"Crunch" when shifting to 2nd

[Eric5273]

My car is only 5 days old. I picked it up on Saturday and it's a brand new 2003 NSX.

This morning on the way to work, after starting the car and letting it warm up for about 30 seconds, I pulled through my parking lot in 1st gear, and then upon pulling onto my street, when I shifted to 2nd, I heard a rather loud "crunch" sound. I have grinded gears before on other cars, and this was not what happened here. This sound was totally different and I am 100% sure I had the clutch down to the floor. This was not a speed shift, but a rather leisurely normal shift. The rest of the way to work, I tried downshifting to 2nd a few times and each time there was no "crunch" sound again, but there was a bit more resistance than normal and a slightly louder sound than the normal "click" sound although not nearly as loud as the "crunch" I heard the first time. All the other gears seemed to engage fine.

About a half hour after arriving at work, I went out to pick up some breakfast for the office, and now 2nd gear seems to be normal like it was yesterday.

Any ideas what could have caused this? Is this something I should worry about?

It is very warm this morning (over 90 degrees) -- perhaps this has something to do with it?

 

[DutchBlackNsx]

I know of at least one 'brand new' nsx here in europe which went back to the dealer, because there seems to be an issue with the gearbox.
Don't ask me what, its just that that person told me it's an issue.
Next time i see/speak to him, i will ask more.
I'll say, see your dealer.

Mich

 

[Soichiro]

I think you were hearing the cold synchronizers at work. Even though it's 90 ambient the gearbox is not up to temp. Honda went to triple cone synchros for 2nd gear recently and I bet you felt/heard them working. The fact that the gearbox feels fine now seems to indicate something related to cold operation.

 

[Eric5273]

I think you were hearing the cold synchronizers at work. Even though it's 90 ambient the gearbox is not up to temp. Honda went to triple cone synchros for 2nd gear recently and I bet you felt/heard them working. The fact that the gearbox feels fine now seems to indicate something related to cold operation.

Perhaps I need to warm the car up a little more?

I have been doing with this car what I have always done with all my cars which is to wait until the tach drops below 1500 rpm at idle before pulling away. I did notice the NSX does this rather quickly where other cars sometimes took more than a minute.

 

[POWERED by HONDA]

The gearbox was definitely too cold. You have to be extra careful with it.

I was in a hurry yesterday to drop the NSX off to get an exhaust custom fabricated. I usually let the NSX warm up very slowly. I do that by letting it sit until the idle goes down just a little bit from the cold idle of 1500rpm to something like 1300. Then I start to drive out REAL slow.

This time, I started the car, and zoomed on my way. The gearbox was REAL stiff and it was hard to get into gears. (I think I heard and felt it crunch once or twice. OUCH)

Let the car warm up a little more until you go to your "normal" shifting routines. When the car is cold... I am very gentle with it.

 

[Hrant]

Depending on the outside ambient temp, it usually takes about 3 to 5 miles of easy driving for the gearbox to warm up starting cold; I too turn the key, let it idle for some 30 seconds and drive slowly without exceeding 4000 RPM ...... until .........

Another way to gauge when the gearbox may have reached opertaing temp is to look at your oil pressure gauge at idle after you have driven a few miles ..... when it is at the 1.5 to 2.5 bar, you should be ok. However, the oil pressure gauge in some cars have not been correct because of malfunctioning sender units .......... and that is a completely separate issue ..........

HTH

 

[PettittsAuto]

I have a friend who bought a 2000 NSX new and had always complained of grinding going into 2nd gear. I was able to duplicate the problem and it was not normal. The dealer ended up replacing the sliding hub assembly for 1-2nd gears and the car shifts ok now hot or cold.

