For those of you with 91 or 92 cars that fall into the Snap Ring failure range---a word of caution. Because your car is 18 years old or has 100K+ miles on it, and the transmission still shifts fine, DON'T ASSUME that your transmission is probably OK. It isn't!!
It is just a matter of time~~~. Mine went out last week with 115K miles. There is NO known method of diagnosing the problem before it happens. The 1-2 or 2-1 shift will all of a sudden get sloppy and noisey. Your shifter may move forward or backward in 1 or 2nd gear but NOT necessarly. You might hear your second gear beginning to get a bit louder then normal before it goes out as the aluminum case wears in the vacinity of the bearing and changes the gear engagement just enough to get noisey. Once it goes out--stop driving the car or nurse it home if close by. Then be prepared for a $2,000. bill to have the transmission pulled, the upper case replaced with the bearing etc. then re-assembled and re-installed. If you are lucky, the mechanic will find all the pieces of the fractured snap ring---(mine was in 13 pieces). Make sure you have a very experienced NSX mechanic do the work as there are critical measurements required during the resassembly process. Now if you are expecting Honda-Acura to help out with the cost---good luck. Some dealer or regional manager might pick up a % of the parts or labor cost but the bottom line is the same. One of our expert board repair vendors will still probalby do it cheaper. There is a Acura Technical Bulletin from 93 that directs the dealers to replace the transmission under warranty etc. but after 19 years, the general consesious is that they will no longer provide much support to their NSX customers. You can buy a new or rebuilt 5 speed transmission or step up to a used or new 6 speed transmission which will require some custom wiring for the reverse lockout. Another option is while you have the transmission out and apart, you can opt for some shorty or lower gear ratio 1-2-3 gears for quicker acceleration on the low end--which will bump your costs a bit.
So, all you 91-92 NSX owners---do it now, or do it later---but don't assume you are safe like I did. If you are doing a clutch--have the snap ring job done at tthe same time and save a little $$$. My clutch was put in ---in Feb 2011! snap ring===last week. Arggg
Huck
It is just a matter of time~~~. Mine went out last week with 115K miles. There is NO known method of diagnosing the problem before it happens. The 1-2 or 2-1 shift will all of a sudden get sloppy and noisey. Your shifter may move forward or backward in 1 or 2nd gear but NOT necessarly. You might hear your second gear beginning to get a bit louder then normal before it goes out as the aluminum case wears in the vacinity of the bearing and changes the gear engagement just enough to get noisey. Once it goes out--stop driving the car or nurse it home if close by. Then be prepared for a $2,000. bill to have the transmission pulled, the upper case replaced with the bearing etc. then re-assembled and re-installed. If you are lucky, the mechanic will find all the pieces of the fractured snap ring---(mine was in 13 pieces). Make sure you have a very experienced NSX mechanic do the work as there are critical measurements required during the resassembly process. Now if you are expecting Honda-Acura to help out with the cost---good luck. Some dealer or regional manager might pick up a % of the parts or labor cost but the bottom line is the same. One of our expert board repair vendors will still probalby do it cheaper. There is a Acura Technical Bulletin from 93 that directs the dealers to replace the transmission under warranty etc. but after 19 years, the general consesious is that they will no longer provide much support to their NSX customers. You can buy a new or rebuilt 5 speed transmission or step up to a used or new 6 speed transmission which will require some custom wiring for the reverse lockout. Another option is while you have the transmission out and apart, you can opt for some shorty or lower gear ratio 1-2-3 gears for quicker acceleration on the low end--which will bump your costs a bit.
So, all you 91-92 NSX owners---do it now, or do it later---but don't assume you are safe like I did. If you are doing a clutch--have the snap ring job done at tthe same time and save a little $$$. My clutch was put in ---in Feb 2011! snap ring===last week. Arggg
Huck
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