not an I2 problem... but need help with a manual transmission

[cheesie]

so i just got a civic 03 with a manual transmission
i already found 2 different forums for my new car
they are prretty big and have a looooooot of users

however, nobody has taken their time helping me out with my little problem
so i came here to get advise from people here because i know they are going to help me... you guys always do


already did lots of research on google and forums but still havent found an answer, this is my last option

hope you guys can help me



i changed the oil and manual transm fluids on my civic and also
changed the oil and air filters

the car runs nice and doesnt have any problems but only one

4th gear is really stiff
i got thru all gears really smooth, but everytime i want to get into and out of 4 gear i gotta aply more pressure

thru research i found that maybe i didnt add enough fluid... that was true, so i added more, now the car is good with fluid but its still a little stiff (still gotta apply pressure, but it feeels like i have to give it less press)

when i testdrove the car i didnt notice this issue
it has no grinds or pop outs whatsoever

do you guys think itll go away since i just added the fluid a day ago? or does the stick need new bushings, or oil somewhere?

im really confused

[Cobb]

Sorry to hear of those problems cheese. I wished you lived closer so we could hang out and go over stuff like this.

With any performance issue regarding a tranny the first step in trouble shooting is change fluid, examine old fluid and adjust linkage. It sounds like from what you said the synchros are fine, so its either the shifting linkage or a shifting fork.

Do you know if the oil was clean or dirty looking? Did you see any metal chips or teeth in it? Was the drain plug really dirty? What oil did you use to refill it? I use synchromesh by pennzoil in the yellow bottle as it works wonders in all vehicles.

For example I just bought a 95 suzuki sidekick stick shift. It has 4wd and is my new back up vehicle as I sold my geo.

It was rather clunky at shifting and I had to wait for the gear shifter to go into places shift when I wanted to. I changed the tranny oil and it looked like mud. The drain plug had a lump of metal on it the size of a hershey kiss. I changed it and wow, what a world of difference.

[cheesie]

i know.. id be really cool to hang out and show my rides to expert mechanic cobb

well i changed the oil and the tranny fluid
the oil looked dark, but i didnt see any metal pieces coming out when it was draining, just the dirty oil
the tranny fluid still looked a little red.. not as bad as the oil

i replaced both with honda fluids, the oil wasnt full synthetic

i was scared of having messed up synchros' , i was thiking maybe it was the linkage, or the forks like you said

i took the car to the freeway today and went thru all the gears
everything feels fine, 4 gear is stiff a little stiff thou
i feel like i dont have to apply much pressure
hope it was just the old fluid

been asking around, most people tell me its no big deal as long as i get no grinds

i know this mechanic that i trust, the problem is hes busy most of the times.... that means id have to leave the car with him for a few days
its complicated but its hard for me to do that


do you think i can drive around like that? as long as the gears dont grind?