Rep Power: 0

Hello all, looking for advice on my 1996 Civic DX hatchback. It has a 5 speed manual transmission, with 152k miles.

I am concerned about what sounds like a bearing, here are the symptoms:

-grinds when the car is in neutral, with the clutch out. Goes away when I press the clutch in.
-I cant hear it when the car is moving.
-worse when its cold, and at first start. Quiets down if the car is warmed up for a while.
-Everything shifts fine.

I have heard that this can be due to the throwout bearing, however this bearing got replaced when I had the clutch replaced, and the sound did not go away. Another suggestion is the Input Shaft Bearing.

I realize that I might as well replace the tranny instead of the bearing, however, what I am curious about is, what happens if I keep driving on it? Does it slowly get worse until it breaks, or does it carry a risk of catastrophic damage?


Thanks in advance,
ether

 
Rep Power: 268

I've got exactly the same problem. I replaced my input shaft bearing, but it didn't fix the problem. In fact, the old one was just fine. There are two bearing on the input shaft, and I think the large one is the problem --the one that I shrugged off for some reason.

 
Rep Power: 246

Sounds like you got your answer on the problem. Just curious, did you change the MTF according to the maintenance schedule? And did you use Honda MTF?

On the question of failure...well, I'd just replace those bearings sooner rather than later so they are still fixable. By waiting you most likely will cause more damage and why toss away a good transmission if that's the only problem? They are simple to work on with the factory manual.