Rep Power: 0

My 2004 with 215,000 miles started having shift problems a couple weeks ago. I'm a retired mechanic. When I am accellerating for an on ramp to merge, I get up to 3rd or 4th, and can't get out of neutral. Totally blocked until I stop and turn the motor off. No gear grinding, no nothing. It's like the detents freeze up. After I start it back up, if I upshift at fairly low speeds, it seems OK for a while before it does it again. I see in Craigslist 3 other Hondas with blocked shifters, so this has happened before. Can it be some kind of safety feature that would prevent downshift at high speeds to avoid engine damage?

 
Rep Power: 519

No..

So make it act up, leave engine running, diagnose why shifter quit working? Raise wheels, try to (carefully) work trans linkages from the engine compartment?


This is a new one to me. IDK what to think about it, and there isn't much info to go on
It shouldn't have the shifter ball split issue, that happened to earlier years

 
Rep Power: 119

Suppose a failed/bent bearing/shim might torque enough under load to misalign and jam synchro the gear set locks.

Can’t foresee anything good happening if you continue to drive it as is.

You have checked to make sure it’s full of transmission fluid yes?

 
Rep Power: 0

First thing I did was check the fluid.
In my experience, a bad synchro usually means problems with that one gear, not all of them, especially reverse. I'm not familiar with the gear linkage in these front wheel drive cars, but everything seems to be more complicated than it needs to be.