I bought my car in March with 76,719 mi and now has 82,700. The day I picked it up, it had the crunch in 3rd, along with a click going into 4th and sometimes 5th. I haven't changed the MT fluid, but I am noticing that it only happens when upshifting--downshifting never reveals the problem for me.

Here's how I've figured to reduce (but not eliminate) the noises: When shifting from 2nd to 3rd, slide the shifter all the way to the right in the neutral gate, then shift up into 3rd. This has reduced the frequency of crunch down to less than 20% of the time, compared to over 50-60% previously. It also confirms with me that this is a flaw with the cable linkage, and maybe compounded by bad synchronizers.

My plan is to change to a Short-throw Shifter, which should compact the feel of the gearbox a little and hopefully keep things "tighter" in there with a little less play. If that doesn't work, then I'll have to replace the brass rings that have the "dog teeth" the NisTech talked about earlier.

 

i got it bad

 

69,xxx and no issues here. OKC nissan did say though that the transcable bracket may cause uneasy shifts but i'm not sure if it relates to the issue.

 

76k miles, and I only get it when downshifting. I get it from 4th to 3rd and from 6th to 5th. It doesn't grind at all when upshifting, and it only does on a downshift when I shift quickly. If I pull it out of 4th and either double clutch or put it in gear gently, it doesn't grind. If I forget, and try to put it right into 3rd after taking it out of 4th, it grinds. Same thing from 6th to 5th.

 

3rd has crunched once since I bought the car, yesterday. It was on an agressive upshirt. I don't have a Nissian warantee on this car, but I do have a 3 month warantee from the dealership I bought it from. I'm going to talk to them as well as Nissan tomorrow and see what I can do. I'd like for this car to last until I graduate from school and get a real job. I will not be able to afford a new car until after I start working.

 

Mine only really does it at high rpm's or whenever I down shift into 3rd, but sometimes whenever I kind of pause when downshifting it will just slide right in, also though...my car has 203,000 miles...lol. Stock tranny, so I wouldn't be worried about your 3rd gear going out anytime soon guys, just kind of try to ignore the noise, although sometimes it can be a little embarassing.

 

I'm at 93,500 with no crunch/grind (W/e you guys are calling it) shifting into 3rd although I do feel a slight stick sometimes when moving into 3rd.

 

41,000 no crunch or grinds

 

ok bump...

This is a rare thing for me and it usually happens when I downshift into 3rd but if I redline 2nd into 3rd its fine. Its not really grinding but its something you can "feel" in the shift **** and theres a clatter too. Dunno if I should look for an 04+ HLSD tranny or if its just the notchiness of our cable driven trannies...

 

for future reference, this is what the 3rd gear grind sounds like

 

101,000 miles and no crunch here.

 

This is exactly what I've been experiencing...although, I can shift from 1st to 3rd no prob/no sound, or shift from 2nd to 3rd but in the space of a 2 mp acceleration...literally, it's like what is 2nd there for anyway...So, any idea/estimate how much this will cost me to repair, to replace the 3rd gear synchro? 3rd gear and 2 sychronizers at Nissan are about $250?

 

103K mi and no issues with shifting. Mine was one of the last few 03s ever built. Perhaps Nissan had the issue ironed out by then.

 

My 3rd gear does it once in a while 88k miles. I dont really think you should shift into 1st while moving. I usually give a little punch to my brakes before I come to a stop, making the weight of the car get off the transmission I guess, making it easy to put it in 1st ( not all the time, works awesome when car is reallllly cold and tranny doesnt want to budge.)

 

looks like your shifting it too close to first gear.

 

my 02 was one of the 1st built and i have no crunch then again im an original owner and take care of my car...

 

no crunch here... although sometimes at WOT, the stick just WONT go into gear without 2 or 3 tries

 

Yes! I hate that crunch.. well more of a grind. But it only happens when im driving it hard. as in shifting at redline. And it feels so terrible as if im destroying my gears. it also happens into 5th gear. Sad part is i have a 5 Speed. =(

 

Nope, I'm not. After 2 years, Ive come to master shifting with this car. To avoid getting the crunch you gotta move the shifter a bit to the right and then up to 3rd. Yet, after a while even that stopped working.

Now I got the 6th gen tranny no problems

 

i never had a third gear crunch but i did have a 4th gear one. my clutch also slipped so i knew it was going...replaced it and the crunch was gone

 

I have a 6 MT and rarely have issues. I took it for a nice ride last night up from miami. Went to the heat celtics game. The lubricant I bought 2 years ago made the shifts 100 times better and still do justice.

