Kalin

For those of us with the 6-sp tranny, has anyone experienced first gear pop-outs? Mine will pop out of first if I coast to a low RPM (when the car starts to do the low rpm first gear wiggle).

Mike

I own the 01 model but I've never heard of any car doing that before. Have you called Acura and let them know?

Kalin

Not yet. I wanted to see if anyone else has had problems or has any insight before I go to Satan.

Worst case I get a new tranny / clutch. Day before the transplant, it's time to test the 1st gear launches.

EricL

Before I "upgraded" and modified a different car with an upgraded manual, I really wanted to "experiment". I wanted to shift without the clutch and wanted to do it well.

I still do this on my wife's tranny, and in most of the manuals I've tried it on (or had someone let me show them).

Here's the deal -- if you find a flat road, and slowly back off the gas until the engine is not doing any engine braking *and* it's also not supplying power, you can normally get a shifter to just fall-out of gear into neutral. The point where the engine vs. road forces are perfectly balanced (no retarding force and no accelerating force), it is possible to pull a gear out of its gate with very little pressure! (THE CLUTCH IS NOT BEING TOUCHED)

Is that what your talking about -- it only takes a the a few ounces of pressure (the weight of a couple of fingers will do) to "pop-it out of gear"... (yep, foot nowhere near the clutch)

The "wiggle" your talking about "might" be acting as enough force to "knock" the shifter out of gear when you are "coasting". (drag and accelerating forces in balance)

I never had a car drop out of gear on it's own, but the shifter didn’t wiggle or shake (and the shift linkage/forks were only inches away from the transmission)...

Here's a link (and some people confuse the technique I describe (which DOES NOT abuse the box with "bash-shifting"/”speed-shifting”/etc)

http://pub70.ezboard.com/ftorontostr....topic&index=2


If it falls out too easy from "too much wiggle", you might want to find out what's causing the "excess" wiggle...

$0.02

CCType-S

Haha, I always do the power shift (without clutch) with my Cobra.

CCType-S

No, I never experience first gear pop outs with my 6-speeds.

Kalin

The first time it happened was going downhill in first from a stop to another stop sign. Left it in first and removed foot from gas. Engine braking then the gear popped out of first to neutral. Hand was nowhere near the shifter.

Since then it has done it a few times in my parking lot. Doesn't seem normal so I'll give Acura a call on Monday and schedule a check.

EricL

Yes, have them fix-it.

bullaculla

never happened to me.

Kalin

I have an appt Friday at 0830. Will let everyone know.

Slimey

No.

Kalin

Looks like my car got wind that I had an appt at Acura.

It has not popped out of first for the last few days and try as I might - I could not get it to pop out on my way to Acura, nor while at Acura. At least there is an entry in my file in case of anything down the road.

6spNewbie

I too have had my tranny pop out of first gear. I've experienced it twice, both times I was in first gear travelling down a hill towards a stop sign.

Since I have driven the car to work on the same route for about three weeks now, I'm starting to think I might be accidentally knocking the tranny out of gear with my right knee. When I relax (like on the highway when I have cruise engaged), I have a tendency to pull my feet back which in turn pulls my knee up.

The fact that I'm new to a stick (I've driven automatics since I learned how to drive) also leads my to believe that I am the cause.

Kalin

See if you can recreate it while concentrating on keeping your knees clear of the stick.

I've had it pop out of first in my parking lot while doing a "look ma, no hands" maneuver just to make sure it wasn't the result of knee of hand spasms.

6spNewbie

I have been trying to reproduce the problem while being careful to keep my knee clear of the stick for about a week.

(Sorry I didn't include this in my original note. )

I'll let you know if I see it again.

Kalin

At what mileage did it occur for you?

First happened for me around 300 miles, then stopped around 900. I'm currently at 1400 w/o a repeat.

6spNewbie

Tough for me to say exactly when I experienced the two pop-outs. They happened within 2 days of one another and the best estimate on mileage I can give you is between 650 - 800 miles. (currently I am at about 950.)

One other thing I should probably mention is that the second pop-out seemed more subtle than the first (maybe because it happened at a lower rpm.) The second instance was more of a "falling" out of gear than a "popping" out of gear.

Interesting that you had your problems in the same mileage vicinity that I have had mine. Maybe it's just a break-in thing. Hopefully, neither one of us will have any more trouble.

6spNewbie

Kalin -

Unfortunately, I experienced a pop-out this morning (at about 985 miles). Same scenario I saw the previous two cases - downhill, in first gear, idling to a stop sign. This time, I definitely did not touch the stick.

