alright, today i get in my car, and it won't go into reverse. its not that its grinding, or i here it click in but no power to the wheels, i physically am unable to pull the shifter back into the reverse position. any ideas? i think that it has a reverse gate to keep from going into reverse when your moving, and that it's stuck closed. any help?

 

Check this out.. If you have any questions, feel free to ask..

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=35140

 

i've never had 5th not engage all the way. it worked fine, then it simply didn't.

 

Also what will happen, is that the face of the selector will slowly change shape and get one little bur on it (like the photo) and won't let it slide back into reverse.. My 5th worked fine and many other people have had this happen, i just ground my gear really bad and a poo-poo load of burs came up..

Its just something that happens, mainly because the prelude 5th gear syncros suck, thus allowing the gear to grind ever so slightly when you shift to 5th.. about every prelude i know, 5th grinds, and will start to get burs, then they won't be able to go into reverse...

 

is there anything i can do short of a tranny rebuild or replacing it with a new one?

 

Different tranny or rebuild.. Good luck man..

 

well, heard from the dealership, they said tranny rebuild and quoted me 2500 for it so i told them to throw everything back on the car so i can drive it off the lot. a shop my mechanic referreed me to said 1400 on the rebuild. grrr. i've only had the car 5 months and now this. all i can say is that no one, NO ONE, drives my 'lude from now on except me.

yeah, tonight seems like a good night to get liquired up.

 

I bought my used tranny for 800$ + 350$ for a ACT clutch, 200$ for ACT flywheel and 300$ for the labor....

1650 total with performance upgrades, and i love my clutch and flywheel!! I wish i would have put in a LSD as well, but i didn't have 700+$s...

Good luck man, for any other prelude drivers out there reading this, like i have said before, this is going to happen to a lot of preludes due to the problems with 5th gear in the tranny.. Its only a matter of time...

 

where did you pick up a tranny for $800? is the reverse a problem with the dodgy 5th gear synchro? if it is, can you avoid the problem by rev matching it when you shift to 5th?

 

I got mine through woodfins.. www.woodfins.com

Just take it easy shifting to 5th.. And yes, its because of that synchro... It don't allow the gear to match correctly and will make it wear down and get the burs on it...

Corey

 

but as long as you don't grind the gear, the burs shouldn't develop, right? is there anyway to get the synchro working and to keep it working?

 

Just rev match your shifting, thats about all you can do without breaking into the tranny.. Just use Honda MTL fluid in the tranny as well.. It works much better than anything else I use..

 

already using honda mtf. i talked to the transmission place on friday, they said that they've opened up the tranny, and they didn't see anything wrong. they even took it to another shop, and they couldn't find anything wrong either. they look at the shifter cables and linkages today.

 

Try putting in first or any of the forward gears then try reverse.. Did you hit anything or ran over anything? Might be the shift linkage is not loose or misaligned.

 

There isn't a linkage on the preludes, its cables.. I think the shops are pulling your leg, and havn't looked at it..

Did you look at the tranny itself? Print out the pictures I posted and ask to see the selector for 5th and reverse that the 5-Reverse shifter fork activates and see if it looks like my pic.. If the gears are still in your tranny, see if you can manually shift it into reverse.. Put your hand on the selector or fork and see if it will shift backwards into reverse, its the gears farthest back in the gearbox by the farthest back shift fork, i hope this helps.. If you can shift it into reverse, it maybe is a cable but i doubt it..

Corey