The largest Civic Type R club forum

[JAG_615F]

Hey guys

Was on the phone to a irish gentleman selling a JDM Civic Type R and he was very honest in telling me the car had a problem refferred to in Ireland as the Synchro? :scratch:

Now describing the problem to me on the telephone he says the cars shifts gears no bother at all all the way upto 6th gear driving normally but when putting the foot down and switching gears in Vtec from 3rd to 4th and from 4th to 5th and 5th to 6th there is a grinding noise? He said in Northern Irelenad they call this a Sychro but ive never heard of it.

He also quoted he has looked into it and its £160 for the part and around £300 labour to put it in.

Does anyone know anymore about this or have any suggestions to other common problems?

Last thing I want to do is go that far to see it and find myself coming back with a car that might need a brand new gearbox?

Car has done 32,000miles on it and is on a 2002 plate. Been in the country about 2 years and seller took it in part exchange plus cash for a audi he sold but feels this kind of car isn't for him. Sounds like a older gentleman but didn't want to be rude and ask his age

Any help and advice would be appreciated, Many Thanks, Jag :thumbup:

[Dave_TypeR]

I think what you're talking about is quite common but it's usually when changing from 1st to 2nd when cold. Check the thread in this section about it.

You can change it but it's quite costly, most people don't bother and just live with it.

[Omni]

If the clutch is on its way out then it can become stiff to get into gear at high revs - mine was particularly 3rd to 4th, clutch shouldn't be worn out after 32,000 miles though, unless its had a very hard life.

Mine was just starting to get stiff to go in gear on the original clutch at 94,000 miles, so I sold it.

[JAG_615F]

Cheers Omni & Dave

Having a closer look at it he doesn't have JDM wind deflectors, his Type R and civic badge are completly in the wrong place on the tailgate :scratch:

Dont know if il bother to be honest.

Heres a quick picture...see what yous think. :salut:

[Newannaive]

almost certainly clutch related...700quid+ job at honda.

[scottiboy]

almost certainly clutch related...700quid+ job at honda.

as above mate, sounds very much like the clutch. If you get the car cheap enough and everything else seems ok with it then i would go for it and just uprate the clutch, get an independant garage to do it and it shouldnt cost you as much as honda.

i wouldnt worry too much about the JDM defectors alot of them have either fallen off or been taken off the JDM ep3's there are many way's to ensure it is the real deal, you need a hand with anything drop me a PM

..Scotty..

[bluntcap]

Where abouts in Ireland mate? Northern or Southern?

Looks like a tidy car....any pictures of the back just after you saying the badges are a biot wrong.....most likely taken off and he threw some one for selling it as they are more appealing.

[JAG_615F]

Hey guys, cheers for all the info Think the best way about this is to just go see it at the weekend and take my mechanic and see what he thinks.

Scott...cheers for that. Kind of put my mind at rest with the deflectors Its definately a JDM but whether its a abused JDM or a good example remains to be seen

Heres a picture or rear as requested Bluntcap. Hes from Northern Ireland? Previous owner was from Southern Ireland though. Current owner has all the service stamps from japan and import paperwork but no service stamps while its been in the UK

[bluntcap]

Aye Id say they were off at some point and just thrown on before it was imported or sold.....easy fix :salut:

[scottiboy]

i'm not normally a big fan of buying cars with something wrong with them however if it is something as simple (to a mechanic) as a clutch and you get a grand or so off the price of it then why not, just be very careful to make sure it is only the clutch as if it is the whole box thats guffed it could get costly. From your description it certainly dosent sound too bad though

..Scotty..

[JAG_615F]

i'm not normally a big fan of buying cars with something wrong with them however if it is something as simple (to a mechanic) as a clutch and you get a grand or so off the price of it then why not, just be very careful to make sure it is only the clutch as if it is the whole box thats guffed it could get costly. From your description it certainly dosent sound too bad though

..Scotty..

Cheers dude....i will keep this posted and let you know how I get on. Just waiting on my mechanic now to see when he can get a day off Its just across the borders and he says he will meet me at the docks so for like £50 in fuel its worth going to see i think. Price is pretty good aswel so its about a grand cheaper than normal JDMs and its done less mileage. Clocks need to be converted to Miles though...its still in km.

Its got a DC 4,2,1 manifold, DC exhaust and its dropped 40mm so previous owner has clearly been a fan of DC

Requested some engine pictures from the guy so will get them up tomorrow.

Thanks, Jag :thumbup:

[JAG_615F]

Found out what the problem was lastnite after a brief discussion with my mechanic over the phone. Without even mentioning synchro he told me it was the synchro's Thats what 30 years being a mechanic and having your own garage does i suppose :scratch:

But he explained it as the car needing 2 new synchro links. One for the 3rd to 4th, one for the 5th to 6th as these was linked. Each synchro was likely to be out about a few teeth out causing that crunching noise when switching gears at high revs. Basically to put it nicely it was a gearbox rebuild which he predicted was not very cost effective especially if i was only get the car £1000 cheaper than I would get one that was working fine in the first place. Plus the car has no service history so was a bit dodgy if these probelms was developing at 32,000 miles already. Think it had been driven hard

So just leaving it. Put this up incase any other forum memebers ever have had the same problem :thumbup:

Thanks, Jag

[macca-tdi]

as someone above said, make sure it is only a clutch/ sychro issue as its a full box could be bad news especially with the JDM version having an LSD could be tricky finding a box mate. good luck with the car thoguh looks nice enough :thumbup:

[macca-tdi]

ive only just seen the above post, silly me, good move to walk away though pal, no service history no sale for me ever. sound slike its been thraped to flip too IMO