del sol vtec b16a3 w/ matching tranny. This happens about 1/3 of the time that I try to shift into reverse or 5th. From a stop with the clutch pushed in, i will try to put my car in reverse. The shifter will move into reverse, but when i let off the clutch it is not in gear and will sometimes grind. this also happens sometimes when i go from 4th to 5th. i will be moving the shifter, but it will not let me into 5th until i push really hard or something and it grinds and then goes to 5th. no problems at all shifting into the other gears. Is something in the transmission shifted over? i have no clue. i guess i could try changing the tranny fluid.

 

With 5th that's common because it doesn't have syncros, try putting it into 4th then putting it into reverse (you don't have to let out the clutch in 4th, just clutch, shift into 4th, shift into reverse, let out clutch).

This is a relatively common problem, new to driving stick or something?

In any event. Since it's being gay about your reverse and 5th gear and on civics they use the same fork, I'd say it's quite possible you have a bent shift fork. Have any mis-shifts or anything of the like lately? You can probably just live with it unless it's really bad in which case you gotta drop the trans, but it shouldn't be too hard to replace the fork (I don't deal in trans's, never replaced forks, so I can't speak from actual experience). Like I said, the reason you probably notice it more in reverse is b/c the lack of syncros.

 

I have been driving a d16 hatch for a while and never really had those problems, besides learning about the lock on reverse. the car did it since we bought it. how can i tell if a fork is bent? will the paint be cracked and have stress marks? thanks