Resting arm on the shifter!! damn...

[Acidburn]

Geez, I hate it when I let my girl drive my car because she rests her arm on the shifter when its at 2nd and 4th gear. It freakin annoys me to hell. Doesn't it mess up your synchros when you do that? She keeps complaining that there aren't any arm rests, so why not? She doesn't do it when I'm around, but I bet my life that she does it when I let her borrow the car. Please tell me that it won't harm the car!!

[esmith13]

Of course it will harm the car!!

Don't let her drive... Your Synchros will thank you for it!!!

;)

[sonic imperial]

Why don't you pull out the owner's manual and show her in there that it specifically says not to rest your arm on the shifter. Maybe then she'll believe you. I read it in there somewhere. It can cause damage over time, she needs to quit doing it.

[IceD out N CALI]

she'll jack it up if she keeps doin it. make a custom armrest:)

[Acidburn]

There goes her Christmas present!! hehe, you guys think my car will be ok? It has about 3000 miles on it, but she's only driven it about 1500 of those.

[grooveline]

uh huh huh huh... what a dumb ass. no offense. but yes, it is bad. for many componets. tell her you don't expect her to understand cuz she is a woman. then kick her ass to the curb and find yourself a girl racer.

[Spidey]

does it really mess up the synchros? I don't rest my arm on it but I do rest my hand on the shift know. not so much in 3rd gear but usually in 4th.
I guess i better stop.

[chunky]

it doesn't hurt the synchros.

however, it does hur the actual gear teeth and the many parts that connect the shifter to the halfshaft.

it is BAD news. tell her to stop immediately unless she wants to pay for the repair bill.

tell her to drive with both hands on the wheel, the way it should be, somewhere between 9 and 3 and 10 and two

seriously, i'd get pissed at her. she's doing bad things to your tranny.

If she's unwilling to respect your car, you have to wonder what else she's forgetting to show respect for when you're not around.

[LordKoo]

I am 100% sure by rest your hands on the shifter when the car is in motion will damage your tranny. SE-Rs that had tranny problems like gears pop out because those owners always rest their hands on the shifters.

Try explaining to your gal. Don't have to make a big fuss over a piece of metal. YOu should cherish your gal as much or slightly higher than your car. She is afterall could be the special someone for the rest of your life. Car on the other hand is replaceable.;)

[DocofMind]

Hate to say it, but the guys are right. It will wear and tear your tranny a lot more than normal.

Show her what the cost of getting a tranny rebuild and maybe she will understand. It is a bad habit that must be overcome. Chunky's right, 2 hand on the wheel :)

[SiR Medic]

Don't have to make a big fuss over a piece of metal. YOu should cherish your gal as much or slightly higher than your car. She is afterall could be the special someone for the rest of your life. Car on the other hand is replaceable

BULLSHIT!

All my cars have lasted longer than any of my girlfriends! Even my POS repo'd Ford Taurus!

For the most part I miss the cars more than the women... I REALLY miss my modded '87 RX-7. I kinda miss my ex-fiancee who almost made me trade it in on a... get ready for this... A GODAMN SATURN SC1... WITH AUTO!

I cringe whenever I think I might have been stuck with that gutless piece of junk, especially considering my fiancee dumped me 2 months later for the guy she was cheating on me with.

Ranting aside, a car is a definate long-term investment. Girlfriends are a gamble usually. Which one is still gonna be there in 5 years, the car or the girl?


If she's unwilling to respect your car, you have to wonder what else she's forgetting to show respect for when you're not around
GOOD POINT chunky!

[bmx269]

I really dont see how resting your hand on the shifter will wreck your transmission. I have done transmission work, I have a working knowlegde of how the shifter linkage works, aswell as your tranny. As far as I can tell, this is a little bit of overkill. The linkage pushes or pulles the gears into place, with each shift, you are pulling the linkage, a cable in our case, and stopping in gear. The shift linkage is made to stop at each gear when the shift is in the correct place. When the shifter is at rest, the cable is NOT moving, so the possibility of the transmission getting strained is virtually impossible. You can think of it like GripShift, a shifter that can be found on some mountain bikes. The shifter shifts the bike into gear, but as you ride, your hand is resting on the grip and the shifter at the same time, the shifter does not try to switch gears unless you cause tension on the cable, or turn the shifter. Our cars work very simularly. In my opinion the only way you could do damage is if you are pushing or pulling on the shifter in the direction that would take the car out of gear. This would damage your syncro's. Cars are based on simple meathods of making things work, shifting to some is a big mystery, the truth of the matter is that it is using the same technology that a simple mountain bike uses, cable tension determines the gear you are in. Another part in our cars that is the same is the door handle. In older civics, the handle attached to a linkage that activated the latch, in our car, it is a cable. Same thing. If you were to rest your hand on othe door handle it would not do anything, but f you were to pull it slightly it may cause the latch to release and you to fall out of the car. LOL ok, im finished ranting. hope this makes some cents, if not dollars.

