How smooth should the shifts in a 5 spd be as I drove an integra today and it was as smooth as butter 1 finger shifts. My max isnt that smooth. Should it be that smooth?

 

Our tranny are not super great

but if i were you i tried to change the transmission oil . amsoil or redline

good luck

 

I got redline in there right now

 

are transmission are fine we are not race car drivers.....

 

But they were so nice, smooth clutch release and smooth shifts felt as if you werent even driving a 5 spd

 

i find the higher the rpm i shift at the smoother
your not alone though...my buddies civic shifts great, no slop or jerk
mine has some
it could be mounts though..

 

Does the clutch(stock vs aftermarket) have any effect on the smoothness of the shifts and smoothness of the pedal?

 

Clutches dont really have an effect on the smoothness of shifting unless your slipping maybe.... i dunno what you mean by the smoothness of the pedal but it might have to do with how strong the clutch is. but thats just my opinion.

honda trannies are awesome. Nissan got lazy with maxima trannies i guess. but mostly all honda trannies are smooth. All my friends have hondas and all their trannies are nice. its too bad they have weak engines with nice trannies haha...again thats just my opinion.

 

true our trannies are a little on the weak side, but the smoothness of shifting has little to do with the quality of them.......

 

i've noticed the same thing my mom has a acura and that car shifts really smooth.

 

So there nothing to do to get a smooth 1 finger shift

 

Rev match and it'll be smooth(er).

 

Buy a new BMW 3 Series 6spd. You could flick the shifter and it would shift into the next gear.

Back on topic, theres not much you can do to make the shifting smoother, as the shifter is physically connected to the tranny by 2 rods.

 

I've noticed lately I've been getting shut out of being able to put it in first gear. This is when I'm at stop light, in neutral, and sitting completely still. Does anybody know what is causing this? Is my transmission on the way out? When this happens I just start out in second instead. This happens like once every other week.

I have changed over to redline tranny oil over a year ago and I've checked my oil 2 months ago and it was full.

 

Keep in mind, it's not hard to make a smooth transmission or clutch when you're not dealing with a lot of power.

You're right, Honda is definitely better than Nissan at making nice-feeling gearboxes. But even their more powerful cars don't have a lot of torque, so they don't have to have as much machinery in their gearboxes, and that makes them easier and nicer to shift.

 

Guess that true oh well I just loved the feel of the shifts, nothing to it

 

driver skill has alot to do w/ the smoothness of shifting IMO

 

thats funny i can shift with 1 finger.........maybe ur fingers are weak......

 

Yea but does it just glide in there without any force?

 

I've driven all kinds of stick shift cars at the dealership and I agree that it's hard to make smooth shifts on our cars...I have a new nissan OEM clutch on my I30t

 

When you are ready to go back to 1st, put it in 2nd ... then go into 1st. Don't ask why, but it ALWAYS make it 500 times easier to get it into 1st.

 

My 99 shifter moves pretty smoothly, i can do it with 1 finger, but it doesnt just slide into gear. Maybe you guys are experiencing this because you have short shifters? I know i drove my friends maxima with a short shifter and it was hard to get it into gear.

 

ill just put it this way- i learned to drive stick on my uncles 97 toyota 4runner, and not only were the shifters at the same height; but, the 4runner had smoother shifts.

to nissan's engineering on the shifter.


side note: the best shifter feel ive ever felt was in a new passat a8 i believe. im not sure on the exact model but i know it was a high end vw. long story short- i hardly knew how to drive a stick at that point but it was so smooth and easy i didnt even stall (something i always did at that point with my max)

 

i dont have much problem with my tranny. the only problem i have at times is wen i need to put it on reverse...it sometimes wont go in reverse. i have to leave it on a 3rd or 5th gear then put it on reverse so it would stay...dont know why..

 

My last car was an integra, it had shorter, faster, smoother shifts. It had 175k on it, but you could slam through the gears, and not just the shifter, the clutch engage/synchros seems smoother and faster. I've also owned a crx and accord, honda's have quick transmissions. The max I have now has an STS and 98k miles, and shifts are stiffer and notchier, I just have to be firmer with the shifter and easier with the clutch. But now I don't have to wind it up to 6,000rpm to keep up with traffic! And I've had notchiness with almost any manual going into first and reverse, gotta double-clutch.

 

VW shifting feels right to me, friends 98 Jetta GLX VR6 was a joy to drive even with less power.

 

I tried this it didn't help

 

Yeah, Hondas (especially tegs) have incredibly smooth and fun transmissions. They're well engineered and have more of a "nimble" feel to them... of course, they also have to deal with much smaller engines and much less torque, so it's easier in general for them to make more of a "nimble" gearbox.

That said, the Max's gearbox could have been made a lot better. I've never actually had to double clutch before I drove this thing... but now it's second nature. I suppose it's a nice little skill to have though. But besides that, notchy, long throws... ugh. Luckily, it's connected to a VQ, so it's almost forgivable.

Should be repositioning the input shaft so the first gear's synchro's cogs will line up better.

 

it was a joke....about the weak fingers.....i mean its relatively smooth....i would rather have little resistance anyway that way i know its in gear....otherwise i would feel like it will pop out of gear because i didnt feel engagement

 

My last car was a 97' 5spd Civic EX and the tranny on that was nothing worth braggin about guys. The tranny had a lot of kickback so you had to master it or else driving around would be very jerky. Im grateful for learning on that car because driving other manuals is so damn easy. The car was totalled recently so I have been looking at other cars and had the pleasure of driving a few Integra GSR's. Very nice all around car with rediculous cornering abilities. Im picking up a 99' black 5spd max today, so 2nd best aint so bad...just kidding I love it. The shifting seemed fine on the car, the throws could have been made shorter and 4th gear is a bit weird because you have to move the shifter slightly to the right from 3d. Overall im very impressed with the car and I cant complain about finally having a car with *****...

P.S. You welcome for brining this thread back from the dead but I need to raise my post count..LOL

 

Not a civic oh man now your really gonna fall in love with the max

 

my shifter is pretty rough too - especially when downshifting into first gear. ANything I can do?

 

Dont downshift into 1st! Thats a top 3 no-no for driving stick, you should know that.

IDK what you guys are talking about, the shifter is really not that bad. The throws are a little long, especially into third but its not a sports car. Very smooth tranny though.

 

ive had the same expirence. when it doesnt want to go into gear, for example at a stop light u have it in neutral and it turns green try to shift it to 1st and it doesnt want to. i just put it back in neutral an give it another shot with a hair more force and it usually grabs an doesnt give me a problem

-Tyler

 

Nothing to worry about. Do you fully depress the clutch when going into 1st?

 

but is there any way to make it smother?
I read that changing the tranny fluid is good once in a while. how is it done though?

 

You need to do the actual double clutch to downshift into 1st gear while you are moving. unless it is in really really low rpm (<1K )

 

What is double clutching?

 

my tranny is f ucked up. Bad bearings plus stage 3 clutch plus i might need lube would lead to unsmooth shifts. Do not follow my lead. Use Lucas to smoothen your tranny. That always helps.

 

My clutch became harder and harder to engage when I was putting it in gear from being parked, until one day it wouldn't go in at all. I had it towed to the dealer because it was absolutely stuck - I thought it was the clutch, and it was only the slave cylinder and clutch hose. The total bill was around $250.