techlove92

I have a 98 civic ex and when I shift to third it grinds. My dad changed slave cylinder, changed the tranny oil, we changed the clutch cylinder and it still grinds, it has a new clutch and were stumped any suggestions.

beecee18

Your transmission is ailing and would need replacement or rebuild to fix this issue.

There is only one last ditch effort and that is,
drain all the fluid.
Add GM syncromesh fluid as a replacement
It is a blend used for GM manual transmissions our cars tend to like.
It can be found at your local GM dealership.
2 quarts is what you will need.
This worked for me everytime in a B series trans.
If you do this please report back with the results to better my knowledge, and to make sure I dont keep suggesting without the proper results.

Remember this is a last ditch effort IMO it is worth it and wont hurt the wallet as much as trans replacement.

GL bud!

grant97teg

Try 1qt of synchromesh and 1qt of Valvoline Manuel fluid or Honda fluid may make it a lil better but sounds like your synchro isn't slowing down the shaft causing harsh engagements. So new synchros and file the gears if applicable

jbpnoman

When your dad changed the transmission fluid, what kind of fluid did he put back in? Did he look at the removed fluid? It's possible your synchro is just shot.

techlove92

He put in Royale Purple, he said the removed fluid looked good, he said it looked red and thick.

jbpnoman

Never let him do that again. Both Royal Purple and Honda say to NOT use their MTF. Honda MTF also should not be red, or thick. Make sure he filled from the correct hole. There are three different holes on the side of the S40 housing that you can use, but if you don't use the right one, you'll either grossly underfill, or grossly overfill. If he grossly underfilled, that might be continuing the problem.

Baring that, your synchro is probably shot.

shinobi_sol

Shot syncro is my guess as well. I noticed the OP said that 3rd was grinding BEFORE his dad did work to it. I don't think his dad messed anything up, I think it was the OP

jbpnoman

I'm not saying the Royal Purple caused the problem, I'm saying the Royal Purple shouldn't have been put in there. No causality. I have a feeling that car has never been maintained with OEM parts, though, if the old fluid was red and thick. It should be neither.

OP, get a service manual and check your fluid levels the correct way. Since you've already put Purple in there, either drain it before refilling it with Honda MTF, or just top it off with more Royal Purple. If it still grinds after checking your fluid levels and topping off, go through http://www.synchrotech-transmissions.com/ to get some new synchros, bearings, and seals, and either have a shop replace them, or get a machine press and some feeler gauges and get to work. If you're pulling the shafts to replace the synchros, you might as well go ahead and replace all of the bearings and seals too. If you find a decent shop that isn't trying to rip you off, it'll be about as expensive as buying a used transmission, and a hell of a lot more reliable.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that a new transmission is out of the question, but if it isn't, Synchrotech can help you out there, too.

94EG8

D-series synchros rarely wear out, seriously. Usually the gears and sleeves get chewed up. See my thread on transmission failures with pics: https://honda-tech.com/forums/transmission-drivetrain-127/d-series-s40-transmission-failure-pics-explanations-3038306/

As far as Royal Purple goes, it tends to make Honda transmissions shift like crap for whatever reason. Run Honda MTF.

techlove92

Well when he replaced the clutch he put in the honda mtf, he says it started grinding when he changed the slave cylinder, then he put royale purple in and said it shifted better and we just put in the gm syncromesh and it shifts better but it still grinds. He dosent think its anything with the transmission he thinks its something else.

94EG8

So it was fine until the clutch replacement? Make sure the clutch has been bled properly seeing as how you replaced the slave cylinder and make sure the clutch freeplay and disengagement height has been set properly. All that said if it's only grinding one gears it's almost guaranteed to be a transmission problem.

brettnahmann

to my knowledge and experience, all hondas have 3rd gear grind. you have an ex(like me), which is the high reving, vtec d16y8. everybody beats on their hondas. 3rd gear, along with 2nd, is usually the hardest thrown gears. it isn't uncommon to have a grind on these. i have a 3rd gear grind, but i slightly made it better with synchromesh

it used to grind however i shifted from 2-3 over 4000rpm. i added 2qt of gm synchromesh, and now i can bring 2nd up to the rev limiter and gently push into 3rd without a grind.

buy it.

progekSiR

so if i wanted to try the synchromesh on a d16y7 should i use 2 qt of gm synchromesh and the 3rd quart honda mtf?

progekSiR

ive always filled through the speed sensor hole. bad?

jbpnoman

If you aren't paying attention to how much you're adding, you can easily overfill through the VSS hole. Does it work? Yes. Is it optimal? No. The engineers at Honda gave us fill and drain bolts for a reason.

94EG8

It's just under 2L/2quarts. Not that hard to measure out and pour in the VSS hole. If it really bothers you take the fill plug out too, when it starts to run out stop pouring.

Also, snychromesh doesn't really fix anything, it just masks the problem for a while, it will come back worse than ever at some point.

jbpnoman

Like I said, if you aren't paying attention to how much you're adding. I've seen people whose ideas of filling something is "top if off." That would end horribly.

94EG8

Yes it would. That said, pay attention and their are no issues. I don't use the fill plug because I'm too cheap to buy a transmission funnel, and it's a lot easier to fill from the top anyway.

jbpnoman

I went through a specialty fastener shop, bought a hollow bolt with a nipple that could thread into the fill plug, about 3 feet of clear hose, a funnel, and an on/off valve. Put it all together and made my own transmission funnel for half the price. Hollow bolt cost me $1.50, hose cost me $1, funnel was free, and the valve cost $2. DIY or bust, man.

94EG8

I used a free funnel with a free 3 foot length of half inch pipe, along with some free electrical tape

crawfo661

I have no grid in my ex, so not all have a grind, lol. A properly maintained and shifted vehicle will not grind. Poor shifting and driving is what causes your synchro's to eventually go. Its your synchro bro, rebuild or replace, or just live with it till you loose the gear all together.

techlove92

Okay my dad got a transmission off a guy for $60 (I knew it was a bad idea but he insisted on it) so we took a whole day putting in and come to find out it was no good (I even said to pull it apart and check but he didnt want to). So we pulled the original one apart and the third gear syncro wasnt shot but alittle damaged. The case however had a narly spider crack so we took the original tranny and used the case from the tranny we got off the guy and used that and its rarely grinding. The clutch fork ball was alittle worn on the original tranny and the one on the other tranny was better so we switched that one.