I have a 98 Civic EX that someone tried stealing. The person didn't make it off my driveway and when I tried driving the car back into the parking spot it was stuck in reverse. Took tranny off and parts apart for inspection and everything looked good. Put it back together and now reverse works but 5th gear doesn't. When I try to shift into 5th it feels like an empty space and as I back out the clutch pedal there is no grind noise and eventually the pedal is all the way out but I'm left with the car just revving as if it were in neutral. I taken the tranny apart like 2-3 times and I can't seem to figure out why it's doing that. Nothing is broken in the inside so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

check synchros. GL with that.

 

Check the slider and hub and make sure the slider can pass freely in both directions fully... sometimes a burr is created on the end of the slider fingers and will not allow it to pass across the hub to the opposing gear. In this case, the damage would be on the reverse side since 5th is locked out.

 

Thanks guys. Could it be anything to do with the way the shift rod was put in? For some reason when I hand tighten the bolt on the end (#19) it gets real hard to shift but when I loosen it then it gets easier to shift. The synchro's are new and the slider and hub work well

 

You should be able to move the shift mechanisms by hand with the transmission case off (all the other parts in place). Put a screwdriver through the hole in the external rod and twist / push / pull to move the parts inside. It may not move real smooth because the parts at the end are flopping around but if you hold them and wiggle some it should be possible to get into each gear.

Then after you put the transmission together you can test it outside the car by moving the shift rod then rotate the input shaft by hand and observe that the output side turns at different speeds.

The way it works is the dog (part 5) moves to one of the three forks at the end of the rods (1-2, 3-4, and 5-R). The cage ( part 7) holds the other two forks in the neutral position, since engaging more than one gear at a time would be really bad. The bolt/pin (part 9) allows the cage to move up and down but not to twist.

On this diagram, https://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com...ork-fork-shaft parts 1, 5, 7, and 9 are involved in shifting into fifth. Note that 7 is not attached to the 3-4 rod (2), it slides over it. When part 1 goes down (toward the engine) it pulls the 5th gear synchro into the engaged position. When it goes up, the pin on part 9 moves the lever assembly 4 to bring reverse gear into place.