[Randy]

A few weeks ago, shifting into second gear became difficult. It sounded like I was trying to shift into reverse, while travelling forward. I took the car into the dealer and they said the transmission had a bad blocking ring, something that I was not familiar with. They said that they will replace the transmission under warranty.

The car is a 2003 5-speed with about 13,000 miles. I've had to cancel the last two service appointments because we've had too much snow (12-18") to get the car to the dealership. I'll be taking it in this Saturday and leaving it for a few days. The dealer (Ralph Schomp Honda, Littleton, Colorado) has been very helpful and easy to deal with.

I wonder how much the new transmission will lower the fuel economy during the break-in period.

Has anyone else had a problem with a blocking ring?

Randy

 

[Corey872]

The blocking ring is part of the synchronizer assembly. If it is bad, that would give you the grinding that you describe...unless you are willing to double-clutch it like driving a semi. You can read all the details and see photos at:

http://www.autosite.com/garage/subsys/bamant01.asp

Are they going to replace the entire tranny or just repair the failed parts? Either way, I doubt the new transmission will hurt fuel mileage very much during break-in. Good luck with the repair.

 

[Yves M.]

Hi,

Then this is not wear related but simple bad assembly or breakage. From what I understand looking at the image from the link above.

 

[Randy]

Corey872,
Thanks for the link.

The dealer said that they would replace the entire transmission, rather than open it up and replace individual parts.

Yves,
They indicated that this was a manufacturing defect, and that they had never seen this failure in an Insight before. They also indicated that the same transmission is used in other vehicles, and the failure wasn't common in any of them.

Randy