SuperFishstick

i was driving my car, and all of a sudden, the shifter got stuck, and wouldn't wanna get out of gear. And once out, it would grind like there is no tomorrow. Also, my car is making a weird noise while driving, like a whining noise. The noise disapears when i press the clutch down. Can any one help? I'm guessing i need a new tranny/ rebuild.

DAVE Sz

iTrader: (2)

Mike, bro, you asked in the wrong forum. People who know cars don't post here that often. Try PMing JAY25 and some of the turbo guys they know their stuff.
Anyway, anyone who can help please post something. I'm thinking it might be the TO bearing, gears don't seem to go in without effort. I pulled the shifter hard and it seems to go into all the gears now but it's very rough. The new clutch and fly are on the way so let's hope that helps. Do any of you think he'll need to rebuild or no?

Tyrexx

iTrader: (23)

NOT GOOD

sounds like major tranny problems

Chickan

iTrader: (12)

could simply be you are out of fluid in your clutch master cylinder. Go out and check that first, if it is bone dry, you have a leak (most likely in lower hoses on/near slave cylinder, but could be anywhere in the lines). Fill it up, then proplerly bleed it at both bleed points (clutch slave cylinder and also at top near clutch master cylinder there is a secondary bleed point.) Any questions, shoot me a pm.

DAVE Sz

iTrader: (2)

We completely bled the clutch a couple weeks ago so that's fine. Another thing is that his halshaft is leaking. Right where the axle meets the tranny case. We have a steady trickle of fluid coming out from there. We also added 1.5 quarts of fluid to the tranny as well since it's leaking. I'm also guessing that synchros are gone.

adroitcaptor

Totally depends dude. It could be anything from a leaking clutch system, stripped ring gear, to a bent/ broken support rod. (I have had all of these troubles so I am not throwing out random crap.)

Does it shift when the engine is not running?

While driving would/will it slip out of gear when there is no positive or negitive torque from the engine (between accel and engine braking)?

When it was in the "nutrual" position when it was grinding or when you were trying to get out of nutrual into a gear?

Have the shift gates shifted forward? In another manner of speaking, is the engadgement of first gear farther forward or backward then it should be when you go to shift into gear?

Have you been hearing any tapping type noises from the transaxle when light engine braking or acceleration?

How loud is the whining? Is it only when you are driving with the clutch in, or when you are sitting with the engine running and you depress the clutch?

Whatever you do, DO NOT take this to Nissan and expect them to take care of you. I did this when I was 17 and working two jobs and knew nothing about cars. Basically they gave me a used transaxle with 60k mi on it (without replacing any of the seals or checking the shim load) and the same problem occured 30 thousand miles again. This time, when I get time and money, I will be fixing it myself. If I would have had the used trany opened and checked I would not be in this position. Wish I knew before the 2 thousand dollar repair went to waste! Hope this helps some.

dan

Pappa Grande

Based on the limited info, I think all you need is a new clutch. Thats sort of what my clutch did when it first went out after 100,000k.

SkinnyMax

iTrader: (1)

I would definatly check the clutch master and slave cylinders, if you were bleeding them recently, that leaves the possibility of not tightening something enough. also, what does the clutch feel like when you push it in, when this 2st occured did the engagement of the clutch pedal get gradually closer to the floor? I know we all like to think that we do things completely right but we all know that every once and a while we forget one stupid little thing.

Tort

if your getting tranny fluid leaking from the axle seal then your tranny bearings are probably shot. Save yourself some money and fix them yourself. When mine went they were very very noisy

SuperFishstick

1.)It shifts the same way with the engine running or not.
2.) doesn't slip out of gear, but it couldn't find neutral, it would grind.
3.) shift gates seemed a bit forward.
4.) No tapping noise, but whines when the clutch is up( not down) and when it is in gear.
5.) when stopped, gear movement in ok, but while driving, second is hard, third is OK.

The clutch cylinder is ok, it has new clean fluid, and there is no leak. However, there is a leak on the tranny like bigD said, around the half-shaft area.

adroitcaptor

First of all I did not know BigD was speaking on your behalf. I thought he was sharing a personal experience and did not read his post. I would stear away from guessing it was the clutch but it is always better to make sure your diagnosis is correct and not to assume.

Check and see if you can move the "withdrawl lever" and verify that there is no air, leaks, or missalignment in your hydraulic clutch system. (The throw fork is on the top of the trany "clutch housing" near the front bank and under the airbox inlet tube.)

Get under the car and measure axle shaft play at the output near the transaxle case ("clutch housing" and "transmission case"). How much perpendicular play is there (perpendicular to the direction of the axle)?

And last, to save you a big PITA and waste of money, take off the heatshield for the downpipe off right below the shift bracket (under the shift-stick). At first you think it is neccissary to pull the exhaust but it isn't. Once all the heat shield bolts are pulled you can shove it over the top of the next heat shield far enough to gain access. Now check that support rod for any bending. Have a friend shift and see if the control rod is properly shifting in and out of gears. Mine had bend and almost broken off where the rod flattens out to stabalize the "control lever" aka shifter, so be sure to check for this as well. This could missalign your control rod which would affect where the gears are and how they engaged.

To you, I hope the main trouble is either the first or last but from the sounds of it you are mostly likely going to be rebuilding the trany. At minimum you need to change your oil seals, if you are losing transaxle fluid at thehalf shaft. For this you will need to remove the half shaft, which is not fun, but not really that hard. Let me know how things go and check up before you take it in and have someone start fixing it. I would hate you to waste 2 grand as I did. Best of luck to you and God bless.

dan

Oh sorry about the slow response as I was sleeping. :-\

adroitcaptor

I believe Tort is refering to the "differential side bearing". If this is your problem then with the based on the symptoms you described your ring gear is shot as well. This problem stems from too much load on the different side bearings from the "differential side bearing adjustment shims". Basically from the factory, they put too much preload on the bearings from overshimming. This is a very precise measurement so it is better to have a professional do it (between 0.004in and 0.008in).

As SkinnyMax said, it is good to check the master and slave and make sure the lines were propperly bled. However this does not explain why it would grind in nutrual or why there is leaking from the half shaft.

If the problem was a poor clutch, you would not have problems shifting in and out of gear and still does not explain the orther problems you are having.

Very, very rarely will 2 major things go wrong at once that cause one problem. However that is not to say that your clutch might not be gone or mostly gone. If you end up having to pull the transaxle apart you can check for all that then. (I had a scorched flywheel which needed to be resurfaced.) Best of luck to you and Goid bless. These problems always come in a real discouraging fassion.

dan

SuperFishstick

adroitcaptor, many thanks for all the input. I will have some free time sat/sun and will inspect everything. It all happened yestorday, so naturaly i panicked needless to say, so didn't check everything out. Me and bigD did remove the heatshield, and sprayed the stuff with some lubricant, hoping that would help. I'll have more info later. For now, i'm only driving short distances. 1st gear is ok, but second is a no go while moving. Third is fine, but i think 4th is no no as well. I haven't gone that fast yet to get it into 4th, better not put more stress on it. Once again, thank guys.

adroitcaptor

Oh you didn't tell me this!!!!! If you can get into 1st 3rd and 5th and not reverse I will bet 99% it is a broken or bent support rod! (This peice torques the shift assembly with the transaxle so that things do not bind up.) Mine was the same, reverse barely, but 2nd and 4th were a no go. Check it out, see if the tapper is bent or breaking!