2nd gear is pissing me off

wafflesarefun

So i know there have been a lot of complaints about grinding in 2nd and in my car I feel it's getting progressively worse AFTER i changed the transmission fluid (took it to earnhardt nissan in gilbert, az). I had my oil changed and transmission fluid changed because I was moving to the bay area.

Since then, everytime I go to second gear quickly, it'll grind a little bit unless I move the stick perfectly into position (if too far left or right it'll grind).

I'm getting pretty fed up over this, anyone have any recommendations for nissan dealerships in the bay area (peninsula/san mateo)?

Daishi

You replaced the transmission fluid with nissan fluid? if not try redline mt-85 it helped my shifting alot. Not so much when its 20 degrees out but durring warmer weather its much smoother.

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SPOHN

+1 to Redline. Going that route myself soon.

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mayday813

Has anyone tried using GM Syncromesh Transmission Fluid - Friction Modified? The Honda S2000 and Acura guys w/six speed transmissions have used it for several years to solve the problem of grinding and hang-ups shifting from one gear to another. I've used it for 60K miles in a six speed 2005 Acura TL. Shifts smooth just like new and the TL has 83K miles on it. Costs about $15 per quart at your local Chevy dealer.

cfweber

find a mechanic and/or find a local group that tracks their Zs

they'll know what to do

wafflesarefun

yeah i had the dealer put nissan's transmission fluid in there. you really think changing fluids to redline will have that much of an effect?

spearfish25

Your car shouldn't be grinding even with Nissan fluid. If you just mean that it's a bit difficult to shift into second when the car has been sitting in the cold, that's normal and will be improved with fluid. If it's grinding like it would if you didn't use the clutch, then you have a bigger problem that even magic fluid won't fix. Well maybe magic fluid, but no commercially available transmission fluid.

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2013 Cadillac V-Wagon, RIP Z

christian370z

Are you sure you are disengaging the clutch fully from when you take it out of one gear and shift into the next, then releasing the clutch? Also, does it only happen going into 2nd gear?

Bad syncros are not unheard of, a number of people have had their transmissions replaced under warranty due to grinding gears.

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wh1te370z

i have the same problem. Ive driven stick cars since i started driving. And if i try to aggressively shift into second ill get a slight grind. brought it to the dealer and they told me that they couldnt reproduce it bc it doesnt happen in normal driving circumstances. and that it is normal to have a grind shifting like that.... yeaa.... the same people that i gave a TSB for something my car was doing and they couldnt find the problem (this is bc they were looking for the wrong problem.. morons) Needless to say i dont go to that dealership any more. i havnt found a solution.

in for some kinda solution..

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wafflesarefun

This only happens in second gear. I'm depressing the clutch the exact same way that I do for all the other gear changes. it feels like it's catching on something.

Funny thing is this doesnt happen at high rpm, just when shifting quick to 2nd at low/moderate rpms.

brian0128

My Z does the same thing at low rpm. If I get it up past 3500rpm then it shifts fine.

Zaggeron

I think this topic has been discussed before .... It's normal for the 1-2 shift to be somewhat clunky --- unsure if the grinding is normal. Best advice given is to vary the shift speed according to your RPMs .. Low RPMs shift slow and deliberately. High RPMs shift quickly and it will just snick into place. At least this has been my experience.

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2013 Subaru BRZ Limited

red6spd

So weird how some Z's have this problem and some dont. Honestly the only thing you can do if putting redline it does not help is hope it gets worse so Nissan had to be a new tranny in for free. I never had this problem, but when I switched to redline it did get alot more smooth.

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JARblue

After about 500 miles on the new car, I've come to the early conclusion that the clutch is a bit rough (the clutch in my 6spd Accord seriously feels like a feather now in comparison) but nothing wrong. I never have gotten a full-on grind, but there has been a noticeable crunch when changing gears in a hard shift. If I focus on a smooth (and not super quick) shift, I can make a perfect shift w/o SRM in pretty much any gear at any RPM. I generally notice the crunch when I try a quick shift in low-mid RPM range. And, as Christian mentioned, I suspect this is simply me occasionally being too eager and either trying to pull the shift knob out of gear before fully disengaging the clutch or trying to engage the clutch before I get the shift knob fully placed. And to be honest this happened much more with the loaner Z the dealership gave me for three days while I was trying to get a feel for the car's potential (what can I say, it was exciting).

I will pretty much replace all the fluids when I do the first oil change between 1000-1500 miles. Between now and then I'll make the determination whether to use Redline or another brand for the transmission fluid. Perhaps it will make a difference, but I'm not holding my breath. Will post my experience for sure.

wafflesarefun

all the gear changes are smooth, besides 2nd gear where it grinds sometimes unless you do it real gently.