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I wonder if any of you guys experienced gear shifting difficulties on
the new civic?

I usually cannot execute a proper 1st~2nd shift as there seems
to be an unnatural obstruction after the neutral point.
This usually affects my successful century sprints.


There is no other problems on 2~3 onwards.

Can anyone explain or advice why is this so?

Cheers!

 
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How many Miles are on your car?

 
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me too... when i take off from 1st to 2nd, sometimes it doesn't want to go into 2nd and i end up grinding!?!?! fuggin' scares the shiz outta me!!!! my care has like 1600 miles... like a month and a half old...

 
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that is a known problem on the 2001 civics, theres a service bulletin out on it. i havent heard of anyone else having that problem with a 2002, iamboo. it should be a warranty issue for both of you.

i thought i had a problem going from 2nd to 3rd when i got my car, but now i havent had a problem in over a month, i guess i just wasnt used to it when it was new (or maybe there was something there making it not go all the way in, and whatever it was got worn away or fell off or something)


if you want to check for yourself if anything i blocking it, its not too hard to take the center console out. you have to pull up hard on the area with the little pocket next the the e-break so it snaps out of the clips holding it (no, you wont break it, just get an idea of what the piece youre trying to get out looks like before you start. then there are 2 screws under that. there are also 2 screws in the back near the bottom, they can be hard to get to if you dont move the seats out of the way. then the hard part, there are 2 clips, one one each side in the front. i had a hell of a time trying to get them out the first time (and it didnt get much easier the second time) try to spread them and push in the middle from the back of the clip (theres room to reach around). after you have that loose, pull down on the metal ring below the shift **** to unhook it from the shift boot, then you can unscrew the ****. then you can remove the whole center console piece (youll have to put the arm rest up and move the drivers seat all the way back, and it will be a bit of a tight squeeze. but once thats out you can look and see if theres anything there blocking it.

 
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There is a service bullitin TSB# 01-081 it says either the car pops out of second gear which in that case they replace gears one, two and five and the shift fork for one and two or shifting is really tight (not Honda's exact words but you get the point) which requires replacing a coroded bushing either way take it to Honda and tell them to look up TSB#01-081 and make them fix your car. They are most likely going to try and tell you that if they can't reproduce the problem they won't fix it. Refuse to leave until they fix it.

 
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About 3000 miles now... ... any other advice?

 
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I have a 2k2 and had a similar problem making a clean shift into 2nd... my car has about 7k miles on it and now it's a lil' over 8k. When I took my car to the dealer to get it's maintenance checked, it worked better. I think you can take this problem to the dealer if your car is under warranty.

 
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Ive noticed its hard to pull it into second very often. It actually makes me worry when I have to go somewhere because im afraid of grinding my gears.

 
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I have a exact same problem as you. Fortunately I don't have any grinding problems, but I feel like something is blocking my shifter goin into 2nd gear when shifting at high RPM. How do you guys shift When shifting into 2nd? do u guys A). pull straight down? or B). pull down toward driver side?.

 
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Ok, I have the answer... but I don't want to sound concieted so here goes...
The hydrolic line that leads to your gear shifter is not perfectly sealed so to speak, it's not a great design,
What you are feeling is small imperfections within your hydrolic line that leads to your tranny. Mostly air bubbles, especially if you are grinding, however there is a cure, I had the same exact problems, and I spoke to some car enthusiasts, who just happen to be engineers. We tore apart the center console, and noted the problem. There call was that some how air bubbles or something was getting trapped inside of the line, their concept came from the fact that the clutch didn't engage the gear unless it was slammed, I have found that downshifting on a regular basis greatly reduces this problem, until honda decides to fix it. I also took some vacuum tape and covered some suspected areas. I think that it has helped and if ever you do grind and you find your self stuck, get to a higher speed and downshift to a lower gear like 1st, or second... you want to feel a slight!!!slight!!! grind and it tends to usually clear the line. I know it sounds crazy, but the best way to test a theory is by experiment, and it has done wonders for my 5 speed, it is smoother and I haven't had that problem for about 5000miles, good luck...