euroticcustoms

I just bought a 2000 Prelude tonight. Found it on Craigslist for 3000 obo and drove an hour to look at it. 113k miles on the clock, pearl white with flawless interior. It was advertised with new transmission, clutch, slave and master cylinder, but won't go into reverse. The kid thought it was a binding shift cable. I googled "honda prelude 5 speed no reverse" and the top two results pointed towards the shift cables. Anyway, I get to the car a little after dark, check it over and notice it was originally an ATX car. Shifted fine into all forward gears but wouldn't go backwards into reverse. The reverse lamps illuminate and the R rear indicator in the cluster light up when it's pulled back. Upon test drive I notice 3rd sometimes grinds on a 2-3 shift but not on the 4-3. I thought the kid probably didn't get the system bled, so anyway, I figure what the hell I'll chance it. Offered the guy $2500 and headed home. It was mostly interstate driving and my girl was following me so I drive sensibly on the way home. Ran 5th gear most of the way. No grinds, didn't pop out or anything. I even lugged it a few times in 5th from 35 to 70 and it did fine. Get home, have my girl park my other car and take the lude back out. 1-2 shift the clutch is slipping. Get out of the gas and ease into 3rd then 4th, ease into the gas and it's surely slipping. Think I got burned. Not sure what the trans is out of...thinking maybe 4th gen since 3rd is the one grinding. I'm certain pulling the trans is inevitable, just trying to decide whether to cut my loses now and try to get out from under this thing or tear into it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

euroticcustoms

Alright, after using a computer to search (as opposed to my not-so-smart phone, Motorola razr m go figure?) I was able to find a few threads on this forum and others regarding the same issue I'm having. I'm going to try to finesse it into rewind tomorrow and go from there. I did happen to find a TSB on AllData for the 5th gear grind (which I'm personally not experiencing) and it says that Honda will fix it under warranty. For those out of warranty, as per your local Honda service manager's discretion, you may still be able to get it fixed for free. This has to be approved prior to repair. My boss orders a ton of parts from our local dealer, so I'm going to see what I can do tomorrow. I tried to log in to this site on my computer, but it wouldn't let me. Was going to post that TSB, maybe because my phone was still logged in. Anyway I'll post an update tomorrow. Found an exedy clutch kit local for $299, and they'll pay my labor if it defects before warranty runs out so I think I may fix it. We'll see

euroticcustoms

Just thought I'd post an update. Finally convinced the tranny to go into reverse. Drained the fluid, replaced with royal purple and some synchro-mesh and it's smooth as butter. The clutch isn't slipping today either so I may get a little mileage out of it before pulling the trans.