MTF

I just found out that when I took my car to have an oil change and
transmission (transaxle) fliud change done, they put pennzoil 10/30 for both
tranny and engine. Now, I have heard that 10/30 is okay, but my car is a 88
civic. It has 103.000 miles on it, should it be necessary to consider maybe
another oil for the tranny?? It shifts kinda rough and sometimes it's so
hard to get in gear...
This has happened to me like 3 times already. I'm at a stop light with a
bunch of cars behind me, and the light turns green and it won't get into
gear!! people are honking their asses off, and then, after like 10 seconds
or more of hammering the shifter it will. Should I think this is part of
normal wear and tear??
OHHH OHHH, BTW, previous owners were women.
(got nothing against them)

 

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Have you checked to see what color the fluid in the clutch reservoir is?
If it's the color of strong tea, have the clutch and brakes flushed with
fresh brake fluid. Your engagement problems may go away.

'Curly'

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The '88 Civic uses a cable operated clutch. The original poster should
check the adjustment. If it's too loose it could cause the problems they
described. The condition of the cable should also be checked. Sometimes
the cable separates at the sheath near the adjuster. Another problem is
that the cable can saw through the end of the cable housing and hang up (you
need to pull down the rubber boot on the end of the cable to check this).
Yet another problem which was common on earlier Civics was that the spot
welds in the pedal cluster would come apart. This would allow the pedal
cluster to flex when the clutch pedal was depressed. This flex would
prohibit the clutch from fully disengaging and thereby cause hard shifting
problems.

By the way, I've used Castrol 10/40 in my '88's tranny for the 8 years that
I've owned it without any problems.

No, there's a problem that needs to be addressed.

Eric

 

the reason that it will not go into gear is not the transmission, but
the clutch... the clutch has to relase so it goes into gear........

 

Hondas of that vintage specified 10w30 motor oil be used in the manual
transmission. That is the right stuff. Your problem sounds like a clutch
issue.