inertiadrifto86
Senior Member
- First Name
- Alex
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2018
- Threads
- 20
- Messages
- 230
- Reaction score
- 222
- Location
- Seattle
- Vehicle(s)
- 2017 Civic Si Sedan(traded), 2011 Acura MDX Adv, 2019 Acura TLX A-Spec(traded), 2018 Civic Si Sedan
- Vehicle Showcase
- 1
- Thread starter
- #1
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.
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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