Problem changing gears.. need help plz!

[towley]

Hi all. Ive had my fourth gen Prelude Si for 14 months now. Never had any problems. Recently, out of the blue, gears became hard to change into. This does not happen all the time, probably on about 50% of my drives i have this problem. What happens is, when I change gears as i normally would, it wont go in gear easily.. it requires alot more force and in 3rd and 4th it crunches slightly when i have to force it in. And while im trying to force it in i can hear a faint whirring/spinning noise that never occurs when i can gears normally.

Ive also noticed that i can change into any gear easily (as normal) when the car is stationary. Once its going any sort of speed (30-40kms) it gets hard to change.

The occurance of this problem seems random. Sometimes ill start driving problem free, then come home, turn the car off, and next time i go out it will problematic. Im not sure if theres a pattern to its occurance, but everytime from memory the problem has occured with the car warmed up. But it doesnt occur everytime the cars warmed up, some trips are problem free.

Also to note i put in a forbidden short shifter about 6-7 months ago, and i use on the middle setting. Never any problems.

Ive taken the big casing off from around the shifter area and cant see anything obscure.

Im not sure what the problem could be so looking for ideas and thoughts. Im a uni student and dont have a lot of dosh, so im hoping its something easy fixed.

Thx in advance for any help you guys can give.

[Samo]

it normal for old g/b to crunch as they age due to wear and tear of the synchros....

but it could be as simply as changing the transmission fluid ...
as u stated u dont much dosh ... in most cases it would be much better if not fix the problem ... cant get cheaper than this one diy mtf change .. but make sure u fill it up properly

[Limbo]

sounds like the pressure plate or the spogit bearing is going.
Its hard to tell which until you take out the box. My old car had that problem, and it was a crack in the pressure plate which was not releasing properly. Pretty much have to change the parts. I ended up replacing the entire clutch kit as the labour was the same cost.

One other thing to do is to bleed the clutch cylinder in case it has air and is not releasing.

The short shifter puts abit more pressure on the box but nothing overly unless you really don't shift properly and crunch all the time.