99stockcivic

Hello all,

I've been driving my 99 civic for a bit, and recently two things were concerning me: 1- Whenever I would push in the clutch, the shifter would move forwards a significant amount. And once re-engaged, would move backwards a significant amount. Like something was loose with the transmissions. Now, I've changed all the motor and transmission mounts, so I knew that couldn't be it. But, then 2- I noticed that when leaving from a stoplight, if I was easing gently into first, it would almost start to chatter, like the clutch was not engaging quite right. I put in a new clutch about 5-10 thousand miles ago, so that left something else as the issue. Reading around, it seemed that a common issue was shifter linkage (my car is a 5 speed stick) bushing wore out. So, I found some Energy Suspension bushings from Rock Auto for $10, but see that price all over, so the good thing is they are not expensive items to replace. I got under the car today, grabbed the linkage, and sure enough it's very very loose. The front bushing could almost be pushed out with my hand, the rear bushing was squishy like playdoh when I got it out. The nice thing is, it's really not too hard to do. The front only takes a few minutes, the rear takes the longest because you have to work your way around the exhaust. But, what a difference. Both problems are fixed, and I was slow, so it was about 2 hours total time from garage door opening, jacking up car to garage door close and driving away. I would guess any cars of our vintage probably need this replaced. It feels like a brand new transmission and clutch.

My tip would be about putting in the rear bushing. The bushing slides off of the bar it's on (the shifter linkage bar) and it has a flared part on the end. Taking off the old one should be easy because it's so soft, the but the brand new one is too stiff to twist easily over the flare. I ended up trimming the side going back onto the bar so the opening was just a bit bigger. Also, definitely use the grease provided. Lastly, everything is 12mm bolts, so you should just have a small 12mm, a long 12mm, and extension and maybe a 12mm wrench along with a flat head screwdriver to push out the old bushings. That's it.

Thought I would share. My 99, although it has a few dings, is riding along nicely. Doing the replacements it needed like shocks, springs, control arms and motor mounts has made the car a very comfortable vehicle again and I have been using it as my daily driver plus took a trip to Florida in it this and it behaved very well. Having also added a sound system with modern ammenities like bluetooth, apple play, etc also had helped.

My next job is to add the rear impact detection sensors which I picked up for $20 on Amazon. Should make it a little safer for my daughter as a new driver.