justamax

i had that in mine and then i ended up destroying my first main seal third main seal input shaft some bearing and such.... luckily i found a steal at a trans shop.. 60k posi trans bought it for $600 they changed my axels and everything to.. otherwise woulda coseted me 1100 to fix the seals and ****..

justamax

i had that in mine and then i ended up destroying my first main seal third main seal input shaft some bearing and such.... luckily i found a steal at a trans shop.. 60k posi trans bought it for $600 they changed my axels and everything to.. otherwise woulda coseted me 1100 to fix the seals and all that

Maxfli

iTrader: (2)

I have 34K on my '03 and I will occasionally feel the "crunch". It is not the notchy feeling or the hesitation to go into gear that others describe because with those two, it will eventually slide into gear.

The "crunch" can be as faint as a small dull thud or as pronounced as a quick grinding of gears (as felt through the shifter ****) when the gear shift is about 1/4 of the way between neutral and 3rd gear.

I doubt it is the cables because if so, it would crunch in 1st and 5th also, unless there is a cable that is "3rd specific".

HotshotVQ35

iTrader: (5)

02 42K no oil burnin issues, no grinding at all. Tranny in the cold is a little tough to shift, i added mt-90 made ZERO difference, but the car is fine

platinum03SE

maybe the cables move differently? im gonna look under my hood tomorrow and have someone shift it and see.


oil burning....mine doesn't seem to burn it, but the more i romp on it, then it eats the oil, is that a common problem? also for fluid, i didnt have good luck with the mt90 in my talon, used royal purple after that then went to bg.

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

dare I say it again? synchro. If it were fluid or cable related, you would have problems in other gears than just third. It's a documented fact that the 3rd gear synchros are weak on the 6-speeds. Nissan knows this, which is why they don't hesitate to replace an entire transmission under warranty. the gear is still making contact with the collar, therefore it doesn't matter if you have worn out bushings or not. If it weren't making contact, you would have more problems than just a grinding third gear.

Max4U

iTrader: (5)

2K2 38K I get that notch going into 3rd gear but only when the car is cold, goes away once it warms up.

platinum03SE

thank you.

vinny

why is this such a problem in the 02 and up vs 00-01 5spd transmission

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

Im at 51k miles right now and if theres a problem, I would rather it be before 60k so I can get it covered. What are the chances of the problem getting worse before 60k? Around what mileage will it get extremely bad?

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

they're completely different trannies. One has synchro issues, one doesn't. That's just like asking how come one car has a problem and another model doesnt


I thought you already got it covered under the warranty? In my experience, I noticed it one day, and yes it gradually got worse. It wasn't impossible to get into gear but the grind got a little more severe.. (wow that kinda rhymed...scary)

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

well right now it is covered but I only have 9k miles more to go till the powertrain warranty is done. So Im hoping the problem gets worse before then so I can have Nissan fix it.

3 nissan techs drove the car 2 months ago and said the car shifts like butter and when I was sitting in the passenger seat, I even heard the crunch a few times. It would suck if my tranny goes after the warranty

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

do this: pull into the service station. ask the service manager to sit in your passenger seat. Rev the car up to 5k with the clutch in and tell him to put it into third...it'll grind and they'll replace it...

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

but then the service tech would say Im abusing the car and something like that is bound to happen...

how sure are you about this?

Im not quite sure what you were talking about...is this to be done when the car is in motion or while driving? I just have the car idle, rev to 5k and put it in 3rd?

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

there's no difference if the wheels are spinning or not. I'm 100% sure that they will replace your tranny. It's a very widespread issue and if your dealer doesn't know about it, I'm sure there's one around you that does. And if they offer to just rebuild it, tell them to replace it...And if you're worried about them saying you abuse your car, how would going in 5000 miles down the road change anything? Tell them it's been doing it since you got your car. And yes, with the car in idle, push in the clutch and rev it over 3k and try to put it into third gear and it'll grind just the same as it always does.

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

ill do this myself tomorrow just to see if it happens and then I will take it to Nissan. But what if nothing happens when I do this?

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

then you're confusing the notchy shifter with a worn synchro...although when mine was bad, it didnt' do it on occasion...however it did it more often than not...when you find that it does grind going into third try it and see what happens.

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

ahhhh i wanna do this right now lol but b/c of my exhaust, the whole neighborhood will wake up...thanks for the heads up man. I will post a reply and let you know what happens when I try to do this. If it does not happen the first few times, I will face the reality of having a notchy shifter. thanks again

biglux1

You dont have to get a new tranny all you hav to do is get new syncronizers and its a whole lot cheaper especially if you dont have a warranty which most dont

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

well it's not as easy as you make it sound...you can't just go in there, plug in a new synchro and move on your way. It's actually much more labor intesive to re-build a transmission than to just put a new one in which is why the dealer will either want to put a re-built tranny or a brand new tranny in....

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

hey man I just did the experiment. I used up 1/4 of my tank doing this ..hehe. out of the 10x that I did it, I got NO replication of the crunch...any suggestions? I even had it up to 6500k a few times when I revved.

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

if it's smooth engaging into third, I really don't think you have a problem. When my car is cold, third gear is usually the notchiest so maybe yours is just usually like that? When it happens, can you actually feel a vibration if you hold the shifter where it begins to grind? or does it just kind of vibrate as you're moving it? With a worn synchro, you can push the collar closer to third gear and once it starts to skim the surface of the gear (usually about 1/4 - 1/2 of the way up) you can feel a vibration and hear a noise as well...

