Q: I hear a grinding noise when I shift to third gear

asked by on January 29, 2016

Sometimes when the vehicle is cold and I shift to third gear, I hear a grinding noise. I've had the MTF replaced and it seemed to make it better( that was a year ago). These past few weeks i've been hearing it more often. Does it need another fluid replacement or is the third gear synchro going bad? Thanks.
My car has 122 miles.
My car has a manual transmission.

Hello. This is a common problem with your vehicle. It is so common, in fact, that Honda has a technical service bulletin for it. The problem is an issue with either the a failure in the 3rd gear synchro or the 3-4 shift sleeve. It can be either or both of these. Most of the time, if it is simply grinding when shifting into 3rd and not popping out on its own, it is the synchro. Unfortunately, the fix for this requires a dis-assembly of the transmission. At that point, even if your mileage is correct at 122, you should have the transmission rebuilt to prevent further issues.

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