Well, my bad differential bearings finally caught up to me. MT fluid leaking like a sive and 3rd and 4th gears are almost impossible to get into. Looking at $1000-$1500 to rebuild the tranny depending on if I rebuild it with a lightend flywheel and performance clutch or not.
Hope to get in into the shop by next week.

 

Ohh man.. that sucks. Sorry to hear that Mike.


Good luck!

 

sorry to hear that man...im going through the same thing right now. i lost 1st and 2nd gears, probably because my synchros went bad. i decided to get a rebuilt tranny from this company off Ebay. with install, my job will cost around 2000-2300. how many miles are on your tranny? do you have LSD?

 

102K. I have been driving on bad bearings for at least 15k miles. Yes, I have LSD. After talking to some more shops this afternoon I think it's going to cost more than I thought. I may not be able to afford a lightend flywheel

 

Sorry to hear about your transmission going out...if it is at all possible, you really should go for an aftermarket clutch/flywheel combo. Since you're throwing so much cash into this already, you should at least come out with a little something extra in the end

 

Well the tranny is in the shop as of yesterday. I decided to go with a lightend flywheel, but stay with the stock clutch. I see no need for an ACT or exedy clutch. I am not running boost, and I have just seen to many blown gears with the ACT clutch. Should have the car back by Wednesday or Thursday. The JWT/ECU should be here by then as well, it's been two months since I sent my ECU in!!!

 

so what are you having done to it? what is the total cost including clutch? do you have LSD? if you do, are you having the shims replaced? when i get my car back in a few days, ill have new gauges in, gunmetal gauge rings, B&M STS, new shiftboot and e-brake leather, frankencar intake, 1 piece headlights, plus it will be the first time i will really be able to drive the car since its been lowered. i cant wait!!! i went with an OEM clutch as well, since i was scared away from the ACT with all the 3rd gear horror stories.

 

I am having the bearings and the correct shims replaced, clutch, synchros and flywheel. Yes I have VSLD.

Soounds like your gonna have a whole new car.

 

thats good youre having them replaced. how much are they charging you to work on the LSD? and yes...my car will be quite different....im giddy with anticipation.

 

Don't really know what the total price is going to be. It depends on how much they have to replace while there in there. the estimate was between $1200 and $1600, but that does not include the lightend flywheel.

 

Well it's gonna be $1,783 out the door, but that does not include the $355 for the fidanza flywheel I bought. New bearings($192, VLSD bearings are expensive), clutch($235), A part I can't remeber for my 3-4 shifting problem($200), and 14 hours labor.
Car will be ready Friday. Can't wait!!!

 

What is the deal with this test.maxima.org? I already posted this question, only to see that it didn't get on the board. So...

Mike, how's the car drive now that you have it back from the mechanic? You said you drove around on bad bearings for 15k miles. How could you tell?

I have a 1996 I-30t with the 5 speed VLSD. 130k miles, original tranny, original clutch. Dreading the day I have to pay big bucks to replace it.

 

The car drives better than ever.

I knew I had bad bearings because I went through 3 drive axel seals in a year. When the bearings get bad enough it creates excesive play in the drive shaft causing the seal to leak. I never had any gear whine like some people do.
I would not assume that your going to have bearing failure, you could be one of the lucky 5-speed owners.

 

Aaargh! Two weeks ago the passenger side front axle pulled out of the tranny. The solid axle mount had snapped. Paid local Nissan dealer $600 for new axle, seal, and mount.

Last night tranny made a bumping noise while I was turning. This morning my garage floor was covered with gear oil. Back to the dealer. The new solid axle mount snapped! The mechanic says the tranny is binding the axle, so it needs a new tranny. I'm waiting for the call with the estimate. What do you think of this explanation/repair idea?

 

I don't know about your situation. I'd say get another opinion first.

 

hey you guys are making me worried my 96 I30 is an auto and its in the final stages of a turbo kit and i took the precaution of installing a valve body upgrade from mobiltek and a B & G tranny cooler i got 130,000 on it. i hope the tranny doesnt crap out

 

well, be prepared for something bad to happen to your tranny soon. im not saying it will happen, but theres a good possibility, especially with your high miles. this thread has been talking about our weak manual trannies, not autos. however, even with a VB mod and tranny cooler, a turbo is gonna be tough on your tranny. you should only run minimal boost for a while to see how it handles it. i think bags533 busted his auto tranny with his turbo. search and see how much boost he was running.

 

The Nissan dealer quoted me $3,727 to install a new Nissan 5 speed. Okay, time for a second opinion: I had the car towed to a transmission specialty shop. They inspected the trasnmission and declared it healthy, though I had specifically asked about the differential bearings. Replaced the solid axle mount, but they said there was pressure pulling it sideways which they repaired by using shims.

I asked the guy if he used GL-4, and he said he did. The car was shifting a little heavy when I left, so I drained the transmission last night and replaced the fluid with Red Line MT-90. Shifts fine now. I'm being careful to watch for any leaks, though, because I still suspect there is a problem with the differential bearings. When I was crawling around under the car last night I did notice some fluid sweat where the passenger-side axle goes into the transmission.

 

Leak from the axel seal is not good, symptom of bad bearings or maybe just the seal. It could be the synthetic fluid since it is so much thinner. Swithing to synthetic on a high mileage car has been known to cause leaks that were not aparent before. If the leak gets worse try just replacing the seal, if it comes back then you can be more sure it's the bearings.

 

I noticed the sweat around the axle before I changed the fluid, plus the seal was changed just a few weeks ago. The reason the car went back to the shop in the first place was because the axle mount broke and I woke up to find a huge puddle of gear oil in the garage. I think you're right that it's ultimately the bearings, so I am spending some time trying to find a decent mechanic that can drop the tranny, open it, replace and properly shim the bearings... all for a reasonable cost.

 

I would do my best to make sure it's the bearings before you have that tranny dropped and opend. Any gear whine in 2nd or 3rd? Is the leak getting worse. Try this. Reverse fairly quickly with the clutch all way engage(all the way out). Have your window rolled down, listen closely. Do you hear a bad noise, like the bearings tumbling around. For me that was the only noise I heard. I never had any whine. Just a really bad leak and the noise in reverse.

You should be able to get the bearings done for around $1000-$1200.

 

Thanks for the advice. There has not been any gear whine or "skateboard wheel noise" or growling from the transmission. I'll try the quick reverse test today. The car shifts fine. After the first axle mount repair, but before the giant gear oil leak, I noticed a big thunk under the hood when I would accelerate or let off the gas. The guy at motorvate.ca said he had the same noise and it was a loose engine mount. That noise is now gone.