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Hello,
I have a 2001 5-speed (146K miles) with a noisy drive train, particularly in gears 1-3. I brought it to a local mechanic whose shop I got a good first impression of. He test drove the car and said I need to replace a bearing, plus it would be a good idea to replace the clutch at the same time, as it doesn't have a lot of life left. His verbal estimate for both is $1850. As I've discussed the situation with others, I'm under the impression that the car is still worth a decent amount. I like my Civic, and I'd prefer to continue driving it and not go through the hassle of selling and buying. So, my plan is to price the repair elsewhere for comparison and most likely get it fixed. I'm posting here for your comments. We all have our own situations, and I don't need to be told what to do, but it is good to hear other perspectives.

Thanks for reading...

 
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Probably a bad input shaft bearing. I bought my 2004 with the same problem. Seeing how old the car is, its not worth it for me to spend >$1000 to replace a $30 bearing, so I'm going to replace it myself this summer. I'll probably do the clutch as well, and any other bearing that sounds shot while i'm in there.

 
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probably input shaft bearing as antony said.
$1850 is a fair price considering the amount of labour involved.
It's not that hard to do the clutch and swap the trans yourself. rather than rebuilding it
I did that with my gold car, new clutch + used low mileage trans.

 
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To add what colin said, another option is to pull the transmission yourself and take it to the shop for them to rebuild it. Doing all that busy work yourself will save you a ton on labor costs.

 
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Thanks for all of your replies. I should add that I'm not much of a DIY'er with cars. I replaced my headlamp this morning, but that's the level I'm OK with. I don't have the tools or know-how (or even the space) to remove a transmission. The tangible and intangible benefits of doing it myself are clear - and you guys/gals have my admiration for doing this stuff yourselves.

So, the convenience of letting the mechanic do it is probably worth the money to me. I just need to be assured they install good parts (thanks, I hadn't thought of the possibility of getting inferior parts put in). I am banking on this Civic having a lot of life left in it; at least I've driven it for 60K miles and know what it's been through for that period.

I'll check back here and update when I finally decide. Again, thanks a lot!

 
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PS - I welcome any advice on where to find a low-mileage transmission myself so I could supply it to the shop.

Checking eBay, Craigslist, etc...

 
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Google for local pick-a-parts in your area. Some should pull parts for you if you're willing to pay. The one closest to me has about a dozen manual 7th gens on their lot right now.

 
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local junkyards are your best bet, they will offer a limited warranty, (like 30 or 60 days) and they might have some super low mileage parts from wrecked cars
Also they will probably deliver the trans to the shop, and if they don't have one they can get one from another yard. Did this with my old Escape

 
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Haha i love this repair .isb bearings $40 from Honda dealership . if you were down here close to Alabama. i could get you back up and running in about two days, for half that price lol . just got done with one in bout to sell.