After the terrible roads in miami area, I was going from 4th gear down to 3rd gear with a ferrari, m5, and a 300 chrylser I think. no problems with 3rd gear infact it was pulling very hard on the downshift. Must be the new tires..=) I love the maxima, so much power for its time and it amazes me with its stock performance to the newer cars. Makes me realize an understand the point in buying a 4 door 6spd 3.5L.

As far as down shifting to first, I dont know why anyone would do this...I wouldnt recommend it...

Oh and the video, doesnt even look like the car is engaged in a gear. If thats the case maybe the ecu has a hard time engaging/reading third gear if your not moving(idle or 0mph) shifting that fast. IDK though I could be wrong and you could be in a gear as well.

 

Just sold my 2k2 with 185,000 kms and only had a problem when driving agressively. Sometimes I would "miss" 3rd and get the syncro grind (less than 1%). Always assumed it was because I didn't depress the clutch fully and just wrote it off as an embarrassing missed gear change.

Never changed the tranny fluid, but I did have a new clutch installed within 6 months of purchasing the car due to the dreaded clutch shudder that some 02's experienced.

 

55k miles on mine and I don't think I have had this problem.

 

I am the original owner of a 2K2 Maxima with a 6 speed manual transmission including the HLSD that has 104K miles on it. I noticed today that the transmission would sometimes make a quick clang (almost like a bell ringing, except it doesn't reverberate) shifting from 1st to 2nd and then from 2nd to 3rd. If I am very careful with depressing the clutch, I don't hear the clang. And it doesn't happen downshifting from 3rd to 2nd.

I haven't had any issues with the transmission prior to this. I am on the original clutch. The car has seen mostly highway miles and it is regularly serviced. The car has been great except for the rear brakes rusting out at 85K.

Anyone have an idea what this is? (I'm a longtime lurker, but I can't start a new thread, so I apologize for posting here).

 

I have it...

POS tranny

 

my 02 has 43K... in the 14k miles ive had the car, i have not had that happen

 

I just bought an '03 6-spd w/110K. It's smooth as butter in all gears, but I find myself often skipping 3rd anyway.

 

When i bought my 03 a few months ago 3 gear didnt feel right.. So i switched to redline MT-90. Problem solved

 

95k, never happened



yet

 

I've been searching for about an hour or so and cant find any definite answers, is thier another year maxima trans that will bolt in to a 2002 se 6mt, if so, what is needed. thanks

 

I thought I'd read before that the 6th gen tranny drops right in.

 

Ditto. I just read that the other day. Keep searching, the info is here somewhere. Probably everywhere.

BTW... 7 years now and it always crunched going up to 3rd, but primarily when cold or WOT. It's not a big problem, you learn how to baby it and mostly stay under the crunch.

And while I'm not sure what the relationship is to what I'm about to say, but after replacing the crank pulley with something lighter, shifts from 2nd to 3rd are much improved and faster, and the crunch is less prevalent. I don't understand it, but it's real none-the-less, and I'm happy.

A 6th gen 6MT with LSD would be nice to have. Start practicing... "The rest of the car is fine, honey, it just needs a new transmission."

 

I've heard the same. I've also heard that 6th gen tranny is almost the same except for the syncros (has more syncros in one of the gears or something like that). Anyways, apparently it's better.

 

Mine does not always do it but I like to go from 2nd to 4th gear so it does not get worse..i have about 77,000 on my baby.

 

Thank you everyone for the replies.

 

Yes, 02 through 06 6mt trannys are perfectly interchangeable. While you're at it get one with HLSD. It makes a huge difference.

Also, your working transmission is worth a few hundred dollads to a rebuild shop, even with the crunch. You may have to call a few shops but someone will want it.

 

Never....on 2002 w/97k

 

I'm at 76k miles and no crunch. I did change the gear oil at 60K to Redline.

 

none here

181K miles


BUT 33K mile 2005 sentra 6spd FTWWWWWWWWWWW

 

My totaled 02 had it in 3rd under hard shifts, but it never got worse for the 20k mi I abused the hell out of it lol. It actually got better over time, if that makes any sense.

New car (from jasonr) now has 155k mi on it and 3rd probably shifts the best. I assume the tranny is original, but it might have mt90 in it or something (been meaning to change it).