Manual shift very stiff

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Manual shift very stiff

By Member33
- Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:38 pm #46356 As the weather got colder (-1/32) this year the shifter became very stiff to the point were I had to use a sgnificant amount of force to shift into gear.
The problem is fairly consistent with all gears and it requires about the same effort to pull the shifter out of each gear.
It feels as if the shifter is moving through honey, but only if shifting into gear (front and back), when I move the shifter side to side it moves relatively free and returns itself back to neutral.
Last year I had the transmission fluid changed to 10w30 Synthetic to keep the transmission soft in cold weather so I'm not sure this is the problem.
I haven't tried anything yet, hopefully I can get directed to the root problem.
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By CivicTypeR
- Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:43 pm #46357 Try looking under your car at the linkage, maybe the weather has effected it and needs greasing?
The only thing I could think of would be oil / grease problems if it's the cold weather effecting it, or maybe you need a new clutch :P

Does it just do it on cold starts? I mean after awhile of driving after the engine has warmed is it still stiff or does it losen up?
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By Bouli
- Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:34 pm #46360 10w30 is thick oil, it´s difficult to shift with this oil if it is cold.

Try to put in 5w40 or Honda MTFIII ore something.
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By Member33
- Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:39 pm #46361 It has pretty much been stiff all winter even when I've driven the car for long periods. Ironically, when we've had warm spells in the weather (above +10C/50 F) it seems to have softened a bit.

Thanks for the reply,
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By teal_dx
- Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:52 pm #46362 my civic does the same. I also used 10w30 instead of the honda MTF. I would try the honda MTF. I also found that getting the RPM's up a little (3k) help it go into first gear easier.
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By k0rean4life
- Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:42 am #46432 Never run oil, its just doesnt supply enough lubricant for the gears. Oil has to much detergent compared to tranny fluid. I have ran MTF in OEM and in fully built K20's and Built 400HP SOHC and I live in chicago before so trust me it works Well. As long as you let you car warm up for 3-6 minutes in the morning should give enough time to warm everything up
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By darkshadow
- Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:58 am #46468 i have had very good luck with royal purple oil here myself
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By teal_dx
- Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:26 am #46472
DannyCraQ wrote:10w30 is fine, it has never failed on me in any 5 speed


take a drive to canada and see if it goes in gear

I am running the same as you, 10w30, and first started driving it in the fall. The colder it got, the harder it was to shift. I think i'm gonna save up and buy 2 qts of the MTF (@ $9 a qt) and put that in before next winter.

also, be sure your master cyl and slave cyl are both in good working order. if the clutch is not completely disengaging, then that will also cause harder shifts,
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By Member33
- Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:21 pm #47680 ok... not sure who's following this string but I got around to doing a couple of things, both made a world of a difference.

I got rid of the 10W30 (Synthetic) I had put in last year and put in the Honda Manual Transmission fluid. WOW, even if it was worth $20 a quart, I'd still do it, I can actually feel the gears engaging now... night and day.

As for the stiffness, I found the problem to be the link directly below the shifter. The bolt looks extremely corroded which must have caused the bushing to compress, I crawled under the car and sprayed some liquid wrench all over the bolt and bushing, within a couple of days she was as good as new.

But I can't stress enough how much of a difference the Honda transmission fluid made. :thumb:

Thank you for you help guys, :woot:

By sqsi
- Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:41 pm #47683 You may want to replace the shifter bushings at some point.
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By stefan
- Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:04 pm #47708 Make sure the nut and bolt aren't tightened too much, that'll f/up your shifting as well.
And yes, Honda MTF rocks :)
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By SOHCivegra
- Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:58 am #47766 I as well tried the 10w30 phenomenon and actually turned to GM Synromesh. Havent had a problem since.

Havent yet tried the Honda MTF yet. But i would trust alot of opinions on here.
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By suspendedHatch
- Fri Apr 11, 2008 4:16 pm #50085 Honda told all their techs to stop using oil and use the MTF.

Why would anyone continue to use oil or argue that oil works fine? Obviously it's not fine.
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