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

I dont recall any of what you mentioned...and its about 50 degrees here right now and while driving, 3rd gear was trouble free...last week when it was in te 30s, well thats when I noticed it more and more

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

definitely notchiness then. When it got cold here I could definitely tell a difference in the way my car shifted. Before it was butter smooth and the shifter itself didn't make any noise at all and just kind of slid into gear. Now it makes a noise when I put the shifter into gear (unless the car is really warm like if I just came off the interstate after driving 100 miles or something) and it takes a bit more force to get it there as there's a bit more resistance. That's completely normal for our cars so until your car starts grinding (and it may not; I've driven my car for ~25k miles with my new transmission and it's still just as smooth as the day I got it) I wouldn't worry about anything.

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

are you sure I dont have to drive when doing this test? B/c I just went out for a bit and I still heard a slight crunch but it was only once. However, when I did the test with the car still, nothing happened. I guess I should just get used to the notchiness then.

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

i suggest everyone do this test if your in doubt

ghostrider17

iTrader: (6)

I'm still a bit sketical of the scientific validity of this test, but out of curiosity - I did it today.
Hmmmmm - VERY crunchy in third. COnsistently.

Question for those who've had this covered under warranty:
Did you get any grief about running synthetic tranny fluid, if you were??
Can't imagine it'd be an issue - but it IS Nissan afterall.
I may have to follow-up on this one....it's been crunchy like this since day1.
gr

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

can you please explain what you heard in detail? Is this the same crunch that happens when you drive?

ghostrider17

iTrader: (6)

It's not what you hear, so much as what you FEEL.
It makes a noticable crunch when you slip the shifter into the "gate".
For me it happens on both up & downshifting, and sometimes in 4th as well.
What was described earlier about the synchro's not meshing is exactly correct. I'm familiar with this symtom from other cars I've owned. It's not uncommon with manual shifting cars, particularly fwd.

Personally, I would have left this issue alone if others weren't complaining about and getting warranty work done through the 60k powertrain warranty.
I think it's time for me to excercise my right to free service!

Naturally, this malody is exaccerbated by the colder weather - but cold or not, it's still gonna be crunchy if the gears aren't meshing properly.
Don't listen so much -- just feel. You're overthinking it.

gr

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

go to Nissan and replicate it. Please let me know what they say.

ghostrider17

iTrader: (6)

I'll uh.....get right on that for you!

gr

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

lol I meant, take it there and see if they offer to replace the tranny!

ghostrider17

iTrader: (6)

I know....I was just busting yer balz, jr.

I probably won't get to this until after the holidays - but I'll post-up when I get it "diagnosed" by the dealer.

LA02MAX

iTrader: (3)

right on the money. the grind you can feel, and it's like a vibration before the gear actually engages. The natural notchiness of the shifter is usually affected by weather whereas the synchro issue is not, which tells me that SLVR's transmission is just fine. It definitely would be best to get it replaced under warranty because hey, who wouldn't want a brand new tranny for free, amirite?

NisTech

Sound hearing is the synchro assembly engaging onto the dog teeth of that gear while shifting onto gear.

Mine would do this on a cold day occasionally so i switch to Castrol synthetic fluid. Now around here i could only find AP GL-5 fluid. That is more for rear ends as it has slipping additives up to 10 times more than GL-4.
Nissan Recommends GL-4 and that is the only fluid that should go into these trannys since GL-5 destroys the synchros.
Now i used (free) syntec GL-5 for a short period to see if it shifts better and the thing shifted like ****. Too slippery for proper synchro engagement. SO i found a dealer that sells Redline products. Switch to redline mt-90 (actually product name) and it shifted perfect. Even in sub zero temps. Never heared the grind once.
I emailed redline and they told me to mix half MTL and half MT-90 for sub 0 degree celsius weather. (freezing). So even though i didn't do that it shifts perfect.
I suggest all of you to try that first. You'd be surprised.
BTW in tranny class 101 they tell you first to change the fluid first if you get grind.

And it's normal for the tranny not to go in 1st on higher speeds. That's also a safety future of the synchronizer block assembly.

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

I just put new Amsoil gl4 gear fluid about 2 months ago. Is it ok if I switch to redline mt90 so soon? I heard tranny fluid is not something to be changed that often.

ghostrider17

iTrader: (6)

Nistech --

Thanks for the professional input.
I changed over my trans fluid @ 15k, and I'm now @49k.
I used Amsoil Series 2000 100% Synth 75w-90, rated API MT-1, GL-2 THRU GL-5. I did this SPECIFICALLY because I was having the notchy/crunchy shifting problem, even then.
Is it safe to assume that I didn't use the wrong lube, in terms of GL rating?!

In any case, if I were to bring my car to your shop and say I was having the third-gear grind issue -- I'm assuming the FIRST thing you'd do is test it (it crunches) and then you'd CHANGE the LUBE, and send me on my way for another 1000miles or so, and then to come back for retesting. All this BEFORE you made the call to swap / rebuild the tranny under the 60k warranty.
Does that sound about right?

Are there any further stipulations that Nissan will enforce in regards to the service / condition of the vehicle, or it's service records?
I've maintained this thing very well - but I have never sought service from a Nissan Dealer OTHER than for warranty work? By my account, the OM doesn't even recommend changing the trans fluid b4 60k, correct?

Thanks.

gr

ghostrider17

iTrader: (6)

From what I remember, these two lubes are roughly the same -- I looked at Redline as well when I bought the amsoil. Switching brands isn't going to gain you anything - but it shouldn't be an issue as far as compatibility, especially if they are both 100% synth.
If I'm not mistaken, tranny lube (dino not synth) has a service life of 60-75k+ under normal driving conditions.
Synthetic should be even longer.

gr

BokaMaxima03

@ 78,000 miles now - never had a problem with 3rd.

pbn85

iTrader: (8)

you have had the car since new?