody have done a lot of “spirited driving” in the past? Does it ever pop out of gear in second gear?

If it were my car, I would split the case when you do the clutch and assess the damage. My guess is the synchro is worn out, and it may not be bad idea to replace the 1-2 shift hub while you’re in there. Inspect the dog teeth (what the 1-2 shift sleeve splines to) on second gear. You might as well as the input shaft bearing since that’s a common failure on 5 speed honda gearboxes. I’ve done many on Acura Integras over the years.

[Author]

Replies