[cbecker333]

Its good to hear the other side of this. I rest my hand on the shifter CONSTANTLY...I have the big monkey arms...anyway 8500 miles with my arm resting on the knob almost the whole time and no problem yet. The above makes a lot of sense, nothing happens to the synchros unless you are clicking in or out of gear. You'll notice that the shift arm wiggles just a bit in every direction, without clicking out of position. It has to allow for extra pressure being applied at then of the throw, as your hand tends to follow-through after it clicks into gear. If it can stop the momentum of my hand and the shift knob, presumably without damaging anything, then I have a hard time believing it can't hanlde being leaned on.


later....

[Acidburn]

I'm not willing to risk hundred of dollars anyway, so I just explained to her that she can't do that anymore because of the effects in the long run. She's understanding and won't do it again, at least she says - but I trust her. Problem solved. Thanks for the feedback. I was kinda concerned because I feel a small grind when I shift from 1st to 2nd, and I thought it was her resting her arm on the shifter. But I found that when I shift to 2nd slower, I don't get a grinding feel anymore. It only happens when I shift fast. You guys having this problem also?

[IceD out N CALI]

yeah sometimes when i shift fast i get that grinding action, but even then not that much:)

[Acidburn]

Originally posted by IceD out N CALI
yeah sometimes when i shift fast i get that grinding action, but even then not that much:)

Yea, the grinding isn't much - but it's still there. Oh well.

[chunky]

Originally posted by bmx269
I really dont see how resting your hand on the shifter will wreck your transmission. I have done transmission work, I have a working knowlegde of how the shifter linkage works, aswell as your tranny. As far as I can tell, this is a little bit of overkill. The linkage pushes or pulles the gears into place, with each shift, you are pulling the linkage, a cable in our case, and stopping in gear. The shift linkage is made to stop at each gear when the shift is in the correct place. When the shifter is at rest, the cable is NOT moving, so the possibility of the transmission getting strained is virtually impossible. You can think of it like GripShift, a shifter that can be found on some mountain bikes. The shifter shifts the bike into gear, but as you ride, your hand is resting on the grip and the shifter at the same time, the shifter does not try to switch gears unless you cause tension on the cable, or turn the shifter. Our cars work very simularly. In my opinion the only way you could do damage is if you are pushing or pulling on the shifter in the direction that would take the car out of gear. This would damage your syncro's. Cars are based on simple meathods of making things work, shifting to some is a big mystery, the truth of the matter is that it is using the same technology that a simple mountain bike uses, cable tension determines the gear you are in. Another part in our cars that is the same is the door handle. In older civics, the handle attached to a linkage that activated the latch, in our car, it is a cable. Same thing. If you were to rest your hand on othe door handle it would not do anything, but f you were to pull it slightly it may cause the latch to release and you to fall out of the car. LOL ok, im finished ranting. hope this makes some cents, if not dollars.

good points, but you missed one detail - while it is true that once the gears lock into place, they won't move any farther in the engagement direction, you CAN exert more pressure between the gears than what the retaining springs etc. would normally apply.

Anytime you increase the pressure between two metal parts you increase the rate of wear. But in the transmission, it's doubly worse b/c it squeezes the transmission oil out from between the two gear surfaces.

So as I said before, it's not the synchros you mess up, it's the actual gears.

[elroygun]

I don't know much about transmissions, but I know that when I rest my hand on the shifter in either 2nd or 4th, I hear a high pitched grinding sound. It's faint, but I can hear it. I hear the same thing on my girlfriend's 93 civic when I pull on the shifter while in gear. Anyway, I've stopped (or tried) to stop resting my hands on the shifter because I've heard that noise.

[sonic imperial]

Originally posted by Acidburn


Yea, the grinding isn't much - but it's still there. Oh well.

For the first few miles when the car is not fully warmed, I can forget about shifting fast. I get that same grind every single time. The only way I can prevent it is to shift slowly, practically pausing in neutral for a second. Once driven around a bit, I can shift faster without the crunch. Furthermore, I have to shift it very precisely though, and I mean you've got to be careful, like just tapping it down into 2nd without much guidance. If you try to pull down into 2nd and don't pull the perfect line down, it will crunch. Another problem I have is that it takes alot of effort to get it back into first gear when you stop and the car hasn't been driven but a couple miles. Sometimes it's near impossible and actually slows me up because it just won't go. It gets better as you drive it to where it goes in alot easier once it's been warm for a while.

[cbecker333]

Originally posted by sonic imperial
Furthermore, I have to shift it very precisely though, and I mean you've got to be careful, like just tapping it down into 2nd without much guidance.

