Hi there,

I have a 97 Civic with a stick-shift transmission, and while I've had it for the last year, there's always been this raspy sound from the transmission when it's in gear. The sound has varied in severity every once in a while, but switching gears and driving itself haven't seemed to be affected by the noise--at least till recently. I've driven the car quite a bit in the last year, and it's only been on a cross-country trip that I just started that the noises have gone from quite a bit worse to alternating between no sound and a loud flapping noise in the transmission itself.

At the same time, when I try to switch gears, especially when switching to 4th and 5th gear, the gears are grinding when I shift into them, with the clutch peddle completely depressed. It seems like something has slowly disengaged in the process in the transmission, though strangely driving has been smooth in all gears, and the clutch seems to be shifting into/out of gears normally, for 1st/2nd/3rd, and occasionally for 4th/5th. It doesn't seem like a simple clutch problem though, at least not directly, but I don't know.

Unfortunately I'm stuck in the middle of a cross-country drive, on the way to Florida from California, and fortunately it seems to be driving fine for the most part. When I get to FL, I'm considering taking it in to a mechanic to make sure the issue is covered before the return trip, but it'd be good to know what to look for so I can weed out honest/dishonest mechanics. Any advice?