I am sure hoping someone can answer this question that has been bugging me for years. I have owned three Hondas in my lifetime...2 of them were Preludes and My current one is an Accord. All of them of had the same characteristic what I call the "first gear blues."

What I mean by this is...there you are at a stop light with the gear shifted to neutral as the cars pile up behind you (I bet some of you know where I am going with this eh??? LOL) then the light turns green, you push in your clutch and then try to shift into first gear and....NOTHING...it feels like it is jammed. So there you go trying to madly find a way to get it into first gear by pushing on the clutch pedal back and forth and wiggling the shifter...finally, it goes in and you squeel at take off to get out ofthere cause all the cars behind you are honking for you to go. Sound familiar...it must.

I did find a little trick that works when I come to a stop that I know will be a short one, and that is just when I am ready to stop, I push in my clutch and shift to second really quick, then into first as I come to the full stop. I am then ready to go without a hitch.

Anyhow...why does this happen? It has been this way with all 3 Hondas I have owned...is there any way to stop this???

Thanks guys

peace out,
daddy

 

yea i always hit up 4th before i shift to 1st. plus with my short shifter 1st is even harder. i push it up and lift the clutch a little until the gear move a little and they line up

 

With my 01 accord i thought it was only my car. It really didnt bother me too much since when i slow down to a stop i have a habit of downshifting into every gear until i hit 1st gear when i am at a stop (of course the clutch is in).

 

I changed my transaxle lube to Red Line the first week after I bought it. Zero problems going to 1st gear in a split second, or from 20MPH for that matter. Same shifting hot or cold since the change. The same with my previous car, a 96 Mazda 626 V-6 5 speed. It was awful prior to the synthetic lube.

 

redline MTF rocks! I recommend it to anyone with a stick out there.

 

I thought it was just me too. And I got use to it.

 

Nope! Seems like everyone's honda gearbox has that little quirk. I was teaching my girlfriend stick (I was trying to wear out the clutch too so I could put in a new one, heh) and she went to take off in first. Of course, it didn't quite go in, only about half way and I can still hear the horrible grinding in my sleep. The transmissions though are built freakin' solid.

The redline is woth getting without a doubt. I usually order it through jeg's but I saw a store that actually carried it (I think autozone) once.

 

man i have to be under 20 to shift into 1st its like theres something locking me out of it... maby theres a safety feature in there so that we cant try to powerbrake in first at to high of a speed?