Manual Transmission issue on 2003 Honda Civic 5spd Hybird. Mileage : 410,000
The garage that I rely upon for repairs is warning me about an undefined noise they hear in first gear only.. they said they would not know how to repair it, and the problem being the transmission could pop out of gear (replacement of the transmission is not cost effective). The car is a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid 5 spd. with 410,000 miles. I use the car for a p/t business teaching licensed drivers how to drive a stick shift car. https://madison.craigslist.org/lss/d/madison-stick-shift-driving-help/7640184993.html
So I've been driving the Honda for about month now since receiving the warning diagnosis, and have had no problems in first gear or in any any of the other gears. Is it time to retire the car before it retires itself?
Thank you.
I had never heard of a hybrid with a manual transmission, but apparently it is a thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-XqfRd4QLU
That car is 20 years old with very high mileage and will probably crater on you in the near future so it's a judgement call as to whether you want to wring as much life out of it as possible or pre-emptively replace it. In your favor most people don't want cars with standard transmission so you should be able to get one for less money than the same model with an automatic trans.
A remanufactured transmission is $1,400 - $1,900 plus labour. That's less than a new car, but since you don't want to do that, then I don't see any choice other than replacing the car. You're not going to let students drive it around without 1st gear are you.
Thanks for your feedback. Can't give stick shift lessons with a faulty transmission obviously. Time to move on to something newer.