Well as for a back story, my third gear synchro has been screwy for awhile, normally shifting into third above 3k would result in a slight grind noise only really noticable from inside the car. If I go to 5k+ it would grind pretty bad and could be heard outside the car as well, it didn't ALWAYS do it but I'd say a rough 90% of the time.

The other night it rained and a couple hours after it stopped, the ground was obviously still wet. I'm getting new tires as my tread is getting to be quite worn. I decide to ehhh "speed up" the process and do a few burnouts with some buddies. Well we pull out onto the highway and I spin through first and second, go to shift into third and it won't go, just grinds like all holy hell, I'm at like 7k+ rpm's at this point, figured at first I made an *** out of myself and didn't have the clutch in or just missed third entirely, so real quick I put all my weight on my left foot to find the clutch was most definitely in, tried third again and more horrible grinding so I just skip to 4th and take it easy. For a few stop lights I can't get it into third and have to skip straight to 4th. Finally after about 3 or 4 stop light's it goes into third again perfectly fine, thing is.... it doesn't grind anymore at any rpm, and I can't downshift from 4th to 3rd without A LOT of effort. It shifts perfectly fine all the way through 5th and there's no strange noises, squeeks, grinds or anything of the sort coming from third or any of the gears. It's just really difficult to go from 4th to 3rd, 5th to 3rd requires just a slight bit more effort than before, but nothing too noticable.

So my question is... what the hell happened?

 

You probably messed up your 3rd gears syncro pretty bad. It's only going to get worst so you need to get a set of new ones, and replace them. A tranny rebuild on a honda is easy.

 

take it really easy on third gear. failure to do so may cause you to burn up your 3-4 shift collar and may even damage the third gear itself. that's some expensive stuff to replace. get it ASAP into a at least a new 3rd gear synchro, but as long as you're at it, why not do them all?

 

Yea I was looking into dropping a ITR tranny w/LSD into it in another month or so when I've got the cash. If I do a 2-4 shift daily driving and don't race/take it to the track will it last until then? I'm in the process of moving so really don't have the cash to rebuild the tranny at this time, unless it's like $200 or less to fix that third gear synchro. I'm movin down the coast near Atlanta in another week or two so I'm hoping the tranny will hold up at least until I get down there.

 

replace your tranny fluid with some GM synchromesh. ive heard it works wonders for the notorious 3rd gear grind... try it... if your getting another tranny anyways this could be a temp fix...

 

keep in touch. i'll buy your tranny when you get a new one.

 

Will do man, thanks for the info, I'll try and go easy on the tranny until I get the new one, think I can last another month or so?

 

yes, you can. if it doesn't want to go into third gear, don't force it at all. if one finger won't get it in, stop trying. what you may want to do is try rev-matching. do a search and you'll learn a lot. i had a bad tranny a while back and i learned to rev-match very well. i think it was a great experience as a driver, learning to use one foot for two pedals independently of each other. then again, i wear a size 13 shoe, so that's easier for me than for some people.

 

Upshifting it goes into third just fine, just doesn't grind anymore which is a plus.

It's downshifting that gives me a problem, from 5th-3rd is fine, from 4th-3rd is a struggle, it either pops right in, or refuses to go, so I either have to just bite my lip and sound like an idiot and downshift to second, or do a 4-2-3 shift. I just find it strange the only thing having problems is the 4-3 downshift and nothing else.

 

sounds like there is something going on other than the synchronizer ring gone bad. sounds to me like the shift collar is torn up on the third gear side, but it's impossible to be sure without opening it up. this is a lot more common than you'd think. sometimes they're salvageable with a few hours of very carfeful machining, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and buy a new one. the way it is now, you may be in danger of losing third and fourth gear altogether, so be careful. just stick with downshifting to fourth, or if you want to race or something, go second then third.

 

Excellent, thanks a lot for the help man I'll try and take it easy until I get that ITR tranny in. Hopefully by mid July I'll have it done.

 

good luck

 

hey do a search for GM syncromesh.. i bet itll help that tranny till ya get a new one..