I bought my AUSDM Type R (new) in 2003. Since the very first day there has been an issue shifting into 2nd gear. Mainly when shifting from 1st to 2nd. Worst when the car was cold.
I complained to Honda several times while it was under warranty, and essentially got the run-around. Eventually I gave up.
The forums were full of other owners with the same problem, most people accepting it as a design flaw (which no doubt it is).
The car now has just under 100k on the clock.
Some years ago I discovered that shifting from 1st to neutral (let it go to center), and then neutral to 2nd, the crunch is avoided. So I'd been doing that for the last 6 years (no kidding....some performance car hey ?)
Recently I re-opened the investigation, and saw a post where a Civic owner seemed to fix a gear crunching issue by making a small adjustment to the clutch pedal. I thought to myself "could it really be that simple ?"
I tried it myself today.
FINALLY !
After 12 years of 2nd gear crunching the problem is gone.
I now have a super smooth shift from 1st to 2nd, directly, at speed.:)
Here's what I did :- Ripped out the drivers side Recaro, pulled out the under dash cover, and spent a few minutes studying the play in the clutch pedal. In my case there was around 10 mm of play before the pedal activated the plunger, and then another amount of slack in the plunger as it went into the master cylinder (before it went hard).
I aimed to take out a small amount of the pedal slack (before it activates the plunger). I undid the locking nut, and took 5mm of slack out, and then tightened the lock nut back up. My theory was that this would (in effect) push the plunger in 5mm further....in other words disengage the clutch a little further. I wanted to be careful with this. Not to go too far and damager either the hydraulics, the clutch fork, or the clutch. Or to have the clutch partly disengaged when the pedal is at rest (which would wear the clutch out fast).
I took it for test drive this afternoon. And then another. And then another.:)
I couldn't get enough of it. After 12 years of misery the 2nd gear crunch is gone !
So I decided this was something worth sharing.
If anyone else decides to try this, my advice is to stick your head under the dash with a light and study the play in the pedal carefully. If you can, google a photo of the clutch pedal assembly and make sure you understand it before you make any adjustments. The tolerances in the pedal play are very subtle, and the required adjustment (if any) may be very small. It's easy to damage something if you over adjust it, so be careful.
