My car has a problem when i 1st start it up for the day. I have a hard time getting it into 1st gear( no other gears) it is very rough and sometimes i actualy have to hit it hard just to go into gear. After about 5 minuits of driving it is fine the rest of the day untill i leave it overnight again. what is the problem and is there any fix?

incase u didint figure it out i have a manual car:P

 

First and foremost you probably have air you in your clutch lines, not allowing the clutch to open up all the way so you can put it in gear. So bleed your clutch lines first to make sure there is no air. Check your master and slave cylinders for any type of damage and correct function. Check to see if your clutch fluid is clean, if not replace it.

 

thats sadly a common thing with out 5spds. I usually have to shift down to 2nd the up to get 1st very smoothly.

it maybe a little stiff at start up when temps are down and the tranny fluid is still pretty cold, try to to force it too much, forcing it into gear isnt a good thing to do period. I do hope your not trying to shift back into first at 30mph, or 20mph. I find it hard to get in even at 10 mph.

Pm larrio who is selling the shifter bushings, your is probably just old and shot and could use a replacement. many have reported extremely smooth shifting after installing theirs.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=467839

 

Same with me, I'm a 5spd convert with a straight line from the master to the slave. I still have problems getting it in gear when the car is just warming up.

The notchiness has alot to do with the position of the shift rod, and the angle of it. The shifter bushing has much to do with this, so replacing yours may be a good idea. I always notice that when it dips in the low 40's to high 30's here (very rarely), my shifter feels tons better, because the rubber is stiffer on the shifter bushing from the cold.

 

I was wondering this as well. Do these cars have some sort of 1st gear "lock-out"? Say I am coming to a stop sign, not downshifting, and just put in the clutch to coast to the stop and then try to put it in first to get ready to start again, it won't go. I have to come to nearly a complete stop and then put in first. Happens at all operating temps. Is this normal. It is pretty annoying.

 

yea its pretty normal, usually you have to be pretty close to a stop to get 1st gear. I've notice 5mph or less and you can get into first.

Sometimes I can blip the throttle and get into first. I think the shifter bushing would play a valuable part, I'm sure most of us that have this issue have 8+ year old Max's and have changed gear fluid, clutches, maybe even slave cylinders but havent touched the old shifter bushing.

 

usually wen that happens the slave cylinder is low on fluid or the clutch hose has a hole in it as a matter of fact my car is at the repair shop as we speak gettin the same problem fixed i will keep you updated on whether or not it helped me

 

I have the same problem it bothers me during cornering, I find just pump the clutch a couple times and then she'll drop into gear smoothly, maybe it is air I should check that out. But DONT froce it into gear not good. pump the clutch and keep trying it.

 

I had this same problem, then I put on the SS straight clutch line and bleed the clutch, no more problemos now...

I say bleed your clutch system and make sure the fluid is topped off...

-Matt

 

Whoa, I can't put it into first until I'm under 5 mph!

 

Funny, I thought manuals are designed not to shift into 1st while moving.
I usually have to come down to 5mph before shifting to 1. Same with my brother's 3 series.
If i force it, it would go but i rarely have to shift down to 1st while moving...

 

Manuals can downshift into first while moving, although most aren't designed to tolerate much of it. They usually don't synchronize well, depending on how big the first gear synchro is. Double-clutching helps the moving first gear shift substantially, and just pausing and pushing it in without forcing it helps a lot too.

Dave

 

I have the same problem when its cold. Change your tranny fluid to synthetic. It will get easier. I used redline. I also pump the clutch a few times. Hope that helps

 

You can actually get it in first at any speed if you rev match and double clutch but you need to know your speeds vs rpm's, you don't want to mechanically overrev, valve float isnt pretty.

 

werd my car does that too... it sucks... i double clutch and it goes right in... nissan tranny ftmfl!!

 

It is not an intended 'feature' or 'lockout.' It is the nature of the transmission, the synchros are not good enough to allow you to put it into first gear. Manually matching the RPM's by double clutching is the only way to syncronize the speed of the input shaft to allow you to get into first gear as the syncros are not good enough to do it on their own.

 

My car does that when warm. I would get home, try to back in and wont go into reverse. Gotta sink clutch like 3 times,before it goes in. bugs me casue sometimes, im in someones way and they must be wondering whats taking me so long to get into reverse.

 

my car did the same thing bled the clutch line & checked master & slave cylinders. even adjusted the clutch pedal. and still had the same problem until one day my tranny blew up. boy was i pissed

 

While in neutral, just give it some gas to get the rpms up then it should go into 1st easily.