You said you were seeing trouble in your parking lot. I'm curious to know if you were only seeing pop-outs after the car had been sitting for a long period of time. All three cases I've seen have been in the morning, after the car has been sitting in the garage all night.

Maybe the pop-outs are related to the tranny not being up to temp.

Kalin

First time was after the car sat for about an hour at the coast. Other times it happened in the morning after sitting in the garage for the evening.

I had another one on a very steep decline yesterday after the car sat for about 4 hours. I started to grab the stick when it popped, so my hand may have helped it do what it isn't supposed to do. This was at ~1400 miles.

Has not reoccured in my parking lot, though.

6spNewbie

I'm now at about 1800 miles and I'm still experiencing pop-outs.

I also often encounter a great deal of resistance when changing gears, especially when trying to get into 2nd and 4th gears. Sometimes I have to pause for a second or two with the clutch on the floor before I can get the car into a new gear when shifting.

I'm starting to think the one or more of the synchronizers is bad. I've heard that bad synchros can cause pop-outs and I could see them also causing my other problem since they are supposed to make shifting easier.

I'm calling the dealer tomorrow. Having trouble this early in the life of the car is disappointing.

DivinDude

Starting to look like the 6speed manual guys are going to be going through the same thing as us 5 speed auto guys ... this is totally sad!

-Andy

Kalin

I'm at 2500 miles now and I have not had one since ~1800 miles.. but then again I don't let it sit in 1st gear too long anymore.

Kalin

Oh, the last time I brought the car to the dealer for the pop-outs, the manager said he'd check with Acura about other complaints. Make sure your dealers logs it.

Silver6sp

I just had this happen to me. I have about 1800 mi on the car. I was coming to a stop in first gear, I hear a very light pop and I'm in neutral. If it happens again it's off to the dealer.

Kalin

At least call the dealer and tell them that it happened. Make sure they add notes to your file. That way you are protected for the long haul in case of future tranny problems, and there is the added benefit that it builds a list of people who have experienced the problem.

I received my Acura new car owner survey the other week and wrote down my tranny problems and asked them to call me should they require additional information.

threetwoseeL

your clutch is all the way in when it pops into neutral? before you come to a complete stop?

threetwoseeL

you shouldnt be in first gear unless you are stopped... or maybe you're talking about starting up from first then it pops out.. if you're talking about bein in 1st gear while slowing down.. thats your problem right there.. you SHOULDNT be in that gear you should be in second till you stop.. then first . maybe the car is smarter than you are and its tellin you to put it in neutral or maybe you're hallucinating

Silver6sp

So far I've driven 4 manual transmission vehilces in my life (for extended periods of time) and I've left the car in 1st gear while slowing down and have never had a problem. I even do a fair amount of 4x4ing where you are MOSTLY in 1st gear even on downhills while slowing down. What is your logic behind your statement that you shouldn't be in 1st while slowing down?

Kalin

Say you pull out of a parking space only to drive 20 yds to a stop sign. You advocate shifting to second for that? Everyone I know who drives a manual would leave it in first and coast to the stop sign. That's when the pop-outs occur.

Silver6sp

Kalin, I agree. I don't see why a transmission would be designed to NOT handle the load produced by a 1st gear deceleration.

Nihilistan

Damnit guys, I thought it was just my wife until someone clued me onto this thread.

The other day she said the sonofabitch popped out of 1st while she was slowing. I told her to stop using the engine as a break in 1st, but still thought it was odd and tried to reproduce... with success. I can get it to pop out consistently (1 outta 10) by downshifting to 1st and letting the engine bogg it down... it pops right around the point any normal person trying to be nice to their car should be on the clutch or gas.

In addition, we both noticed the nasty feel of grinding (but no sound) when shifting into 2nd, as if the cluch were still slightly engaged. Haven't been able to reproduce this consistently, but double-clutching definitely eliminates it (who the hell wants to do that?).

Car is basically brand new (just over 700 miles). We spent the first day driving from the dealership in AZ to Los Angeles so we obviously wouldn't have noticed it on the way back.

So now I have essentially a barely broken in car, with 200 city miles on it w/ Fed up syncros?

I agree w/ threetwoseeL when saying you shouldn't be in first to stop... the gear ratio is waayy too rough on the drivetrain. Maybe in a 5 spd, but that's a bit different. However, that doesn't mean it should pop out!!!

Please keep this thread alive, I really want to know what happened w/ you guys so I know whether or not I need to be very worried.