I can be (and often am) a sloppy fool when shifting, and I have no grinding or anything, even in the first few minutes of driving. You are not a robot, and because of this the shifting action has "grooves" that form the proper line from 1st-N and N-2nd. In my car, the shift is NEVER accompanied by a grind unless I JAM it from 1st down to 2nd (I mean really hard, really fast), or if I don't have the clutch far enough down (duh). Smooth shift action is one of the strong points of the EP, many of the auto magazine reviews of the EP have recognized this (even though they blasted other aspects of the car). As painful as it would be, I think you should part with your EP for a few days to have honda look at that.

[chunky]

Originally posted by sonic imperial


For the first few miles when the car is not fully warmed, I can forget about shifting fast. I get that same grind every single time. The only way I can prevent it is to shift slowly, practically pausing in neutral for a second. Once driven around a bit, I can shift faster without the crunch. Furthermore, I have to shift it very precisely though, and I mean you've got to be careful, like just tapping it down into 2nd without much guidance. If you try to pull down into 2nd and don't pull the perfect line down, it will crunch. Another problem I have is that it takes alot of effort to get it back into first gear when you stop and the car hasn't been driven but a couple miles. Sometimes it's near impossible and actually slows me up because it just won't go. It gets better as you drive it to where it goes in alot easier once it's been warm for a while.

to ease the downshift back into 1st, release the clutch pedal, then press the clutch pedal again, and try shifting. if the car is still rolling, release the clutch pedal, blip the gas slightly, then press the clutch pedal again, and shift.

[R inthe USA]

Originally posted by Acidburn
Geez, I hate it when I let my girl drive my car because she rests her arm on the shifter when its at 2nd and 4th gear. It freakin annoys me to hell. Doesn't it mess up your synchros when you do that? She keeps complaining that there aren't any arm rests, so why not? She doesn't do it when I'm around, but I bet my life that she does it when I let her borrow the car. Please tell me that it won't harm the car!!

Quietly lift it off, lay it in your lap, look at her in the eyes, and say
You shift this one, and I'll shift that one:confused: :eek: :confused: :eek: :confused: :eek: :confused: :eek: :confused: :eek:

[sonic imperial]

Originally posted by cbecker333


I can be (and often am) a sloppy fool when shifting, and I have no grinding or anything, even in the first few minutes of driving. You are not a robot, and because of this the shifting action has "grooves" that form the proper line from 1st-N and N-2nd. In my car, the shift is NEVER accompanied by a grind unless I JAM it from 1st down to 2nd (I mean really hard, really fast), or if I don't have the clutch far enough down (duh). Smooth shift action is one of the strong points of the EP, many of the auto magazine reviews of the EP have recognized this (even though they blasted other aspects of the car). As painful as it would be, I think you should part with your EP for a few days to have honda look at that.

Well, I did have Honda look at it but there response was "no problem found". I am positive that the clutch is pushed all the way and that I feel like I'm driving it properly. I've been driving a manual for 10 years now and haven't had a problem. I'm not an aggressive driver either. Honda told me they would document it and I would let them know if the problem continues or gets worse. For now I try to minimize the quick shifts until I've driven it a little ways, but sometimes I forget and it just happens. Maybe it will "wear in" one day....lol.

[sonic imperial]

Originally posted by chunky


to ease the downshift back into 1st, release the clutch pedal, then press the clutch pedal again, and try shifting. if the car is still rolling, release the clutch pedal, blip the gas slightly, then press the clutch pedal again, and shift.

I've actually tried this and it kinda helps, but not completely the way I wish it would. It is mostly a problem when you have to come to a quick stop and then go again, where you just barely have enough time to get into 1st and release the clutch. What sometimes happens is I can't get into 1st so I have to make the car behind me slow up even more or stop for a sec until I can get it into 1st without forcing the crap out of it. That is so irritating for me.

[Acidburn]

Originally posted by R inthe USA


Quietly lift it off, lay it in your lap, look at her in the eyes, and say
You shift this one, and I'll shift that one:confused: :eek: :confused: :eek: :confused: :eek: :confused: :eek: :confused: :eek:

HAHAHA you're awesome, i'll try that! Thanks for the advice!

[chunky]

Originally posted by sonic imperial


I've actually tried this and it kinda helps, but not completely the way I wish it would. It is mostly a problem when you have to come to a quick stop and then go again, where you just barely have enough time to get into 1st and release the clutch. What sometimes happens is I can't get into 1st so I have to make the car behind me slow up even more or stop for a sec until I can get it into 1st without forcing the crap out of it. That is so irritating for me.

try revving it a bit higher. at 15mph, you have to be somewhere over 3000rpm to get into 1st smoothly. at 10mph, it's like 2200-2000rpm.

other than that, give your tranny more time to break in. I can downshift into 1st at 25mph. :D it's fun.