Bruce

 

[RPM217]

We have much in common, car, color, dealer, experience. When I first picked up the car (end of January) I too was very concerned about the shift from 1st to 2nd, it was notchy, and wasn't smooth on either up, or downshift. I called Kevin ( your friendly Greenwich Acura asst service manager) whom I've been dealing with since 1988. I told him of my concern, and he explained about the synchros in second (as explained in one of the previous posts to your concern). As the transmission warms up, the problem disappears completely. If you wait it feels just like it should, don't push it until fully warmed up. I start out very early in the morning, and I just keep the revs down until the engine is fully warmed up (usually within the first 2-3 miles this time of year), in the winter it takes much longer. I don't know where you live/work (I know where and when you picked up the car) but I live and work a few minutes from Greenwich Acura, and would be happy to meet you and go over the car and any questions you might have, just pm me your contact info and I'd be happy to meet/talk with you

 

[Gokwi]

yea the synchros had to be warmed up i guess??

brand new car?? everything needs to be broken in? i dunno

 

[Eric5273]

I'm guessing that I didn't warm the car up for long enough this morning. The problem did go away afterwards. I'll just have to remember not to push the car until I drive a couple miles each morning. Thanks everyone for all the info.

 

[theWB]

hey eric i have my 2003 also same problem ...and sometimes it just wont even go into 2nd i have to go to 3rd ........wow ..i was calling the dealer today untilli swa this post ...i also dont know what the hell it is but makes me feel better that is not just my car..it only happens with leasure driving ..easy shifts into 2nd gear..let me know if someone fiqures this one out ..

 

[Lud]

That's definitely not right.... Pursue it w/ Acura and let us know what the outcome is.

 

[Eric5273]

hey eric i have my 2003 also same problem ...and sometimes it just wont even go into 2nd i have to go to 3rd ........wow ..i was calling the dealer today untilli swa this post ...i also dont know what the hell it is but makes me feel better that is not just my car..it only happens with leasure driving ..easy shifts into 2nd gear..let me know if someone fiqures this one out ..

I have never had it that bad. It just happens on occasion in the morning when I first start driving, but I am always able to shift into second -- sometimes its just a bit tight. It doesn't really bother me at all. I'm going to mention it to the dealer when I go for my 1000 mile checkup in a few weeks and I'll see what they say. As long as they tell me its normal then I don't mind. I've driven manuals that shift into every gear like that -- the NSX tranny is just so smooth that it becomes much more noticeable when this happens.

 

[1HOT NSX]

Crunching is not normal. Notchy with a resistance directly proportional to how cold the car is, is normal.

 

[nsxtasy]

Crunching is not normal. On cars that are not brand new like this one, though, crunching is often caused by wear on the hub selector. People think it's the synchro that's going bad, but the hub selector goes bad first. When you shift into gear, all three items - the hub selector, the synchro, and the gear itself - must line up. As the transmission wears, the teeth on all these items wear, but the hub selector teeth wear first. Instead of nice sharply defined edges, the tips of the teeth start to flatten. And that shows up as a crunching when you engage a gear - even if you match revs perfectly (although it is worse if you don't match them precisely).

To cure this problem, you must open up the transmission (one to two days labor for an experienced NSX tech) and replace the hub selector for the gear(s) that are crunching, and possibly the synchro too.

Don't ask me how I know this.

Incidentally, if you do have to open up your transmission, it would be a good time to do any other transmission work you've been considering - such as swapping for short gears or R&P, replacing the snap ring and upper transmission case for cars in the snap ring range, etc. And note the date and mileage on your maintenance records, because you're changing the transmission fluid at the same time, so you won't have to do it again as soon as the mileage and/or time would otherwise require.

 

[Eric5273]

It happened again this morning, although this time a little different. I was pulling onto the freeway, and was in first gear. I went up to around 5500rpm in first, and then shifted to 2nd, but apparently the shift did not engage properly. I didn't realize it and I stepped on the gas and the tach went to redline very quickly and I realized the car was actually in neutral. I glanced down at the shifter and it looked like it was half-way in between 2nd and neutral. So I pushed down the clutch again, and just bypassed 2nd and went into 3rd. Didn't go back to 2nd until about 5 minutes later when I was getting off the highway, and then all was fine.

I really hope I didn't cause any bad damage -- I heard some grinding/clicking noises, but only for a 2-3 seconds before I realized what was happening. I'm going to have to mention this to the dealer when I go for my 1000 mile checkup.