HMMMM, never knew it was that bad. You learn something new everyday.

Im on my second tranny and the first was the same thing grinding from 4th to 5th and thats when my car was na. Now Im forced induction and the second one is doing the exact same crap. I want someone to figure out a way to beef these trannys up. this is getting aggravating. Had a boosted auto 350z with no problems makes me wanna go that route again next time.

Please elaborate. If the revs are proper for the gear/speed, what difference does it make if you skip gears or not?

Double clutching might be helpful too.

If you guys don't mind elaborating some more on this, I would appreciate it. I was under the impression that so long as the components were spinning at the proper RPM's any extra stress should be negligable. However, I am assuming that no quick-shifting or forcing the transmission into gear is involved.

basically you just have to consider what your current engine speed is versus what the engine speed will be once you are completed with the gear change. the further the difference is, the more work the synchros have to match up the shaft speeds. the faster you perform the shift, the less time you are giving the synchros to accomplish this task. also, the faster you perform this shift, the less amount of time you have given the engine rpm to fall closer to the next gear speed.

the wear saved on the clutch by skip shifting is extremely neglible. personally, i would would rather take the very minor extra clutch wear, than add work for the synchros... because of course the clutch is a consumable item already. wearing on the synchros is risky because if they dont fail while youre still in warrenty, than the new transmission is out of your pocket.

but on the other hand, a new transmission for these cars is not as expensive as you may think. i know 350z trans are well under 2000$ and i bet the 370z trans doesnt cost any more, but i havent looked it up. $2000 isnt much considering what a nice clutch/flywheel kit costs. and if you only have to replace the trans every 5 years or so, its not that bad.

but you can replace the transmission all you want, after some time has taken place, they will always start giving you crap into 5th and 6th gear as the synchros are not very robust in those gears, and skip shifting isnt going to do them any favors.

I wouldnt worry about it a whole ton... but if you skip shift nearly every time you take off from a light, you may want to put some consideration into double clutching and/or doing it less often.

jay
 

well said.:driving:

Thanks for the information phunk. That is something I need to remember in the future and see if I should change my driving style again. As it stands, I prefer to go 2 - 4 - 6 while shifting around the 2200 mark for most of my daily driving since there is no real need for quicker acceleration and rowing through all the gears only to be stopped a mile down the road is annoying.

taking off in 2nd gear isnt very friendly on your clutch!!!!

funny short story... when i was 15, before i had any idea how anything in a car worked, and was learning to drive stick in a friends almost new mitsubishi eclipse... once i got a little comfortable i thought i would challenge myself and start out in 5th gear. i succeeded on the first try... of course she had to replace her clutch 2 weeks later. oops

Sorry, guess I should have mentioned I launch in 1st, but then 2 - 4 - 6.

I've got 22,000 miles on my car and have noticed that crunching from 5th to 6th from time to time, usually before the car really warms up. I think I'll make an appointment with the dealer soon.
Oh, wait, maybe I'll teach my fiance how to drive a manual first, then take it in so she doesn't destroy my new tranny.

No competitive benefit - the occasion where I did this was a brisk romp for the first two gears, then noticing that I was well in excess of the speed limit in second, so I let way off the throttle and tried to find 5th for a cruise gear. Only found the grind.

--ZOM

As I recall, the price printed on my work order for the part was $2666.

back in 09 mine was 3200looks like the tsunami freed up some trannies ;)

I suspect that was dealer cost, since it was warranty work.

--ZOM

yep

Edit: also makes me wonder if half of nissans synchro problems are caused because the gear assembly is so over built it has excessive input shaft inertia, i mean they had to throw a triple cone ductile first synchro in to keep it from dying for gods sake

LIBERTYS FACE PLATE AND PRO SHIFT GEAR MODIFICATIONS

never worked with them but faceplating is an option to remove the synchro's for a semi race (still use clutch) option.

Nissan Parts, NISMO and Nissan Accessories - Courtesyparts.com[32010]+\(z34&cPath=8714_8724_8787_8793

not sure if that link will work or not.

but the 370z transmissions are available new from courtesy nissan at $1663

That's not bad at all!

Crap! After 36k miles, my tranny started grinding when I downshift from 6th to 5th. Made an appointment this Saturday. This sucks donkey nuts!

Bad Synchros slowing down the shift won't matter.. Do you do a lot of coasting?

It's seems like it's mostly happening when I skip to 6th from 4th... and downshift to 5th. @ the dealership now. I hope I don't screwed totally over.

...well of course the tech can't replicate it. FML.

Yep I feel your pain brother as I'm at 32,000 but past the 3 years and mine has trouble going into 5th and grinded a few times in 2nd already. Of course it didn't matter if it was in warranty cuz the TT would get the blame for the tranny anyway. Im really hoping its the JWT clutch and the new osgiken with hd slave cylinder is the fix. I didn't have that issue until I put in the new clutch. Here's to hoping or FML for me too:inoutroflpuke:

Once it starts grinding, it will progressively worsen and become more apparent.

Funny thing is, it grinded three times on my way to the dealership (about 5 miles away), but not when the tech was test driving the car. I guess I'll have to wait for it to get worst. At least it's on the record.

Ive noticed that it only grinds when the tranny is cold. it happens only when my car has been off for a few hours. Once it warms up (about 5mins) it works as normal.... is that your experience?

Maybe it would be a good idea to take it to the dealership, leave it for a few hours and try again??

