manual trans bulletin from honda

[dan fitz]

thought i'd post this as it's own thread even though i did it as a reply to another one. recently had a '03 civic get stuck in reverse on a cold morning and although i got it to pop out with the engine off only after lubing the plastic ball at the bottom of the shift lever with a squirt of silicone, i checked with the local dealer and found they had a "service tip" in their internal bulletin (not an official tsb like on the nhtsa website) relating to this. seems they have had problems with inadequate lubrication on the splined shaft where the clutch plate slides back and forth, causing it to ride against the plates when shifting into first or reverse, grinding and causing a hard shift. their fix is to remove the tranny(ugh) and use super hi-temp grease on the splines. i plan to try sneaking a squirt of some kind of dry lube like a moly or graphite spray where the throwout bearing is visible and hope a bit of it works it's way along the shaft over time. anybody dealt with this without actually cracking open the clutch per their recommendation? i don't know what other years this service tip applies to but the service lady who told me about it was happy to give me a photocopy of it. 1-2-09 addition: have the sheet in front of me now, it applies to 96-03 civics, 97-03 crv's, 98-04 accords, 03 elements, 01-03 insights and 00-03 S2000's. maybe this will eventually become an official tsb if enough complaints are generated, since these cars are now all getting along in years and mileage.