Ok, this is one of the weirder problems that I've seen to date. I may know a little more about cars than joe-average but this is just strange.

My '99 ES will *NOT* shift into third above 5000rpm. It does shift *with great difficulty* between 4000-5000, and below 4000 it shifts as if there were no problem at all.

I have no problems shifting into any other gear at any given rpm. But going from 2nd to 3rd, and from 4th to 3rd
is quite difficult at high rpm only.

I'm pretty sure this is a problem, cause I never felt anything like this in my Sentra (I realize it's not a great car for comparision). Anyway....does anyone here have any ideas? The car has about 100,000km. (approx 62,000miles)

 

I had something similar to your problem ... i couldn't shift into first nor second gear... and before that it would make funny noises when the clutch would be out and once i push it in that paticular noise stops ....
i finally brought it in and got a new clutch that cost me 900$ (canadian) and it still didn't fix the problem now they're telling me that i need a new tranny !!
im pretty disapointed in nissan !!! anyways i hope you don't need a new tranny but you sould bring it in and get it cheacked out ...

peace out

 

Since the problem affects only one gear it probably means the synchronizer on that gear is worn. You might obtain some improvement by replacing the gear lube with synthetic. You might have to replace the worn synchro.

Are there any other tranny symptoms? Any droning or whining sounds?

 

this is a little bit of hear-say... but... the sr20de (sentra se-r, nx2000, etc... engine) supposingly had a transmission with brass synchronizers. if the max manual has brass synchros, you may want to use red-line mtl instead of mobil 1 synthetic manual trans fluid, as there was some discussed incompatibilities with Mobil 1 and the brass synchros or something like that (causing my friend to dump the $$$ Mobil 1 mtf he put in just a day later... and putting in redline mtl...).

btw, did you check your trans fluid level?

-V

 

Daniel, Hi again.

You are correct sir, in the fact that I hear a whining sound in first (quite noticable) and slighty in 2nd.

My drivetrain is still under warranty to 170000km.
Would this be covered?

I'm gonna buy some good synthetic and give to the dealer, so they can add it once they have the transmission open.
Thanks everyone for the help.

 

That whining sound is probably coming from a worn bearing inside the transmission. That kind of damage or defect is covered by the drivetrain warranty. Since you still have warranty coverage, let the dealer handle this problem. No need to buy synthetic lube at this time.