Si Shifting Clunky, Crunchy and Lockouts

inertiadrifto86

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I hope it's okay to post a new thread on this. I originally posted over in the Si forums but realize I should have initially posted here. Mods - if this isn't kosher feel free to delete this post and I'll just keep posting to the original thread here. Okay, on with the history/background.

When I originally test drove the car I was really quite impressed with the shifting feel. Honestly it had been a while since I had driven a manual transmission so I was really just focused on not stalling the car and shifting correctly rather than any issues with the shifter itself. After I got used to driving stick again, I began to notice some lockups, crunchiness and clunky shifting feel. The lockups seemed to occur mostly when shifting out of reverse on very cold mornings. The crunchy/clunky shifting feel was the worst shifting into 1st, out of 1st to 2nd and 3rd to 4th.

Now I know what a lot of you are thinking. Newbie manual driver doesn't know how to put the clutch all the way in when he shifts. This is exactly what the dealership said when I first took the car in back in March. I bought the car at the end of January and the lockouts didn't really start to concern me until two or three weeks in. My first service appointment with my dealership was on March 12th.

The service department had the car for about two hours and came back with "Unable to replicate issue, please instruct owner to depress clutch fully when shifting." The unofficial response I got from the sales service tech when handing me the conclusion was that he had sat in another new Si on the lot and had been unable to replicate the issue. But - he had sat in my car and had been able to replicate it when he "applied sideways pressure when shifting out of reverse." He advised me to be aware of that and bring the car in again if I still had issues.

A couple weeks later I needed to have a new keyfob cut for the car, so I made an appointment to take the car in and have my dealership cut me a new keyfob. I took the car in on March 26th and was told that they couldn't find my appointment. That was pretty frustrating to hear because I showed them the appointment service reminder e-mail that I had received only the day before for the exact date and time I had showed up at. The service guy shrugged his shoulders at that. They took me anyway, and I waited in the "Honda Lounge" for 2 hours.

After getting the car back the shifting feel was awful. Awful. I want to stress that driving the car to the dealership that day I hadn't noticed any particularly bad crunchiness or clunkiness when shifting. But when I got back in the car it was immediate. If I didn't know any better, and I don't want to make any accusations, I would have guessed someone had started tried to slam gears without depressing the clutch.

I immediately called the service department when I got home and made a new appointment to take the car in for the shifter feel. Unfortunately I was very busy and had to leave town for work for a couple of weeks, I was only able to get the car in this last Tuesday, April 24th.

"Unable to replicate issues, advise customer to continue breaking in the transmission for another 10k miles" was the official conclusion. I was a little incredulous at that response. You mean to tell me that shifting gears has gotten worse over the last (nearly) 3k miles since I've owned the car, and that another 10k miles should fix it? I don't entirely blame the dealership, because I don't know what they can do to improve the shifting feel of a car anyway.

I want to stress that each Sales Service Tech I've worked with has been friendly, listened to my problem and seemed honestly interested in wanting to resolve my problems. I could have perceived a desire to get me out of their service department incorrectly, but that's what I took away from each interaction I had.

So what am I going to do now?

I already purchased a Raceseng shift knob. I expect it to be here sometime next week. I am hoping the heavier weight of the knob works out the crunchy and clunky I feel while shifting.

Next I'll be purchasing some shifter bushings and a spring from Acuity. My hope is that the combination of the heavier knob along with the improved internals of the shifter will resolve my issues.

I also intend on making a complaint directly to Honda and the NHTSA. I highly recommend anyone with issues shifting gears in the Si (or non-Si models) to do the same. My strategy is that complaining to Honda will get their attention and complaining to the NHTSA will stress to Honda that this is an issue they need to resolve. I don't know how well that will work, but maybe if enough of us experiencing the issue complain Honda might actually do something.

I will continue to update this thread as I make progress trying to resolve this issue.
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HondadSi

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I hope it's okay to post a new thread on this. I originally posted over in the Si forums but realize I should have initially posted here. Mods - if this isn't kosher feel free to delete this post and I'll just keep posting to the original thread here. Okay, on with the history/background.

When I originally test drove the car I was really quite impressed with the shifting feel. Honestly it had been a while since I had driven a manual transmission so I was really just focused on not stalling the car and shifting correctly rather than any issues with the shifter itself. After I got used to driving stick again, I began to notice some lockups, crunchiness and clunky shifting feel. The lockups seemed to occur mostly when shifting out of reverse on very cold mornings. The crunchy/clunky shifting feel was the worst shifting into 1st, out of 1st to 2nd and 3rd to 4th.