-- Nihil

6spNewbie

I'm currently at 3000 miles and haven't experienced a pop-out since about 2000 miles. However, I too am experiencing the same grinding described by Nihilistan when shifting into 2nd gear.

I'm going to take my car to the dealer for my first oil change (since it's free) and I'll have them look at the 2nd gear shifting problem as well.

Good to hear I'm not alone, bad to hear it's not an isolated case.

Nihilistan

Okay, she's going to visit the dealership tomorrow. On the way home from work, I was on the entrance ramp to the highway (2 lane w/ stop light). Didn't feel like waiting for the minivan in the right so at green I hit it, went to shift into 2nd.... GRIND.

WTF? I've driven nothing but manual for over 8 yrs now and KNOW I had the clutch to the floor.

I really hope this is just a 1/1,000,000 case. And if that's so, why couldn't I just hit the lottery instead?

-- Nihil

6spNewbie

Any luck on your trip to the dealer Nihil??

I took mine in last week - only to let them tell me that they couldn't reproduce the problem (should I expect any less.) I talked to the service manager and he told me to call him personally if I had trouble again. Sure enough, I had at least 3 cases (of of probably 6 upshifts to second gear) of grinding this morning so I called this afternoon and made another appointment for this Friday. It was cool this morning, which I think may aggravate the problem.

Nihilistan

Damn, sorry to hear about your car. Sounds a bit worse than mine. I just dropped it off at the dealer today after setting up an appointment last week.

Took it for a test drive w/ the service guy in the car and he asked me to reproduce the popping out of 1st and the grinding.

I found that I am able to make it pop out of 1st if you shift into 2nd, then downshift back to first and start braking. I demonstrated it to him during the drive and he said, "It shouldn't do that." No kidding

To show him the grind, I launched it from a stop in first, took it to ~6k rpm and asked him to shift. GRIND. They have the car for the day and should be getting back to me shortly. Keep us posted w/ regard to your car.

Also, do you notice a gear-like grind feel when in 4th gear just coasting (no gas/brake)?

-- Nihil

PS. It was cold this morning during the test drive. Although I still don't like the feel of 2nd even when it's warm.

gsrblack

I'll have to try that on my car...

Now, on the popping out of gear...as you slow down while in first, about when does the gear pop out (rpm/mph)?

I will gun my car after work today to 6000rpm and shift to 2nd to see if my gears grind as well. I have noticed grinding on 2 or 3 occasions, but thought that it was just me...didn't happen for a while. My '98 GSR did that too at times.

Nihilistan

Hmmm...
Not sure what speed/rpm it poppes out. Maybe ~2k?

Nihilistan

Dealer called me back after leaving the car w/ him all day. They couldn't reproduce the popping out of gear. Requested that I take their main technician for a ride to demonstrate. Couldnt' get 2nd to grind but got it to pop 1st right before ready to give up.

The tech. was very cool about everything and pretty forthright. He said that they have only seen a handful of the 6spds sold and mine was the first in for a service, let alone for "repair". They simply don't have any experience w/ the new gearbox. However, both the service manager and he had witnessed it, so he said they can document it as an official symptom.

Right now, all I care about is building that case. If the syncros and/or clutch and/or whatever is outta whack, it will get progressively worse. Every time it goes in I'll get another piece of documentation. If I get to the point where they can't fix it, I'll lemon law. If they refuse to fix it, or point fingers at me, saying it's normal wear not covered by warrantee, then guess they'll be talking to my lawyer.

Thusfar, they're being cool about it. I'm not upset in the slightest and the service is very professional. ... just a little bummed considering this is my first new car.

I'll let you know what they say tomorrow after the tech works on her.

-- Nihil

PS. Anyone know about lemon-lawing a car from a dealership other than where you got the car? I got the car in Arizona, but live in LA where it's serviced.

gsrblack

I couldn't get my car to pop out of 1st or to grind per the directions you posted. My only worry is that not many dealers may have experience repairing 6 speed CL's.

Anyways, so far no 6-spd tranny problems for me, although I did get the gears to grind a few times (car only has 1900 miles now).

6spNewbie

My second trip to the dealer for second gear grinding netted the same result, they were unable to reproduce the problem. I even went for a drive with a technician myself - and of course it didn't act up.

They claimed Acura was not aware of any problems with the tranny and suggested I try to reproduce the problem with the district service manager. Of course, I won't be able to see the district service manager for a week and a half.

These transmission problems are starting to make me regret purchasing the car.