steveo2000em1

So as the title says I was driving (not beating on it at all) and as I'm shifting from 2nd to 3rd I can't shift it into 3rd at all. I try to shift back into 2nd but I can't do that either.

I ended up coasting to a stop at which time I can't shift into 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or reverse.

One thing I noticed though is I can shift with the car OFF.

So what I ended up doing was putting the car in 1st with the car off and then starting the car which luckily got me moving again.

I was able to drive the car home ~ 30 min trip by babying it. Everything feels normal now it's just I don't trust the car.

I'm planning on changing the transmission fluid but does anybody have any idea on what could cause this? Right now I can shift through the gears fine but I don't want this to happen again.

kaluwa3

I also have a 2000 si.. This same thing happened to me a few months ago. I was shifting into 3rd, but it would not go in.. I figured I would just skip 3rd and try 4th. Nothing. It wouldnt go into any gear. I just stopped and played with it for a while, then it was fine. hasn't happened again.

I would also like to know what causes this.

Agent_EM1

Was / Is there a crappy short shifter installed? That's what happened with my previous car.

steveo2000em1

I have a skunk2 short shifter but like I said you could shift it fine when the car was off so I don't see how that could be part of it.

Blk00EJ8

When the car is off there isn't any movement or timing to compete with so you should always be able to shift if the car is off... unless something is severely damaged in the tranny.

Check your hydraulic system... clutch master and slave, and hard lines. Also, see if you have any trouble shifting when the car is cold. It may just be an isolated incident, or it could be that either the clutch slave or throwout fork or bearing seized for a moment so your clutch wasn't disengaging.

steveo2000em1

Could it be related to this posting possibly?

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2044161

team703

my tranny fluid leaked all out and my car got stuck in 5th gear so as i yanked the **** out of it my shifter broke in half, after towing it home and ripping open the tranny, i found that the spacer looking thing on top of all my gears spun around and warped. check tranny fluid is all i can say

B serious

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by steveo2000em1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So as the title says I was driving (not beating on it at all) and as I'm shifting from 2nd to 3rd I can't shift it into 3rd at all. I try to shift back into 2nd but I can't do that either.

I ended up coasting to a stop at which time I can't shift into 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or reverse.

One thing I noticed though is I can shift with the car OFF.

So what I ended up doing was putting the car in 1st with the car off and then starting the car which luckily got me moving again.

I was able to drive the car home ~ 30 min trip by babying it. Everything feels normal now it's just I don't trust the car.

I'm planning on changing the transmission fluid but does anybody have any idea on what could cause this? Right now I can shift through the gears fine but I don't want this to happen again. </TD></TR></TABLE>

It's more than likely your clutch.

The clutch's job is to disengage the trans from the engine so you can put it in/out of gear.

When the car is off, neither the engine or the trans is moving (if the car is sitting still). So this is why you can shift when the engine is off. Changing your trans fluid should be done every 30k or so...so it might be a good maintainence idea, but it wont help you with your problem at all.

A crash course:

When you put your foot on the clutch pedal, you push in a piston connected to that pedal. That piston goes into the master cylinder which holds fluid. Your lines and slave cylinder are also full of fluid. The fluid displaced by you pushing your foot on the pedal will move thru the lines and push the rod on your slave cylinder out to dis engage the clutch.


Make sure your clutch master cylinder, lines, and slave cylinder are good. Make sure there is NO air in the lines. There can not be air in the line. Air compresses. Fluid does not. That's why fluid works and air does not..in this application.

Make sure there are no fluid leaks. start by checking fluid level in your master cylinder. It is located on your firewall. It is the smaller cup of fluid (the other one is brake fluid). If fluid level is low, you have a leak somewhere. Find it.

The fluid used in there is a good quality dot 3/ dot 4 brake fluid.

If all that checks out, you might have a problem with the clutch itself or other components which disengage the transmission.

CLUTCHis the key word. Since you can shift into gears when the car is off, and you can still drive it....it's not your trans or your fluid.

BTW, i live around chicago too. If you need help, let me know. If you're willing to come out to me, I will try to diagnose it for you.

boost_aholic97

B serious has a very good point, i would take his advice and run with it!

just my .02

steveo2000em1

B serious and everybody else who replied:

I took B serious' advice and jacked up the car and inspected it.

Here's what the fluid looks like...



and number 2:



I didn't see any fluid leaks running from the lines. I got all the way under the car and looked but it didn't have any evidence of a leak so I'm not sure what's up.


Thanks for everybody's input!

mikeycivic

flush the system cuz thats DIRTY!!!!!

steveo2000em1

I ran the car to work and back today (around 60 miles total) and luckily it didn't give me any problems.

I plan on replacing the clutch soon. I'm putting together a turbo kit so I planned on getting a new clutch but I guess it's going to be sooner than later.

slowcivic2k

To test your hydraulic system hold the clutch down for several seconds, and then shift. This will allow the hydraulic lines to reduce their pressure if there was a leak. If you shift fast and it still grinds, you may ignore this because if hydraulic failure was the case, it would be noticeable, by way of a leak and no reservoir fluid.

How many miles are on the clutch? When was the last time it was changed?

There are several factors that can cause this, and may not be that noticeable on disassembly.

One could be the clutch disc is sticking on the input shaft, which is rubbing on the flywheel, preventing you from shifting without grinding. This makes the most sense since it is intermittent, besides an obvious hydraulic failure.

The clutch could be worn down so far that the vents cut in the disc are gone, and allows a vacuum to pull the disc onto the flywheel. This would cause a grind with a very fast shift, and depending on the wear, could affect all shifting as well.

The cushion spring in the disc could also be worn out, and is no longer kicking itself off the flywheel when the pressure plate is lifting. The cushion spring is a wave washer spring that is in between the two friction layers. It's job is to cushion the apply of the clutch, and you'll also notice that performance clutches do not have this, as it sacrifices engagement ability.

When you pull it off note any rust on the input shaft, and clean in and apply a small dab of white lithium grease to the splines, and test the disc on the mainshaft for smooth operation. Also note the glazing on the disc, if it is worse on the flywheel side or not, and bluing of the plate and flywheel.

Dool_Ohver_Hed_Cam

fluid looks really dirty or contaminated. flush your system and your problem should be fixed!

fdavie

Look for a leak on the *inside* of the car, up under the dash. I had a similar problem - my master cylinder had crapped out but looked fine from the engine bay. Once you looked under the dash there was a bunch of really nasty fluid leaking from the seal.

usmc323

i had that same prob going from 2nd 2 3rd but it works now

B serious

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dool_Ohver_Hed_Cam &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">fluid looks really dirty or contaminated. flush your system and your problem should be fixed! </TD></TR></TABLE>

not really. Contaminated fluid is still fluid. it has all the same properties. The same force multiplication, and the same principle that it does not compress. Fluid dynamics doesn't change for dirty fluid. it's still fluid.

If the fluid being contaminated was his problem:

The seals in the master cylinder or slave cylinder would be shot by all the crap that is in the fluid. In this case, flushing it out would do nothing. The seals would still be shot even with new fluid.