I am looking to buying a 1994 Civic hatch Dx completely stock. The man was telling me on the phone that shifting is stiff I went to go check the car out I test drove it you need a lot I mean a lot of force to move the shifter it goes into gear fine it's just that it feels like someone is holding Onto it . Clutch pedal feels normal fluids are all filled properly car has around 169k miles very well maintained by older guy. What can it be? I don't want to buy it without having a good understanding of the problem. Please help H-T

 

Any thoughts?

 

trans is shot, or shift rods are bent and hitting something.

 

Its also possible that the bolt that attaches the shifter to the shift linkage was over tightened.

 

yes, this as well.

 

I don't think the trans is shot car runs perfect goes into gear fine it's just super hard to move it in

 

Did you actually check the transmission fluid? Is it old or low?

 

I had that same issue in my 89 CRX Si many, many years back...but my ending didn't go so well. A month later after it started getting hard to go into gear, the trans came apart internally. Hopefully your ending is better.

To reiterate what Ron above mentioned, that was the issue with mine.... I bought the car and apparently it didn't have enough fluid....and being 16 (13 years ago), I didn't think to check it upon buying the car as it shifted fine when bought.

 

Unless you are financially ready to shell out money for a gearbox...
Id run and not look back.
Its an old car to begin with.