Time for a stupid question.

Lately I've noticed when down shifting from 6th to 3rd gear it will grind going into gear. This is when the speed is at or about 54mph. My wife has seen it shifting from 2nd to 3rd and down from 4th to 3rd(not sure the speed).

I used to think I was not pushing the clutch in enough, but I know thats not the case. I called and talked to one of the Nissan service departments and they of course advise against down shifting at that speed to third...hmmmm. The RPMs are about 3500 range in 3rd gear and approx 54mph. I would think this would not be a problem.

I learned to drive on stick, This is my 3rd car with a stick, '85 RX-7, '95 Prelude VTEC. I'm not exactly a novice, but I'm surely no expert and this is the first 6MT.

I've looked but I didn't see any kind of TSB. And hell, search ain't working...Help me out am I doing something stupid here?

 

your downshifting at 55 to thrird at regular driving???


thats way too high a speed for thrid gear man, i am usualy at 20-30 for third, 55 is 6th-5th downshift not third

 

Try tapping the gas pedal a little bit as you pull the lever from 6th down to 3rd. Can also try pushing in clutch, shift to neutral, release clutch, then push in clutch again as you shift into 3rd...

 

Dont try to ram it in there....push the clutch in, take it out of 6th..and with second motion into 3rd...

 

I haven't had a gear grind on me in many many miles. However, the few times it has happened has been a shift into 3rd gear. It only happened once in a great while when I was first getting use to the car. Either that or it was taking some time to break in the tranny. Take your pick, either way this would occur during solid to hard acceleration as I'd fly through the gears. If I recall I read a thread on this a year ago and it just seems to be the syncros on 3rd are a bit more picky. Nothing wrong with them or anything, just more sensitive then the probably very heavy duty ones on 1st and 2nd.

 

Some Maxima transmissions for some reason do this. I have had a 95 that would grind third and my 6 speed used to as well. I ended up putting in some synthetic gear oil into the tranny. It was very smooth shifting into every gearfor about a week. Then, the third gear notchiness/grind came back. I figured I would just have to live with it. Another week went by and and it was completely gone again. That was about 3 months ago. It swhifts very well every time now. IMO the gear oil needed a while to really "soak in" to the gears to get the most from it. Also, like was mentioned, blip the throttle right before you downshift. This is so that you bring the tach right up to about where it will be when you let the clutch out in the lower gear. This seems to help with some people, plus it's a little easier on the clutch.

 

3rd is hte weak link in this 6spd tranny. I used to be able to cram it in from 4-3 at abou 65 with just a single push of the clutch and a slight rev. Now, i hafta clutch in..neutral rev...clutch in and shift into 3rd..otherwise it grinds.

 

Wouldn't a 6th to 4th downshift suffice? The VQ35 is plenty torquey at that speed in 4th. Also, you might try swapping to Redline MT90. I have no grinding issues - but I typically don't drop 3 cogs when rolling at highway speeds.

 

Get Redline MT90!

 

Redline MT90! it rules. i changed to it and tranny shifts completly different now. plus i get no sounds when i am shifting into 3rd from 6th except hearing the tires chirp.

 

I had my tranny overhauled because of that 3rd gear grind. Now it's gone, take it to your dealer, they will diagnose it and do it for you.

 

I have the same problem as kklier. The 6th to 3rd shift seems to be just about perfect when your exiting the interstate onto a sweeper curve exit. 6th to 4th doesn't seem to be about right and you're also shifting in a U direction rather than forward and to the left.

I've tried blipping the throttle during the downshift but don't seem to be able to get the knack of it. Will still grind about half the time so I just don't do it anymore. I just live with a 6th to 4th downshift and then maybe drop it to 3rd. (No grind 4th to 3rd).

I posted a similar question a few months ago and the general response seemed to be that the synchos are just not quite up to the task of this move.

 

i always walk down each gear, blipping as i go along. i never skip over any gears while downshifting. i never had any problems with grinding, but ever since i switched to full syn trans fluid, it does feel smoother.

 

Alright, thanks for all the replies.
I know that when I 'blip' it into 4th then 3rd no grinding. As jreddington3 said it just feels like the right gear for downshifting, the RPMs don't seem to high. But I don't know jack about the inner workings of a transmission just how to work it...maybe not so good at that.

In anycase, it looks like I will be dropping in some Redline and changing my shifting philosophy.

Can redline be bought locally?

 

Check out myoilshop.com for redline.