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am i doing something wrong... is this how its supposed to be? (shifting)

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Old 10-26-2007, 04:03 AM
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am i doing something wrong... is this how its supposed to be? (shifting)

well.... ill say it before hand... this is my first manual car.... but i have been riding manual sportbikes for a while... i thought it would be the same... but its really not... at all.



anyways.... it shifts nice and smooth while the revs are low... *under 3 or 4k rpm* occasionally.. i feel the crunch which after a search am told that is normal for the 5.5 6sp.... i also did the tranny fluid change with MT-90... everything got smoother... but not by a whole lot...

anyways.... when i try to drive aggresive in an empty place for practive.... once in a while... even while the clutch is fully pressed in.... one of the shifts starts grinding.... either its 2nd or 3rd or 4th..... w.e it may be.... it grinds... and wont fall into gear ... and i have to bring it back into neutral... and try again... or let go of the clutch and press it again... takes a second or 2 extra...

this happens mostly during upshifting... so i dont think it has anything to do with rev matching or throttle blipping.

why does this happen?


and its only happening when the revs are high... around 4k+
i dont think my clutch is slipping... cause if i floor it in first... it holds on...doesnt jump up w.o power.


my clutch fluid is kinda low... and pretty dark... and i plan on bleeding it out and replacing the fluid..

and my clutch engage/disengage point is a bit lower to the floor than other manuals i have test drove (accords)
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Old 10-26-2007, 04:25 AM
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Im not sure if it is common with the 6 speeds, but mine does the same thing in 3rd gear. Grinds into 3rd at higher RPM both upshifting and downshifting.
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Old 10-26-2007, 07:09 AM
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Bigjoe,

What you describe is a pretty classic sign of your synchros being on their way out.
The synchros are what help rev match the gears and allow for a smooth shift.
This is why you would notice it at higher revs. So, if they do go, you are looking
at a re-build.

Others (more experienced than myself in the ways of the Max) may have other suggestions,
but it sounds like synchros to me.

Edit: OR it could be your clutch is going and is not engaging properly.
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Old 10-26-2007, 07:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Iceman420
Bigjoe,

What you describe is a pretty classic sign of your synchros being on their way out.
The synchros are what help rev match the gears and allow for a smooth shift.
This is why you would notice it at higher revs. So, if they do go, you are looking
at a re-build.

Others (more experienced than myself in the ways of the Max) may have other suggestions,
but it sounds like synchros to me.

Edit: OR it could be your clutch is going and is not engaging properly.

so its better to have the clutch go bad than the syncros?.... price wise that is...
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Old 10-26-2007, 08:05 AM
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Originally Posted by bigjoe87865
so its better to have the clutch go bad than the syncros?.... price wise that is...
I dont think its ever good price wise for anything clutch related to go out.

But i had a similar problem with my 5spd, it wouldn't let me in 1st and sometimes 2nd. It wouldn't grind but it just wouldn't go into gear not matter how hard i pushed, asside from trying to break it which i didn't try. Ended up replacing from my master->tranny and everything in between. not sure if its the same problem but double check your fluid lvl and make sure nones leaking out that you dont know about.
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Old 10-26-2007, 08:14 AM
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sigh... i really hope the transmission isnt going bad.... just did a search... prices seems to be in the $1500-2000 region.... cant afford that... nor the downtime of it sitting in the shop... i might selll it if worse comes to worse.


ill go and check the tranny fluid and see if its leaking.... i did the MT-90 swap 2 days ago...

and ill bleed n swap the clutch fluid with new ones... and see if the problem still persists.
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Old 10-26-2007, 09:12 AM
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Change or replenish the clutch fluid first, it being low isn't helping anything that is for sure.
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Old 10-26-2007, 01:42 PM
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Originally Posted by bigjoe87865
sigh... i really hope the transmission isnt going bad.... just did a search... prices seems to be in the $1500-2000 region.... cant afford that... nor the downtime of it sitting in the shop... i might selll it if worse comes to worse.


ill go and check the tranny fluid and see if its leaking.... i did the MT-90 swap 2 days ago...

and ill bleed n swap the clutch fluid with new ones... and see if the problem still persists.
Oh man, good luck trying to sell it with the grind in there...That's the reason I think the car I bought was sitting on the lot for a while.

I bought mine with the problem and part of my deal in buying it was that they would fix it if it was a problem. After three days of driving it including redline GL4 added, the car still grinded. I am actually picking the car up today with a new tranny and clutch.

If you go really slow into the problem gears you can avoid most if not all of the grinding.
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Old 10-26-2007, 03:35 PM
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im in the middle of the clutch bleed.... that slave cylinder is so damn hard to get to.... and i dont even have the proper size wrench... (anyone know what the size is?)


after this clutch fluid thing is done... ill see if it its still having problems... if it is....


sigh...
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Old 10-26-2007, 04:47 PM
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sounds like a synchro problem. I had very similar problem on my MR2 years back. MT-90 helped out a bit but needed new 3rd and 4th gear synchros later
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Old 10-26-2007, 05:11 PM
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Originally Posted by bigjoe87865
sigh... i really hope the transmission isnt going bad.... just did a search... prices seems to be in the $1500-2000 region.... cant afford that... nor the downtime of it sitting in the shop... i might selll it if worse comes to worse.
Man fix that car, don't pass your problems on to another because you think you can't afford it. What would you get if you sold it, also what would it cost you, $600, $800 dollars? If you drive it easy for a few months, cause it can be driven still, you can save up the money for the repair.
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Old 10-26-2007, 06:08 PM
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just did the clutch.... topped it off to the max line... with fresh fluid.. and bled it out...

shifts pretty smooth and the clutch is softer.... and i did some aggresive upshifting... so far so good...
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Old 10-26-2007, 06:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Maxgig
Man fix that car, don't pass your problems on to another because you think you can't afford it. What would you get if you sold it, also what would it cost you, $600, $800 dollars? If you drive it easy for a few months, cause it can be driven still, you can save up the money for the repair.

tranny rebuilds are 600-800$?
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Old 10-26-2007, 06:25 PM
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sounds like the classic 6sp problem. The synchros are going. this is a pretty large problem. If you dont have the money to fix it at the moment, you will have to baby it. Your testing in parking lots and aggresive driving with make the problem worse, real fast. I would see how much u can get a rebuild for, b/c the longer u grind gears the more problems down the road. Fix it now - new synchros. Fix it later - new synchros and gears. Its up to you.
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Old 10-28-2007, 09:54 AM
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Originally Posted by 2theMax77
sounds like the classic 02-03 6sp problem.
Fixed.
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Old 11-03-2007, 12:53 AM
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After a couple hundred mile since my tranny was rebuilt, it doesn't grind BUT, it's notchy in some gears....I put Redline MTL/MT90 in and it didn't solve the notchy shifting.. It almost acts as if there is 1/3 GL5 still in there. Wtf
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