Hi,

I bought a 93 SC300 5 speed in great condition recently, but I'm just wondering if there's something wrong with the manual transmission and I thought to ask here.

So I'm used to driving a manual Civic which is what I learned to drive stick on. However, switching to the SC300, it seems that the shift is harder and more notchy??? I guess. Like getting into first is smooth, but the shift from first to second doesn't feel very smooth at all. It feels like there are a couple of hesitations (notches) in between 1st and 2nd. All the shifts above that are very smooth. I'm worried that this is a transmission problem. There is no clutch slippage as far as I can discern.

The original owner who I purchased the car from says that he replaced the clutch and did a transmission fluid change at 65k (car is currently at 81k) so I think the clutch is fine. Are there any ideas on how to fix this? Is it even a problem or is this normal in the SC300? Is it a transmission problem? Would another transmission fluid flush be advisable? Is it possibly bad shifting on my part?

Thanks a lot for any help with this. I appreciate it.

JM

 

Do a flush, and put in some mobil 1 synthetic, should help out a lot.

 

Try using the search feature for this section using "shifter bushing" and check out the thread

ATTN: 5-speed guys with loose/notchy shifts...

I did this fix and my shifter tightened right up, plus it is a cheap fix.

A fluid change would not hurt either.

Hope this helps

 

Cool. Thanks a lot for the information. I'm going to try this out when I have the time. Do you guys know if it damages the transmission to not do this yet? I'm going to be busy for another month or so and won't be able to do it till then. But if my tranny is getting damaged then I'll make some time for it now. Thanks again!

JM

 

Your trasmission should be ok, just stay away from power shifting missing gears is no fun.

Have fun

 

By "power-shfiting," you mean keeping the throttle on wide while I kick in the clutch and shift right? If that's what it is, don't worry, I'm too scared of damaging this SC300 to do that. If that's not what you're thinking of, could you please let me know what it is? Thanks again.

JM

 

You got it

I'd be more worried about doing that in a Civic than a SC300 personally... manual trannies start breaking around 450hp, and you're stock... so i wouldnt worry much about it
might be a bushing, might be a synchro; hopefully its the former for you

 

Yeah, I hope it's just a bushing too. The clutch and tranny were serviced about 15K miles ago so I should still be fine, but I'll try the bushing switch and transmission fluid flush for now. Besides, I can live with the notchy action from 1st to 2nd for now. The rest is smooth so no worries.

JM