Hello,

I had an interesting event occur when I put my '99 GS-R, 5 spd in reverse. I couldn't get it out. I was shocked. It slid into reverse with very little resistance. The 'teg was backed into a parking space and I had no room to maneuver. After 20 minutes of trying to free the shifter, I realized that I was running late to work and the frustration began to build. Nothing I did to free the shifter worked! In a final, desperate attempt, I climbed into the back seat, braced myself, and gave the offending device a good kick. It worked! I thought about what I did. Oh well....it's a Honda

I took the car to the Acura dealer the following day and they could not duplicate the problem, so they sent me on my way after having a good chuckle about my method for dislodging the shifter (they reacted like I made up the story....and I don't blame them.) This event has happened 4 other times since the first occurrence about a 10 months ago. After 2 more useless trips to the Acura dealer, I decided that I would need to deliver the car when it was disabled. The shifter got stuck a fifth time and that was the last straw. Rather than kicking the shifter, I had the car towed to the dealer.

They are dropping the transmission.

I don't know a lot about Honda transmissions, but have owned several manual transmission automobiles from other manufacturers and this never happened. Since I drove the car off the lot in 1999, reverse has always been a little difficult to engage (according to several other 3rd Gen GS-R owners.)

Would anyone have an idea what happened?

Thanks,

VD


[Modified by VoidDweller, 10:15 PM 5/30/2001]


[Modified by VoidDweller, 10:15 PM 5/30/2001]


[Modified by VoidDweller, 10:17 PM 5/30/2001]

 

Did you ever rob a liquor store or kill anyone thats some karma **** is what you be getting your car is possessed like christine!!

 

slowerthanu,

Yes...several times

 

That is seriously weird! I have problems getting my 92 LS into reverse sometimes but all manuals are like that.

 

Back to the top....

 

Yeah, I have problems getting mine in reverse too sometimes. I found out that it usually helps to let go off the clutch a "little" bit, wihle shifting.

-siu lung

 

I won't totally rule out the possibility that your car is possessed, but let me try to offer a more logical explanation...

You mention that reverse "has always been a little difficult to engage (according to several other 3rd Gen GS-R owners.)" By this do you mean other GSR owners have told you it is difficult compared to theirs? All Hondas are a little tough to get into reverse sometimes, just because of the way it engages reverse. It is different than the forward gears because it moves a shift fork up AND it pushed on a lever to move the reverse idler gear into place. This takes more effort than the other gears. It also involves more parts, so that = more opportunity for failure.

Anyway, do you have any problems with fifth gear at all? Reverse and fifth use the same shift fork. The 5th/reverse shift fork is connected to a separate lever that takes care of reverse. If you don't have any problems with fifth, my guess is that the reverse idler gear lever OR the shaft that the idler gear slides on is bent or damaged.

There isn't much else that would affect reverse engagement but leave the other gears working normally. That part shouldn't be very expensive or hard to replace, but I doubt you care since this is will be covered under warranty, no?

Good luck...

Justin

94 GSR
b20vtec

 

Hi Justin,

Thank you for the reply. You raised some very good questions.

I have had several friends drive my car that own 3rd gen 'tegs. They told me that it is definitely more difficult to engage Reverse when compared to their manual transmissions.

Fifth gear is more difficult to engage than all of the other gears. This is especially evident when shifting at a high RPM. I suspect this is because 5th does not have any synchros. As the problem with Reverse has worsened, so has 5th.

Additionally, I have started to notice that high RPM shifts are taking more time. (ex. I have to hold the clutch in for a fraction of a second more than when the transmission was new.) If I don't, the gears may grind. Sometimes, I will have the clutch depressed to the floor during a shift and the gears will grind. I am not sure if it is my imagination, but it seems to be worse when the engine is hot as opposed to warm.

It was suggested that the synchros may be, "notched." I am not sure what this means.

Would you have any other ideas for the problems?

Thanks.

 

Update:

I received the car back after the dealer had it for 15 days. According to the invoice, a few items were replaced: Sleeve SE, Holder AS, Gearm Arm, Interlock, Shaft, and 'OEM Piece'....OEM Piece... I wonder if that was... nevermind, I don't want to know

The car is shifting a little better now, but it still feels like there is too much resistance. The 'teg is still hard to get out of reverse, but it's not jamming. Additionally, I noticed a buzzing sound at 3000 and 5000 RPM. I took a look in the engine compartment and was horrified to see the AEM CAI was reinstalled incorrectly. The metal tab that connects to the body was bent on an "up angle" by about 20 degrees . It looked like it was forced into the current position without any regard for clearances. I went to loosen the clamps on the intake and found that they were never tightened. I completely reinstalled the AEM (it seemed like a good excuse to clean the filter) and noticed I still had the buzzing sounds.

Another day at the dealer resulted in the discovery of a newly damaged A-Pipe and Gasket, which they replaced in about 2 hours. Now the buzzing sound is gone at 5k, but it's still there at 3k. I'll be taking it back to the Acura dealer ...again... This is really turning into an exercise in frustration.


[Modified by VoidDweller, 6:07 AM 6/27/2001]

 

I think you're experiencing typical problems of a GSR. Except for most people reverse is hard to get in to, and in your case impossible to get out of. I've found if you kind of double clutch your way into reverse it works better.... say the car is in fourth, clutch in, shift to neutral, clutch out, clutch in, reverse, back up, clutch in.. whatever. It's helped me. But also taking your foot off the clutch a little does the job too.

As for your exhaust resonances, almost all of us have been there. It's either a damaged pipe, or a heat shield. A lot of people just take the heatshield off. A lot of other people use it as an excuse to buy a new header...

Don't think your car is a POS just because of these things tho.. the reverse thing is weird, but the exhaust rattling is not...

 

Oh, VD thinks his car is a POS for other reasons besides just those.. He has had a lot more problems with his car than I have.. but hell, it's a $20,000 compact "economy" car, I wouldn't expect tooooo great of quality.