Honda accord-stiff gear change

Patrick2010

Have a 2001 Honda accord and its been fine up to now. Recently its getting hard to engage a gear when starting. If I switch the engine off I can slip into gear easily so what I have to do is engage first gear or reverse and then start the car. Once I'm driving for 5 or 10 minutes its ok and the gear changes are easy enough. Any ideas what the problem is?

projectgtr

Could be early signs of bad syncros, when was the last time you had your gearbox oil replaced?? Wouldnt hurt to have it done, quick and easy job , just use OEM or if your going for a brand make sure its good (Motul seem to be the one alot of Honda owners use)

the merchant

Clutch master cylinders are a common enough failure with that model accord. Also could be clutch itself.

JAMES VTI S

i have the same prob in my civic, second and third gear are stiff when cold, this is worn syncros on mine i know because if i change too hard/fast i can feel the gear teeth grinding a bit

as above change gearbox oil with honda manual transmission fluid it may help but if your syncros are worn it wont

when changing gears on a cold start change slowly

Plug

Patrick2010 wrote: »

Have a 2001 Honda accord and its been fine up to now. Recently its getting hard to engage a gear when starting. If I switch the engine off I can slip into gear easily so what I have to do is engage first gear or reverse and then start the car. Once I'm driving for 5 or 10 minutes its ok and the gear changes are easy enough. Any ideas what the problem is?

Could be a sticking clutch, when its cold its hard to select and when it warms up the clutch is ok? Is it in all gears?

Patrick2010

Yeah, its fine when the car is warmed up so I don't think the clutch is the problem. Possible transmission fluid needs topping up/changing? (you can tell I'm an expert)

Plug

Patrick2010 wrote: »

Yeah, its fine when the car is warmed up so I don't think the clutch is the problem. Possible transmission fluid needs topping up/changing? (you can tell I'm an expert)

Clutches can stick. Depends what type, what they are made from, who made it, manufacturer, who it is driven by, how much heat is gone through it etc. Your symptoms sound like a clutch issue. I don't think oil would have such an effect on gear changes.

JAMES VTI S

can you expand on this please

Plug

If a clutch disk 'sticks' to the pressure plate or flywheel it will cause the gears to rotate when the engine is running therefore will make it difficult and/or impossible to change gear, remember he said he can change them no problem when the engine is off.

Maybe when the op's gearbox heats up the clutch dosen't stick. If its a syncro problem it will be hard to select gears all the time in a particular gear unless all the syncros are fecked which is highly unlikely unless he has been driving around with hard to select gears the whole time. I asked him is it hard to select all gears and he said yeah.

JAMES VTI S

how would it stick ?

im asking out of interest

Plug

JAMES VTI S wrote: »

how would it stick ?

im asking out of interest

Centre plate sticking on splines.

Spigot bearing sticking/tight (inside flywheel housing).

Release (throw out) bearing sticking on nose shaft.

Warped/damaged/faulty clutch pressure plate.

Air in system.

Corrosion from pressure cleaning/damp driving.

One of the guys in work was working on a Fiesta with the same symptoms as above with a 2010 fiesta, replaced the clutch and all was ok.

JAMES VTI S

cool good to know

Patrick2010

Thanks for the input guys, very helpful. Turned out the problem was the clutch oil reservoir had run low. Cleaned out a bit of "gunk" in the reservoir and topped it up. Ran it around the block and gear changes were still stiff but it in the morning everything was fine, gear shifts totally smooth and has been fine since.

JAMES VTI S

:pac: no cigar so