2005 Honda Civic-Manual trans wont shift into 2nd

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rk1407

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My friend just called me and he said his 2005 Honda Civic VP (manual trans with 75k miles) will not shift into second gear. He said it feels like it goes into gear but when he lets the clutch out it just revs. He said he has never felt anything like it before in this car and he has owned it since new.

Before he takes it to the dealer does anyone have an idea what the problem is? Could the MTF be causing this problem? I kind of doubt it since its not that old and the problem came on rather suddenly (overnight) but just wanted to run it by you guys before he drops big cash at the dealer. Would it be worth changing the MTF to see if it helps? Is it easy in this car? Thanks,

Robert
 
Drain/refill trans with new Honda MTF.

With such low miles I don't think there would be that much wear on the parts inside the trans.
 
Originally Posted By: MarkM66
Will it go into 3rd, or any other higher gear?

Could be a master/slave issue.



Every other gear is fine!!
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Shift fork broke or the roll pin that holds it to the shaft broke. The trans don't know what it has for oil. Changing the oil in it won't make 2nd gear reappear.


Honda's 5 speeds DO shift better/worse depending on what oil you are running (Hondas MTF, Redlines MTF, and Amsoils MTF are the best shifting) However it does sound like a mechanical problem especially it it will work in all the other gears.
The way you say it will rev but not go anywhere almost sounds like a toasted slipping clutch, but maybe not.
 
Originally Posted By: SOHCman


Honda's 5 speeds DO shift better/worse depending on what oil you are running
What I meant to say is that if it wont go into 2nd gear with whatever oil is in it now changing the oil wont make it any better. Cant be a clutch since 1st, 3rd,4th and 5th gears work.
 
***************** UPDATE ******************

I ended up draining the MTF and refilling it with 1.6 qts of 10w-40 oil. I went to 3 different auto stores and nobody had any Honda equivalent they would recommend and the Honda dealer was closed so Autozone's computer did say regular 10w30 or 10w-40 would be ok for a short interval.

So, it seems to have fixed the problem. We took it out for a drive right away and it shifted into 2nd gear fine and all of the gears were much smoother. It did pop out of 2nd gear a couple of times though, not sure what happened there.

I plan on draining again and filling with Honda MTF this weeks so I hope this fixes the popping out problem. I think we are in the clear. Thanks everyone.
 
Redline MTL if you can get it. However, I am still surprised that fluid change fixed your issue. I wish you had made clear if you had problems with

1) Engine off -> going from 1st to 2nd with clutch depressed
2) Engine ON, parking brake ON -> going from 1st to 2nd with clutch depressed
3) Engine ON, Car Moving -> going from 1st to 2nd with clutch depressed
4) Similarly going from 3rd to 2nd

- Vikas
 
Hmmm, popping out of second gear.
I wonder why is it doing that ?

Even on a very low horsepoer car like this 2005 Honda Civic VP , the Honda MTF is known for thinning out very quickly.
 
Usually popping out of gear means something is mechanically worn and will need replacement. If thats the first time he has changed the oil in the transmission in 75,000 miles, the oil was probably toast around 30K and could account for excessive wear by 75K I suppose.
 
Originally Posted By: SOHCman
Usually popping out of gear means something is mechanically worn and will need replacement. If thats the first time he has changed the oil in the transmission in 75,000 miles, the oil was probably toast around 30K and could account for excessive wear by 75K I suppose.


Is this usually an adjustment or will parts need to be replaced? Which parts?

Is there anything I can adjust from under the car or is it all sealed inside the clutch assembly??

The fluid wasn't too dark but it did smelly pretty nasty and it was very watery.
 
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Like mentioned, popping out of gear is an internal transmission problem.
Sauce her up as best you can, make any adjustments to the linkage and clutch, and ride her out.
 
Originally Posted By: SOHCman
Usually popping out of gear means something is mechanically worn and will need replacement. If thats the first time he has changed the oil in the transmission in 75,000 miles, the oil was probably toast around 30K and could account for excessive wear by 75K I suppose.

I was initially thinking the same thing. After the changing the fluid (to regualr 10w-40) it made a huge improvement. It stays in gear for about 90 of the shifts (and all gears feel smoother) but sometime it just pops out of 2nd. If he holds it in gear as he releases the clutch it stays in.

I'm hoping since the fluid change got us 90% of the way there when we switch to Honda MTF it will get us the other 10%. I will let you know asap.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Redline MTL if you can get it. However, I am still surprised that fluid change fixed your issue. I wish you had made clear if you had problems with

1) Engine off -> going from 1st to 2nd with clutch depressed
2) Engine ON, parking brake ON -> going from 1st to 2nd with clutch depressed
3) Engine ON, Car Moving -> going from 1st to 2nd with clutch depressed
4) Similarly going from 3rd to 2nd

- Vikas

The only test we really did was on his way over I told him to hold it in 2nd gear as he let the clutch out and it worked, it stayed in gear. This was before we even drained the fluid.

Redline MTL over Honda MTF?
 
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
Like mentioned, popping out of gear is an internal transmission problem.
Sauce her up as best you can, make any adjustments to the linkage and clutch, and ride her out.


I have never adjusted any linkage on any car. Any ideas where to get this info or do you have any tips? Thanks
 
No body changes Honda manual transmission fluid before doing the clutch. I never did the clutch and the only reason I changed it because I wanted to try Redline MTL. 30K manual transmission oil change is complete overkill. I know it is trivial to change on a Honda but even then unless you have triple digit on odometer, there is no need to even think about changing it. The Redline was in my Prelude for over 200K at least.

We are all BITOG, so we always go overboard but lets be honest about it.

- Vikas
 
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