SOLVED my 6MT CHUNKY, NOTCHY, GRIND ISSUE!

[nicky8668]

Hi All
I have had my 10th sport sedan 6MT for a week now. I put about 500 miles on it and I'm so disappointed with the shift quality. Rough into 1st, notchy 1-3, clunky 3-4. Impossible get back to 1st unless I'm almost 100% dead stop. I found many folks on this forum also have the same issue, si, type R, EX-T. I think I eventually figured out what's wrong. It's CLUTCH DRAGGING!

What gets me suspect it's the clutch dragging is the following symptoms.
#1. floor the clutch, immediately shift into any gears, rough
#2. floor the clutch, wait 5-10 sec the shift into any gears, smooth
#3. Do #1, keep clutch in, back to N, then shift to any gear is smooth
#4. After #3, back to N, let go clutch, floor clutch again, immediately shift into any gears, rough
It looks like the input shaft still rotates for few sec before coming to a stop. If you shift when its still rotating, the shift is rough

Those symptoms tell me 2 possibilities:
1) Bad synchro on all gears (which is extremely unlikely to have bad synchro on ever gear in a 500 miles vehicle)
2) Clutch dragging, disengagement issue

So, I went ahead and adjust those two nuts on the clutch pedal and CMC. Two thread counterclockwise, tighten everything. And drive around the block.

Men, it feels like a different car. Extremely smooth and confident shift into any gear. I can floor the clutch and shift to 1st gear while going 40mph (of course don't let go off the clutch).

I think most people feel it gets better over time is because the clutch gets worn over time and you don't feel that much dragging. And other premium gear oils are obviously thicker than honda genuine MTF and they probably will stop the dragging faster, especially when the car warms up and gear oil gets thinner.

Try those if you have rough shift or grind problem, especially 1st to 2nd. This solved my problem. Hope it solves yours too. Don't think it will break in, it can damage your synchro over time. You don't know if it would be your synchro or clutch get worn first.

Let me know if this helps your problem.

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[nicky8668]

I do floor the clutch before even touching the shifter. But it's still rough, probably because the input shaft still has a slight torque and the sychro need to work harder to align teeth. But a slight increase in slave travel solves this problem. I think it's because the factory clutch setting is not optimal for every car, especially when the clutch is not the best in its class. Slight dragging can happen, it won't hurt anything unless you keep doing it for 30, 40k miles before no return.

 

[typeaarrr]

These cars have a CDV and the CMC has a diaphragm. The CDV delays the clutch and prevent drive-train damage, but this reduces the synchro and clutch life if you shift fast because the CDV delays the clutch disengagement. The CDV also contribute to the notchy and grinding issues people are having because the clutch hasn't fully disengage when you shove the gear lever into gear too fast.

 

[REBELXSi]

Low clutch engagement point? I barely have to push my clutch pedal in to shift lol Been like that in my last 3 Hondas. The engagement point has always been laughably high.

 

[nicky8668]

Low clutch engagement point? I barely have to push my clutch pedal in to shift lol Been like that in my last 3 Hondas. The engagement point has always been laughably high.

Do you have clunky shift issue? My clutch engagement point is pretty low, I think the factory setting isn't so consistent. That's why some folks have smooth shift, some have slight rough clunky shift, other have horrible grind when shift.

 

[REBELXSi]

Do you have clunky shift issue? My clutch engagement point is pretty low, I think the factory setting isn't so consistent. That's why some folks have smooth shift, some have slight rough clunky shift, other have horrible grind when shift.

Fortunately, no. My shifts are pretty smooth. The only gear that has ever been notchy has been reverse and that's pretty rare.

 

[nicky8668]

Fortunately, no. My shifts are pretty smooth. The only gear that has ever been notchy has been reverse and that's pretty rare.

Yeah, that further support my speculation. It's the clutch dragging. I think the factory did a poor job on adjusting the clutch engagement point. Yours is high, so you have smooth shift. Mine was low, I had a rough shift until I brought it up a bit, then clutch has a clean disengagement before shifting into gears.

 

[REBELXSi]

I have no idea what you're talking about. I went 175k on my last clutch and only stopped because the car was totalled.

 

[typeaarrr]

The CDV doesn't get used up. It's suppose to last the life of the CMC. The CDV is designed to restrict fluid and partially disengage the clutch before disengaging completely. I'm not sure if Honda put a CDV in the 2.0 manual, but it was common in the k20 and k24 manual transmission.

 

[mvela]

The CDV doesn't get used up. It's suppose to last the life of the CMC. The CDV is designed to restrict fluid and partially disengage the clutch before disengaging completely. I'm not sure if Honda put a CDV in the 2.0 manual, but it was common in the k20 and k24 manual transmission.

I thought the CDV was for the reengagement of the clutch only, to avoid shocking the drivetrain. Disengagement is supposed to be unaffected. Isn’t that how it works?

 

[mvela]

Hi All
I have had my 10th sport sedan 6MT for a week now. I put about 500 miles on it and I'm so disappointed with the shift quality. Rough into 1st, notchy 1-3, clunky 3-4. Impossible get back to 1st unless I'm almost 100% dead stop. I found many folks on this forum also have the same issue, si, type R, EX-T. I think I eventually figured out what's wrong. It's CLUTCH DRAGGING!

What gets me suspect it's the clutch dragging is the following symptoms.
#1. floor the clutch, immediately shift into any gears, rough
#2. floor the clutch, wait 5-10 sec the shift into any gears, smooth
#3. Do #1, keep clutch in, back to N, then shift to any gear is smooth
#4. After #3, back to N, let go clutch, floor clutch again, immediately shift into any gears, rough
It looks like the input shaft still rotates for few sec before coming to a stop. If you shift when its still rotating, the shift is rough

Those symptoms tell me 2 possibilities:
1) Bad synchro on all gears (which is extremely unlikely to have bad synchro on ever gear in a 500 miles vehicle)
2) Clutch dragging, disengagement issue

So, I went ahead and adjust those two nuts on the clutch pedal and CMC. Two thread counterclockwise, tighten everything. And drive around the block.

Men, it feels like a different car. Extremely smooth and confident shift into any gear. I can floor the clutch and shift to 1st gear while going 40mph (of course don't let go off the clutch).

I think most people feel it gets better over time is because the clutch gets worn over time and you don't feel that much dragging. And other premium gear oils are obviously thicker than honda genuine MTF and they probably will stop the dragging faster, especially when the car warms up and gear oil gets thinner.

Try those if you have rough shift or grind problem, especially 1st to 2nd. This solved my problem. Hope it solves yours too. Don't think it will break in, it can damage your synchro over time. You don't know if it would be your synchro or clutch get worn first.

Let me know if this helps your problem.

Can you show some pictures of the nuts you adjusted. I want to try this out. It makes sense.

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