I have a '97 Honda Civic, 143,000 miles 5 speed.

When I shift into third gear I hear a quick grinding noise sometimes. It's not every time, but it happens more than it should. Maybe once a day. Today it happened around 5 times which scared me. But it really depends.

Any ideas? The thought of a transmission problem scares me. What should I do? I really don't have much money.

Updates below. See reply #6.

Yup, sounds like the 3rd gear syncros.

I searched around the forums a bit and a lot of people are recommending the GM syncromesh fluid. Anyone ever try this? I haven't changed the tranny fluid since I've had the car (9 months), so I'm going to go do that and hope that it will help. Of course, I don't really see why it would, but worth a try.

Anyone know who carries the Pennzoil Synchromesh fluid? I haven't called any repair shops today since it's sunday, but I've called a few retail parts stores and none of them have it. I'm going to try tomorrow and look more.

what else helps is the lucas tranny stuff. it is well worth putting some of that in. believe me.

I have some other issues with my car. Instead of posting a new topic, I'll address them here:

1) My clutch is very hard when I'm pushing it down. It grabs very low. What could be causing this? Master Cylinder, low fluid?
2) My car chatters sometimes when I let out the clutch at a high RPM. Pressure plate?

I'm thinking all this could be related to the 3rd gear grindage problem.

Any ideas?

what else helps is the lucas tranny stuff. it is well worth putting some of that in. believe me.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.