I have a 1999 Civic EX that I received from my brother in law and have rebuilt extensively in the last year to make into a commuter car. I have replaced the CV axles, brakes all the way around, belts (timing and accessory), valve cover gaskets, plugs and wires, rear main seal, clutch and slave cylinder, flywheel, all fluids, and shocks. New life has been breathed into a neglected little car.

I do still have one issue that is confounding me a bit. There is an occasional, albeit more often than not, grinding whine sound coming from the transmission. There are times when it will stop and the car is suddenly wonderfully quiet. However, most of the time it is there when under power. It also happens at a stop with the clutch out, but goes away at a stop when I put the clutch in.

Based upon my research on this site, it seems to be the input shaft bearing in the tranny. I'm just wondering if this sounds accurate, or if I'm missing some other culprit?

 

Yes, that sounds like your input shaft bearing.

Do you have problems shifting into any gears? Any leaks, even minor ones, from anywhere on the transmission? How many miles are on the car? I'm asking because replacing the ISB involves completely disassembling the transmission - it might (probably will be) worth your while rebuilding the transmission while you're in there.

 

I have not seen any leakage or drips since I replaced the rear main seal. Every so often I have a rough shift, but I have put that down to operator error, so far. The car just turned 191,000 mi.

 

sounds like an input shaft bearing. but could be a mainshaft bearing too (in my case it was).

 

Is the consensus to actually replace the bearings in a situation like this, or just get a re-built tranny?

 

As long as you aren't afraid of a little bit of work, and you're capable of following the FSM to the tee, rebuild it yourself. Transmissions aren't hard to rebuild, they just take a careful eye for detail. Some feeler gauges, basic hand tools, a torque wrench, and a few dollars to have a machine shop do some work (unless you have a set of micrometers and a press) and you can do a complete and total rebuild yourself in a day.

 

I'm certainly not afraid of the work, I just like to economize my time. Would the following kit from RockAuto have all of the necessary parts to do the rebuild?

1999 HONDA CIVIC 1.6L L4 SOHC : Transmission-Manual : Bearing & Seal Overhaul Kit Price
TIMKEN Part # TRKH150
Includes: Main Shaft Bearings; 3 Counter Shaft Bearings; 1 Differential Bearing; 1 Input Shaft Seal; 2 Output Shaft Seals; 1 Clutch Housing Seal
5 speed trans.
$150.89

 

I don't see the input shaft bearing listed there. The main and countershaft bearings are needle bearings, and are different than the actual input shaft bearing.

Call Synchrotech, tell them what you have and what you need. If you aren't having problems getting into any gears, your synchros and sleeves are probably fine, and you can probably get away without having to rebuild the main and countershafts, or replace any of your spacing collars.

 

why does it only come with 1 diff bearing? that's pretty strange.

 

Probably because if the bottom bearing goes bad, it's taking your diff with it, and when the diff goes, it takes the countershaft with it, and when the countershaft goes, it takes the mainshaft with it.

 

Thanks for the heads up on Synchrotech. I called down there and the nice lady who answered the phone said that James and the other gentleman, I can't recall his name, are both at SEMA this week. I'll drop James a line, or wait and give him a call next week.