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So basically, I’m just having a problem with shifting into first and second gear. It’s like the synchros just do **** all in this transmission, I often have to kinda hold the shifter at the gate before the transmission will suck it into 2nd or first gear. It’s absolutely pissing me off trying to drive this car in the city, ESPECIALLY first gear. If I try to take off from a stop and bonk first gear one more time, I’m going to slam the shifter so ****ing hard into first that I will make my own neutral. Like seriously, I often have to shift into second and THEN into first like I’m racking a god damn shotgun. Is this normal behaviour? If so, what the hell was Honda thinking. I love this car so much but Jesus Christ almost everything in it is disappointing. Cheers for the time

 
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you don't sound too mechanically inclined to do it yourself, take to a shop and have them diagnose it
moved to transmission section

 
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Mate I’m literally a mechanic LOL, but I’ve just heard people talk about how sloppy the trannies are on the 7th gen and I’m curious if it was genuinely true and what the main problem is.

It’s just SO bad, I couldn’t imagine them coming from the showroom like this. My money is definitely on poorly designed synchros, since people always complain about them going out. Big thanks for moving sections, I meant to post this in transmission but using these old forums on an iPhone is extremely weird.

 
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It would be either synchros or worn gears. How many miles are on this thing? Mine had 250k and still shifted very smooth.

 
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Obviously the cars were never like that new.
Checked the clutch fluid level?
​​​​​​​Otherwise trans has to come apart for inspection.​​​​​​​

 
Rep Power: 367

or linkages, or the cables, or the split ball at the bottom of the shift lever.
A mechanic would be trying to find why that is bad first, not jumping to conclusion that the shifting is like that from factory...

 
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dude what? I never said that they came like this from the factory, in fact the exact opposite. I took the center console out last summer to put solid shifter box bushings in, and the split ball was fine. I’m planning on checking the cables and linkages this spring when I put in my acuity bushings, and of course a transmission flush. My hopes are that all of this should bring the transmission back since it only has 130 kilometres on it, and the transmission seems to *pop* into every gear instead of being able to just freely throw the shifter into the gate. I think it’s unreasonable that ALL of the synchros would do that, so hopefully some simple love and care is all it needs.

 
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I have about 130k kilometres on it, so I guess around 100k miles? I feel like I should also clarify to everyone it shifts just fine, I just can’t freely throw it between gears like the newer manuals I’ve driven. Like, it *pops* into every gear so shifting is a two step action instead of one smooth throw. It seems to do it slightly in all gears, first and second are just the absolute worst examples of it.

 
Rep Power: 367

how is your clutch slave cylinders?

no, it's not that bad

 
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I haven’t checked the clutch slave yet to be fair, however it SEEMS to be functioning alright. No grinding or nothin so far however sometimes I notice if I don’t push my clutch ABSOLUTELY 100% to the floor, it can be a bit bumpy going into gear but it doesn’t grind. I know I need a flush though and we just went through a cold winter where it reached -38 C a few months ago, and yes I had to drive through it lol. Clutch was absolutely frozen the entire time so it would probably be worthwhile to take a look at it.

If it helps at all, when I shift the car in the garage with the engine off I can row through all the gears perfectly smooth.

 
Rep Power: 367

1st gear is made to be hard to engage to avoid money shifts, 2nd is harder in many cars too.
cold temps means trans fluid is stiff and harder to shift too, takes a long time driving to warm them up.

try:

• rev matching
• double clutch
• palm method to shift (not likely, but do try)

 
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Thankfully I rev match just subconsciously while driving because I want my clutch to last as long as humanly possible, but I haven’t tried double clutch up shifting yet. I’ve seen people do it sometimes and it always seems to be pretty smooth. I think it’s just a symptom of being a 18 year old car now with all the bushings and mounts being so old. I also have a ton of play in the shifter which bothers me, and I’ve been planning on basically doing a full refresh (minus dropping the tranny) to hopefully put it in line. Honestly, I think this transmission is just designed fairly poorly by Hondas standards. This whole generation was cursed by Honda execs leaning too heavily into cheap economy car and not enough into cheap sports car