I found this post while searching for someone with my issue: I don't have a "grinding" problem, but it seems that there's a hesitation when shifting from 1st to 2nd. It's almost like the shifter catches on something slightly in the middle of 1st to 2nd, then goes into second. When i shift from 1st to 2nd slowly (for instance, in a parking lot) I also hear a "clunk" when it gets into second gear. Is this normal? I've only got 7k miles on my '11 base model. Thanks!

Clunk is normal when you undershift. The notchy gearbox is also normal. Unfortunately for a few of us, bad syncros are normal too. My tranny was replaced at 18k(third gear) on '09. I've read on here they beefed up the syncros since then.

The Z has been sitting in the driveway since the last visit to the dealership. I need to slap new tires on her and will be doing that tomorrow. I do notice that it does happen more often when it's still cold. I really hate leaving the car at the dealership though, so I might try and see if I can capture it on video somehow.

My 5th grinds about once a week and always before the car has yet to fully warm up (oil temps etc).

Been like that for about 6 months but hasn't gotten any worse so I haven't gone to the dealer yet since it's unlikely that it will replicate on a tech ride.

I'm hoping that when it does get worse it won't go from mild to catastrophic all at once.


Tapatalk & such etc

Status report: On my third transmission. Last one was put it somewhere around 20,000 miles. My first tranny started grinding from 5th to 6th and the second from 4th to 5th.

I just hit 50,000 miles. This transmission has been grinding from 4th to 5th now too for about 10-15,000 miles now...not getting it fixed because the warranty is up. No real problems though if I shift slowly from 4th to 5th...sometimes I just skip 5th altogether. It's become almost second nature to me now and the only time I notice it is on the rare occasion where I'm actually topping out in 4th and need to shift to 5th (somewhere around 120-130mph) At that speed it's impossible to not grind it no matter how long the clutch pedal is down..you just have to slam it in gear..

After 3 trannys, 2 master slave cylinders, 2 steering lock solenoids (that one wasn't under warranty) I think my Z has finally decided to stop breaking...*knock on wood*

BlueZ34, the powertrain warranty is 5yrs/60k. Take it in and get your fourth transmission.

I almost don't even know if it's worth it since the problem isn't getting any worse. And I'm starting to think that the synchros just go bad on every transmission no matter how many you get? But thanks, that is nice to know that at least I have another 10k to go if I still wanted to

2010! 21k miles on the Z. It just started grinding shift in to 5th gear..
Grr. Well . At least I know That it wasn't my fault ..

For those that have to keep replacing transmissions, any chance that maybe it's your driving habit and not the transmission that's at fault? Do you drive hard all the time? Maybe bad habits that you are unaware of? Just things that exacerbates a weak synchro transmission.

No way. Mine ground the very first time I shifted quickly - 99% of the time it's a daily driver - Houston traffic. I can't imaging that's abuse; I could shift my old Toyota Tercel faster than I did this car.

My new transmission has about 10,000 miles on it, and I've never had occasion to shift quickly since replacing - BUT, it's now starting to grind again, but this time ONLY when I downshift from 6 to 5. I depress clutch fully, and shift normally - little grind.

The original problem (upshift from 3 to 5) works fine now. Strange.

--ZOM

If that were the case then your lower synchros would be going bad,
You don't think it's odd that there are so many are 5th gear issues, I have 55,000 on min, a 2010 and am looking at a 2nd replacement and I don't drive it hard. I think we should from a group and get something done with Nissan. this is a build issue not a driver issue. You remember the front end of the 2003 350, Nissan bought you tires and then came up with a fix, $45,000 for mine,,,they need to fix this problem, part of the problem could be that flaky dual mass clutch,,,, :tup:

Do you guys drive with the SynchroRevMatch on or off? Do you shift too slow and let the RPMs drop too much? I don't know. It's just weird that most don't have any issues, but the people that do seem to get it again later. Gears 1-4 have more robust synchros.

I drive my Z hard any time I feel the urge...that's why I bought it. It's a sports car. Not saying I thrash it everyday or anything..I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in over a year :) (knock on wood)

I'd say I drive with synchrorev on about 80-85 percent of the time. The exhaust pops gloriously on the downshifts to stoplights. And seeing as how this thread is eleven pages long it might be a stretch to say "most don't have issues" ..I'd say this is kind of a big deal.

Also interesting to know gears 1-4 have more robust synchros..curious to know how you found this out? Either way..that might help explain why it's been the upper gears with the problems.

My wife made a very good point, THESE ARE $40,000 SPORTS CARS,, meant to be driven. I have heard they use "Paper Synchros" much the same as the clutch material in an automatic, apparently they are not up to the task..
There are tons of complaints on these trannies, I think Nissan need to address this issue. I don't think that we should have to replace the transmission every time we do an oil change, just making a funny here but it's close to that.
They talk about how much HP they can handle, 600hp is what they say, really, how about handling the stock HP...
Maybe what we need to do , and I hate to say this but a class action law suit to get someone at Nissan to do something.
On my old Z cars I got 100,000 plus out of my clutches with no problems and 300,000 on the Tranny,,, maybe it's the noisy *** clutch package that is to blame but it is surely not my or your lack of ability to handle a stick,, I have been driving a stick since the 60"s, lots of old school HP with old school trannys,, never had problems like this,,, Oh God,,, maybe I should have gotten my 370 with the DREADED AUTOMATIC.
NISSAN NEEDS TO FIX THIS CRAP!!! I wonder if they have this problem in JAPAN?