I have an 88 Accord LX 2.0l 4cyl carbed with 5 speed manual tranny and a mechanical clutch. Car has an unbelievable 98K miles.

The problem I am having is that sometimes i cannot get the shifter to go into gear, which seems to get worse as the car warms. Sometimes i have to literally force it into gear at a light for instance or even shut the car off put it in gear then restart. It does it especially in reverse - wants to grind everytime. It does tend to work better if the speed matches what gear i want to put it in - for instance: If i am slowing to turn and i want to put it in 2nd prior to the turn (with foot still on clutch) it won't let me do it until i've slowed enough.

I have adjusted the mechanical clutch, but cant seem to find out why its doing it. The clutch itself seems strong and has no slippage whatsoever.

Once the weather gets a little nice i had planned on replacing the gear oil, but thats all i can think of.

Anyone have a similar problem? What else should i look into?

thanks in advance.

 

Gear oil might well be the problem, because the Honda Manaul Trans DOES NOT use gear oil.
10w30 oil is what goes into that trans;
Also be sure there is a little slack in the clutch cable so you aren't riding pressure against the throwout bearing.

 

i do know that you aren't supposed to use gear oil, i'm just used to using it with my other vehicles, so it mistakenly came out while describing my situation. I haven't used gear oil in this, but also don't know any of its history. My question is: if it has dirty oil in it or if its low could it cause the problem i'm having?

Also, I noticed that the problem is directly correlated with the idle speed. The higher the idle speed the harder it is to get into gear. If I put a load on the engine, ie: rear defrost, headlights on and AC on, it will go into reverse easier.

I have been having idle problems with it since i've owned it with little luck, but it now stays around 1200-1300. Could this be part of the problem?

 

I hate to step on Hondadude's toes on this one. Slipping clutch could be caused by 10w30 oil used in tranny. Some of the trannys have no problems with 10w30 some trannys need ATF oil. Wipe the gunk off the cap for your tranny fill and if it says ATF then put ATF in it. If it says SAE then use 10w30. I had an experience with thinking my tranny was slipping until we figgured out the 10w30 was causing the slipping feeling.

 

Are saying that some manual trannys use ATF?

 

my man ,,you are totally wrong..........using 10w30 in a manual tranny will not cause clutch to slip,, there is nothing to slip inside a manual tranny ,you can use 90w, atf, or 10w30,, that will not cause clutch to slip ... clutch is outside the tranny ,, automatic tranny use ATF,, manual tranny use engine oil ...( 10w30 for most part )..or Honda mtf...

I will never accept what you said that 10w30 in a manual tranny caused your tranny to slip..... unless there was a leak and oil got to clutch disc ..And what is this ????? wipe the gunk off the cap and see if it says atf or sae??? ???? manual tranny there is a plug ,, his car ( 88 acc ) you use a 17 mm wrench to remove it to fill the tranny , it does not say anything at all .At tranny has a dip stick ....
.NO offense but you should get a bit more knowledge before you step on Hondadude's toes ..


to answer to ughcord,,,,,,, too much free play could cause hard to get into gears but that would do it all the time ,,,there could be an issue with the pressure plate seen that many times ,, but i would have to test drive the car to diagnose ,,,,
sorry ,can't do ..
You might want to take it to a shop that specializes on hondas and have them diagnose it ..

 

I have heard of using ATF in a manual tranny, but not any official recommendation. Back in the day of GL-rated gear oil, mixing in a quart of ATF was supposed to allow it to flow better when first started up in winter. I never tried it...

If you're talking about using engine oil in an automatic tranny, then that could make some serious problems. Like slipping clutches in the auto-box. I've never heard of an automatic that was actually SUPPOSED to take engine oil.

 

Thanks for all the input. I am still looking into the cause and am hoping its not an issue with the pressure plate. I'm also going to look into the functioning of the shifter itself. I'll try to post back with the result.

 

Hard shifting into gear can be the clutch dragging. That means it's not COMPLETELY disengaged when you press down the clutch pedal. Can be caused by a warped clutch disk dragging against the flywheel/PP.

The synchro won't let you shift into gear (easily) because there's still some torque being transmitted into the tranny. Kinda like if you let the clutch pedal partway up then try to shift.

 

I was working at Honda dealer when the 88s were new and it takes the same oil as the engine. Engine oil in an automatic will swell the seals. Chrysler used ATF in their manual trans before. I think the OP problem is most likely the clutch but may have done some trans damage by now.