Sometimes I can shift into 4th gear smoothly, but most of the time it feels almost like it interferes with reverse.. you can feel/hear it in the stick. If I try and keep the stick a bit to the left even slightly, it won't shift into any gear, or I miss and get into second... Anyone else find 4th gear a bit tricky? I've got a 1991 Acty SDX, 5 Speed.
I do not have a 5 speed, automatic. But from other cars with manual gear I have experience that the plastic bushes of the shifter link were broken. Just as example how that looks on an BMW E30 3 series http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E...ch/browse/gearshift/gearbox_shifting_parts-2/ No idea how the links are on the Honda tho. But if there are plastic bushes, I would check for these.
I've noticed if I move the shifter into neutral, then kind of do an inverted L pattern into 4th, it will shift smoothly most of the time. But it seems like I should just be able to go straight from 3rd to 4th without any effort? I mean this isn't a 1905 car with crazy hand operated throttle and other such odd items for our time.
100% The very first fix that I did on my suzuki. Two shifter control cables, sloppy shift lever in any gear. Try putting it in 1ST, then slap the shifter around. It should be pretty tight. Tension in all directions. I removed the center counsel, to find the plastic bushing of one of the cable connections, in pieces, laying on the shift assembly mounting plate. I prefer a solid shift. Replaced both connector bushings (one for each cable end connector assembly) with press-fit aluminum bushings. Zero-Slop now. Still some give at the other end; connector linkedges, and cable stretch; but pretty dam tight. I still miss a gear now and then, but it's because the shifter is a little too tight (so no screw-up room), as apposed to just sloppy; and NO control over a missed gear condition. You get all that done, then it's a shifter fork. Rare, but possible. Fix the easy first.
Well, if so, then you understand the importance of the adjustment of the front brake and clutch lever cable slop. Via the turn-buckle, located integral to both levers. The shifter cable bushings, on the truck, replace the "slop" recognized by you on bikes, as a "standard sized bushing". Now, imagine your front brake turn-buckle..."missing"... Just like the plastic bushing missing from the shift cable assembly. (one or even both) It broke, into pieces, and left the assembly...Sloppiness... AND, so too, is your shifting..."sloppy". Remove the center counsel, and have a look at the shifter to cable connection assembly...
Please DO!! If you have learned anything from joining this forum, it's that we LOVE pictures here... Sorry that I can't provide; in this circumstance, I was a little too eager to get the Interceptor into the bush, and had not yet recognized the importance of "pictures" to other members of this forum. You'll probably help several hundred "Honda-surfer" guys, after all is said-and-done, :sly: With a single picture... Easy for you, greatly appreciated by them. Me; I just happily provide the details...
One more question, are they specific bushings that I need? Or can I buy some universal ones from an auto-part store? I know my shift knob has some play in it while in gear, so I'm guessing the bushings are definitely the problem here.
First disassemble and check and order then. Maybe someone with a parts catalog can post a drawing. You might try here http://www.epc-data.com/ I am afraid not any auto-parts store has these bushings, all auto makers have their own design. http://www.rockymountainimports.net/jdm-parts-listing-37-38-1991-Honda-Acty.html is just adding a EPC to their website
I donno where I got them? They're just simple aluminum bushings that I used from out of a junk box. Could have been out of a radio or something. I suppose you could cut them from some brake line or something like that. The point here, is that this fix should not cost you any money. It's very simple to do.
I phoned an auto parts store and a 1991 Honda Civic shift linkage bushing kit is $11... so I got one sent to the local store... will pick it up tomorrow and see if it works.
The part where the bushing should be pretty much just has a bolt through it, tons of play... at the end of the shift cables/rods... The ones on the transmission end of the cables are fine. How do I go about adjusting these when I replace the bushings? And for good measure, where do I drain the transmission oil, and where do I fill it? My manual says nothing about that... the transmission is mystical in the manual aside from a big spreadsheet of tolerances, and that it uses 1.3L of 10W-30.
Well I've been busy, no chance to fix the play in the linkage... But if I short shift... getting into 4th gear under 40km/h works fine, also I shift slow, to help not grind. Upon further research, it seems like the synchro is not good on my 4th gear?
