95ciivicNJ

Been a long time since i've been on here, but This is what happened.
During the winter when it snows, I'm not allowed to park on the street. We have to park our cars in the driveway or on the grass.
I drove my civic up onto the grass, my driveway was full of cars already. After the snow plows came (a couple of days) and the streets were clear of snow, I went to drive the civic off the grass/snow and it wouldn't go into gear. I put it into reverse and reverse lights came on, let off the clutch a little and it was acting like it was in a forward gear. I had to tie a tow strap to it and pull it off the grass with my Tahoe. Once on the street I tried to run it through the gears but it wouldn't go into any gear except 2nd. I drove it around the block slow and was able to get it moving but couldn't shift to any gear. I put it in Neutral and it was still stuck in 2nd. After messing around a little, I got it to come out of 2nd and into 3rd, but it just grinded gears REALLY bad.
My assumption was I totalled the trans. So I was able to push it into the driveway and leave it there for the rest of the winter.
Fast forward a few months and now the weather warmed up, I started the civic just so the battery doesn't die on me and let it run a while, decided to go through the gears and it all works!!
Drove it around and went through each gear. No grinding, clutch works great.

I say it the Gnomes messing with me. Any Ideas?

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Bad shifter bushings maybe? What type of fluid is in the trans?

95ciivicNJ

10W30 no modifiers in the fluid

tony_2018

Jack your car up and inspect the shift linkage.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

^yep. You might also just have had snow jammed into the area that the linkage moves

95ciivicNJ

I checked the linkage when it first happened, that was the first thing I checked. No problems with it, there was no snow stuck in or around it at that time.
I'm in Jersey and this is the second winter I've had with the Civic, so I was just wondering if anyone ever had any similar problems with their transmission.
I really thought I was going to have to get another transmission. cheaper and easier than trying to fix the transmission.
I'm driving it today and like I said, it's running great right now. Thanks for the replies.

ElectronBlue00

Well.. there's only a few things it could be. Do you recall if it went into gear while the car was off? If it did... then it's most likely an issue with your clutch fluid levels/leaky seals, or a faulty master/slave cylinder.

I highly doubt anything "froze". Clutch fluid freezes at something around -75ºF. And the oil you had in the transmission would be (At worst) very thick, like molasses at very cold temperatures.

95ciivicNJ

When I parked it on the grass, there was a couple of inches of snow and once I got to where I wanted it, I put it in Neutral and let off the clutch, it stalled like it was in gear, didn't really think anything of it at the time. Then When I tried to drive it back on to the street in reverse, it was stuck in gear. Felt like 2nd gear, which was weird because When I initially drove it up I was in 1st.
Clutch seemed to be working fine all along. I would have to start it by stepping on the clutch, and anytime I would let off the clutch it would start to move forward like it was in a forward gear, even if I had it in reverse or neutral, so I really don't think it was the clutch at all. I checked the clutch fluid, full and clear, nothing seems to be wrong there.

tony_2018

Gears are stuck indeed, first I've heard of this. You say you can only get it into second and reverse, thats strange to me and I still think you should take the linkage off the car and then inspect.

95ciivicNJ

Well, thats just it, It's NOT stuck anymore, I'm driving it. I have all gears now, I drove it into work today and yesterday I was dringing around town. no problem at all, no grinding, it's not popping out of gear. It shifts into all gears now just fine.
So Thats why I thought maybe it froze being parked on top of the snow.

ElectronBlue00

Do you recall if you were able to move through the gears freely while the car was off?

95ciivicNJ

No, when I was having trouble in the winter I wasn't able to move through the gears freely while it was off.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

I doubt anything froze. It gets colder here in chicago and I've never had a frozen trans.

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

-49 in Yukon, car still shifted like butter. Well, OK - a little stiff, but not frozen.

TomCat39

I notice on the colder days, my car doesn't shift very well until I drive a bit. The cold thicker oil I guess doesn't lube as well or pump through the shafts as well?

I have a hell of a time getting into first gear if moving even just slightly at first, then after it warms up a bit all is well. Was thinking the first gear synchro is near the end of it's life on this temporary tranny I threw in.

When cold everything is contracted to it's maximum, could be offering lots of resistance until it warms up.

I'd at least add half a tube of manual tranny molyslip to your gear box just to add some extra molybdenum. It might help with the cold friction issue. Another thought is maybe somehow you got water in the system, i.e. not air tight and condesation?

Just throwing random thoughts out there.

95ciivicNJ

I really hope there isn't any water in it. But since it's warming up, its time to change all the fluids anyways. I will definitely check it out. Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions.