[calebz]

3rd gear grinds in my 1998 civic ex, MT. In order for it not to grind I have to apply gentle pressure on the shifter and just let the transmission take it into 3rd when it's ready. I am unable to shift even a little bit aggressively into 3rd. My idea is to start by changing the fluid with some amsoil.

I don't know which bolt is the fill hole. There are two bolts with a receiving head for a plain socket wrench( I guess like a 3/8 wrench). One of them is on the bottom (I guess the drain plug) and the other is on the side facing the passenger side. Then there is another regular looking bolt with what looks to be around 18mm that could be the fill hole. The regular looking bolt is positioned more towards the rear of the car on the transmission, but still facing the passenger side.

My questions are: will changing the fluid help? and if so, which bolt do I remove to fill the MT. I'm not super mechanically inclined, but this looks to be easy. I think it is just important that I hit the right hole.
Any help would be great.

[screwface]

sounds like you could have a bent shift fork. i've heard nothing but good results from other d tranny owners switching to GM synchromesh, so if that don't work you'd better hunt for a new tranny.