Tranny problems (maybe?)

[TheMutt]

Okay here's the deal. I've noticed that my tranny likes to grind second a lot, and it's really starting to scare me. At first I thought "maybe it's just me 'cuz im retarded or something and can't drive" but I've really started to notice that I can have the clutch all the way in and it still grinds on occasion. It's gotten to the point where I say it's at least once a week and I know this is horrible for my tranny.

I want to take it to my honda dealer, but I'm scared they'll look at something and be like "Listen here you lil kid (16), stop racing and f*kin ur car up" and then void my warrenty or something like that. What do you guys think I should do?

[Buckeye34]

do you have a 2004?

[TheMutt]

no 03.

[k20hatch]

I had mods and stuff on my car when i took it to the dealer to get mine fixed and they didnt say anything to me about that. They just took it in fixed it and gave her back!

[o0LuNatiK]

I have been having the griding problem. It's not that bad of a grind, but it does everytime into second. There has been forums before explaining this phenomenon, but I can't quite remember what's the outcome. But a lot of people are experiencing this.

[fASTBACK]

The Mutt,

Bring it in and see what they say.

Most likley

Dealer: "We can not duplicate this problem in your car. We test drove it and notjing happened."

You: "But it's only on occasion. It doesn't happen all the time. I drive the car everyday and you don't."

Dealer: "Sorry, we can't do anything. We can open it up and charge you a fee for opening it up. Then if anythign is wrong, we will charged you."

I have the same problem in my car. Been to the dealer like 4 times about this crap. The point is that our tranny sucks.

Don't go to the John Eagle Honda on 290 and west rd. They can't do anything for me. So try another place and keep me posted. If they service yours than I want mine too.

Thanks.

[Gearhead Geek]

2 words: Penzoil Synchromesh (aka GLS, aka Synthetic GL-5) gear oil. My tranny was on the verge of being destroyed (as many of you probably read about), 2nd gear grinding all the time, 3rd starting to do it, 4th being nearly impossible to get in and out of. So one day at work I decided to switch to it (had read many good things about it on various forums). I noticed an immidiate improvement. 2nd and 3rd barely ever grind anymore, and 4th almost feels normal again. If you wanna have it done, just go to a Jiffy Lube. Costs $29.99 (or for me, $10 since I work there :p). Afterwords, you'll probably be thinking it's the best $30 you ever spent on your EP3 :)

[bobdobbs]

The most likely cause of grinding is a hydraulic clutch that needs bleeding. If air gets in the hyraulic line, the clutch can't travel far enough to disengage completely. If you're not perfectly syncrhonized, you will grind. Bleeding the clutch line should be the first thing you do in cases like this. It's the simplest and the most likely solution. If the dealership won't do it for you, do it yourself.

[EP3racer]

The most likely cause of grinding is a hydraulic clutch that needs bleeding. If air gets in the hyraulic line, the clutch can't travel far enough to disengage completely. If you're not perfectly syncrhonized, you will grind. Bleeding the clutch line should be the first thing you do in cases like this. It's the simplest and the most likely solution. If the dealership won't do it for you, do it yourself.

Any DIY on bleeding the clutch line??

Thanks

[fASTBACK]

Or get Royal Purple Racing 21. This helped out alot also. 2nd gear grinds less frequent and not as hard as before.

Yeah, any DIY on the clucth line bleeding?

[penguin]

The most likely cause of grinding is a hydraulic clutch that needs bleeding. If air gets in the hyraulic line, the clutch can't travel far enough to disengage completely. If you're not perfectly syncrhonized, you will grind. Bleeding the clutch line should be the first thing you do in cases like this. It's the simplest and the most likely solution. If the dealership won't do it for you, do it yourself.


On an older car I would say yes, but there have been too many issues with our tranny's that relate to the synchros. It's well documented and there is even a TSB out for the RSX tranny. Bleeding isn't going to do anything for our tranny's.

[esmith13]

What bleeding will do at the very least is take out another possible cause in a simple and easy way...

You act like it's hard or take lots of time or money... What could it hurt to try? It may just help.....

... Thanks for the tip 'dobbs. I'm gonna give it a go.

Eric

[penguin]

What bleeding will do at the very least is take out another possible cause in a simple and easy way...

You act like it's hard or take lots of time or money... What could it hurt to try? It may just help.....

... Thanks for the tip 'dobbs. I'm gonna give it a go.

Eric

I'm not acting like it's hard or time consuming, I'm opining that the corallative relationship between that and the tranny issues is negligible. More particularly, please see the thread in here regarding the ep3 owners with the same. I find it very unlikly that we all have air in the lines; rather, all that posted are relate experiencing similar synchro failures. Add to that the exact same problems occur with the RSX tranny which has a TSB on it denoting synchro failure. What I mean to say is, if you bought a brand new car off the lot and the power mirrors didn't work and you found out that a majority of new owners of the same car had similar problems, what would you do? Then, after research you find that the body copy of your car has a recall on the fuse box; would you still pull out the mirror switch to ensure it's connected correctly? You could, but more than likely it would be moot. I can spend an hour or so prepping and bleeding my lines, and still wind up with the same issues (as others have already done this and relate no return investment). This is MHO.

[esmith13]

I understand, respect and mostly agree with everything you said...

But what could it hurt? It costs no money, after all... and most of us are DIYers.

I personally would goto honda - but I'd bleed my line for the hell of it a day or two before - just incase...

Eric

[penguin]

lol...you're right. I'm just a lazy bastard!! ahaha

[bobdobbs]

Okay, I'll modify my answer to this a little bit: I still think bleeding the clutch is a good idea if you've got grinding. It may fix it; it may not. But, like Eric says, it eliminates that as a possibile cause. The other thing you should do is replace the Honda tranny oil with something decent like Redline MT90.

Both of these are DIY tasks and if neither of these fix it, then it's time to see the dealer. But starting out by handing your keys to the dealer and saying "my transmission grinds" is a recipe for frustration.