Now I know what a lot of you are thinking. Newbie manual driver doesn't know how to put the clutch all the way in when he shifts. This is exactly what the dealership said when I first took the car in back in March. I bought the car at the end of January and the lockouts didn't really start to concern me until two or three weeks in. My first service appointment with my dealership was on March 12th.

The service department had the car for about two hours and came back with "Unable to replicate issue, please instruct owner to depress clutch fully when shifting." The unofficial response I got from the sales service tech when handing me the conclusion was that he had sat in another new Si on the lot and had been unable to replicate the issue. But - he had sat in my car and had been able to replicate it when he "applied sideways pressure when shifting out of reverse." He advised me to be aware of that and bring the car in again if I still had issues.

A couple weeks later I needed to have a new keyfob cut for the car, so I made an appointment to take the car in and have my dealership cut me a new keyfob. I took the car in on March 26th and was told that they couldn't find my appointment. That was pretty frustrating to hear because I showed them the appointment service reminder e-mail that I had received only the day before for the exact date and time I had showed up at. The service guy shrugged his shoulders at that. They took me anyway, and I waited in the "Honda Lounge" for 2 hours.

After getting the car back the shifting feel was awful. Awful. I want to stress that driving the car to the dealership that day I hadn't noticed any particularly bad crunchiness or clunkiness when shifting. But when I got back in the car it was immediate. If I didn't know any better, and I don't want to make any accusations, I would have guessed someone had started tried to slam gears without depressing the clutch.

I immediately called the service department when I got home and made a new appointment to take the car in for the shifter feel. Unfortunately I was very busy and had to leave town for work for a couple of weeks, I was only able to get the car in this last Tuesday, April 24th.

"Unable to replicate issues, advise customer to continue breaking in the transmission for another 10k miles" was the official conclusion. I was a little incredulous at that response. You mean to tell me that shifting gears has gotten worse over the last (nearly) 3k miles since I've owned the car, and that another 10k miles should fix it? I don't entirely blame the dealership, because I don't know what they can do to improve the shifting feel of a car anyway.

I want to stress that each Sales Service Tech I've worked with has been friendly, listened to my problem and seemed honestly interested in wanting to resolve my problems. I could have perceived a desire to get me out of their service department incorrectly, but that's what I took away from each interaction I had.

So what am I going to do now?

I already purchased a Raceseng shift knob. I expect it to be here sometime next week. I am hoping the heavier weight of the knob works out the crunchy and clunky I feel while shifting.

Next I'll be purchasing some shifter bushings and a spring from Acuity. My hope is that the combination of the heavier knob along with the improved internals of the shifter will resolve my issues.

I also intend on making a complaint directly to Honda and the NHTSA. I highly recommend anyone with issues shifting gears in the Si (or non-Si models) to do the same. My strategy is that complaining to Honda will get their attention and complaining to the NHTSA will stress to Honda that this is an issue they need to resolve. I don't know how well that will work, but maybe if enough of us experiencing the issue complain Honda might actually do something.

I will continue to update this thread as I make progress trying to resolve this issue.

I noticed very similar "issues". My car now has 2600 miles on it and the shifting has improved. One thing I noticed is that is actually shifts smoother the faster and more aggressive I shift with the clutch only engaged about half way. If I completely press the clutch pedal all the way down and then slowly shift I still get the clunky feeling in the shift knob. This is not from grinding gears. I have never experienced this feel with other manuals. Next time try to shift into 2nd and 3rd while the clutch pedal is traveling down and it usually shits very smooth at about the halfway mark . The salesman at the dealership also said he only presses the clutch pedal about halfway after 1st gear. Someone else might have better info and might not recommend what I am saying. Reverse also gets better with time.
 
