I have heard that 5th gen prelude(i have 1997 lude SH) 5th gear wears down easily so i have tried not to use it often since i've had it. (about 3 wks). All of the sudden today, 5th gear grinds every time i try to put it in. i had to do some expressway driving, 60mph+, and i did like staying in 4th at 4000-4500 RPM, is that what im gonna have to do til i can afford a new clutch(if thats the problem). Anyone know whats wrong?

 

either its a new clutch you have to buy, or your synchonizers are about to go or are going or you just cant shift properly. Do you have a shortshifter in there or something sometimes those can be such a freakin headache bro. Does it grind when you reach at a certain rpm.

 

Try chaning the tranny fluid with either 10w 30 or Honda MTF. Some guys on my Accord board use 2quarts of Honda MTF and with 1 bottle of Lucas transmission fix and it works. From personal experience my daily driver would grind very slightly going to 4th, so I changed over to Honda MTF and it eliminated the problem. I have no clue what was in there and if it had EVER been changed.

 

I had the same problem. First off double clutch when shifting into 5th.
You could change to Synchromesh MTF which eliminated my problem. But that stuff aint cheap ($10Qt)

 

There is a TSB on the 5th gear grinding problem at the NHTSA website.

I would print out the result from the nhtsa.com website and take it to honda and have them fix it. Go to the site, click on Service Bulletin Database and you'll choose manual transmission from the list.

In the meantime, double clutch into 5th gear and you shouldn't have a problem.

 

yah i had the same prob on my 4th gen sr-v, still do and while the double clutching works wonders, when it first started happening i would shift into fifth very slowly with the clutch to the floor, and while it doesnt grind. i still have the problem

 

Don't shift into 5th!!! Simple

 

accords and preludes from 90+ are all plagued with this problem

the 5th gear shift fork i believe was just poorly engineered

like everyone said, there is a service bulletin about it

 

same problem on my 4th gen
double clutchin into 5th flynn

 

yea, sometimes i have this problem with my 4th gen, it's only when i shift from like 2nd or 3rd to 5th, but i'm pretty sure it's because my clutch is going

 

Your synchros are bad that is why it grinds. Preludes synchros tend to go bad in 2nd to 3rd and 4th to 5th. You need to replace your synchros in order to resolve the problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Buckwild &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There is a TSB on the 5th gear grinding problem at the NHTSA website.

I would print out the result from the nhtsa.com website and take it to honda and have them fix it. Go to the site, click on Service Bulletin Database and you'll choose manual transmission from the list.

In the meantime, double clutch into 5th gear and you shouldn't have a problem.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry if this is a newb question, but what's the process involved with bringing in a car for a service bulletin problem? I just bought a 93 Prelude VTEC w/155k miles on it and it grinds also going into 5th.

Being that I'm not the original owner and whatever warranty expired a long time ago, do I just print out that bulletin from the site and bring the car to a Honda dealer? Are they supposed to fix it for free? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Prelude Vtec 23 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your synchros are bad that is why it grinds. Preludes synchros tend to go bad in 2nd to 3rd and 4th to 5th. You need to replace your synchros in order to resolve the problem.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yup

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Prelude Vtec 23 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your synchros are bad that is why it grinds. Preludes synchros tend to go bad in 2nd to 3rd and 4th to 5th. You need to replace your synchros in order to resolve the problem.</TD></TR></TABLE>

did you not read my post?

replacing the syncro's does not fix it at all

there is a fix kit for it that includes more than a syncro


also, its not a free fix, never was either, it was just a service bulletin, not a recall

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nick M &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

did you not read my post?

replacing the syncro's does not fix it at all

there is a fix kit for it that includes more than a syncro


also, its not a free fix, never was either, it was just a service bulletin, not a recall</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hey Nick,
Can you elaborate on what needs to be replaced/fixed to cure the 5th gear grind problems? From this thread, I take it so far the 5th gear synchro and the 5th gear fork. You said the design was poor, so what would it be replaced with? Sorry about all the questions, I'm new to the Prelude world and I'm trying to learn as much as I can from this forum. Thanks in advance.

-Dave