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inertiadrifto86

inertiadrifto86

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I noticed very similar "issues". My car now has 2600 miles on it and the shifting has improved. One thing I noticed is that is actually shifts smoother the faster and more aggressive I shift with the clutch only engaged about half way. If I completely press the clutch pedal all the way down and then slowly shift I still get the clunky feeling in the shift knob. This is not from grinding gears. I have never experienced this feel with other manuals. Next time try to shift into 2nd and 3rd while the clutch pedal is traveling down and it usually shits very smooth at about the halfway mark . The salesman at the dealership also said he only presses the clutch pedal about halfway after 1st gear. Someone else might have better info and might not recommend what I am saying. Reverse also gets better with time.
I'm nearing 2800 miles myself and the shifting feel is only getting worse. I don't know about only depressing the pedal halfway, that makes me nervous for the future reliability of the clutch and transmission. Every time I shift I don't move the gear lever until I feel the clutch pedal hit the floor. I've gotten used to the soft "thud" of the pedal hitting the floor and know that is when I shift gears.

I will have to drive it some more, but I've been mostly babying the transmission as much as possible. I'll have to really row the gears a bit, come back and update how it feels, but from what I can remember when I do slam gears, it is worse and puts up more of a fight.

I do hope it gets better with time. I am hoping the heavier shift knob helps.
 

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Nearly at 10k miles, shifter feels the same to me now as the day I drove it off the lot. 2nd and 4th certainly notch into gear a bit, I suspect a weighted shift knob or the boomba linkage mount would mask this. A few members swear the Amsoil trans fluid will fix it, but between cost and supporting an MLM company.... I'd only give it light consideration.

related stuff: https://acuityinstruments.com/collections/all/10th-gen-civic
 
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inertiadrifto86

inertiadrifto86

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Nearly at 10k miles, shifter feels the same to me now as the day I drove it off the lot. 2nd and 4th certainly notch into gear a bit, I suspect a weighted shift knob or the boomba linkage mount would mask this. A few members swear the Amsoil trans fluid will fix it, but between cost and supporting an MLM company.... I'd only give it light consideration.

related stuff: https://acuityinstruments.com/collections/all/10th-gen-civic
Thanks, I hadn't considered changing out the transmission fluid. I definitely plan on giving Acuity some more of my money. I already have their throttle spacer, and will probably get the cable bushings, base bushings and centering spring. It will probably be mid June by the time I get everything including the shift knob installed.
 


HondadSi

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All I know is that when I shift faster there absolutely no notching, clunking ect.... When I baby it there is. Maybe someone can explain this.
 

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Change trans fluid with Amsoil. It really makes it much smoother (especially 1-2 shift and reverse). 25$ and 30 minutes of your time
 
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inertiadrifto86

inertiadrifto86

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Change trans fluid with Amsoil. It really makes it much smoother (especially 1-2 shift and reverse). 25$ and 30 minutes of your time
Amsoil seems to be what others are recommending, but I'm not sure I'd prefer to support an MLM. Are there any similar trans fluid options that provide the same or better improved experience?
 
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inertiadrifto86

inertiadrifto86

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One more thing. What rpms are you shifting at? Have you tried shifting at higher rpms?
I usually shift around 3000-3200 RPMs when driving normally during my commute. As my commute is only about 10-15 minutes I don't feel the car has any chance to warm up, so most of the time while driving I don't go above that. On the weekends when I can take the car out for a couple of hours and really get it warmed up I'll shift at higher RPMs, between 4k - 5k when driving "spiritedly".
 


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I usually shift around 3000-3200 RPMs when driving normally during my commute. As my commute is only about 10-15 minutes I don't feel the car has any chance to warm up, so most of the time while driving I don't go above that. On the weekends when I can take the car out for a couple of hours and really get it warmed up I'll shift at higher RPMs, between 4k - 5k when driving "spiritedly".
I shift at 2k which drops the revs to 1500 when just driving normally. Hardly touch boost and regularly get 36-40mpg. If I decide to drive quick then I usually shift around 6-6.3k. usually see 25-26psi and get around 24-28mpg.
 

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Verify there are no air bubbles in the clutch hydraulic lines. You might bleed the hydraulics to ensure that no air is trapped in the system.

I believe the clutch hydraulics share a fluid reservoir with the brake system.
 

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These threads are all the same. Dealer can’t replicate and they prob know about these iffy shifting manuals. These cable transmissions are just not the same as standard shift linkage (pre K series).

I do feel for owners who drop money on brand new cars to have notchy shifts. I would just say just get use to shift crunch. My dad has a ‘07 Si and will say the car responses better when driven hard. I laugh every time car mags rate these Honda shifters as the best.
 

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Which Amsoil trans fluid do I need to purchase if I wanna do this?
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