How bad is it for the transmission and/or clutch to have an accidental gind of the gears?

 

Does it grind when you depress the clutch fully and shift? Or is it just notchy?

 

I accidentally grinded the other day. I was down shifting and some guy cut me off and I panic a little. The occasional grind (once a year or so) isn’t bad, just don’t make a habit of it.

 

It's not good but it's not that bad either. The gears themselves do not grind. The gears are meshed at all times. What you hear grinding are dog teeth on the collar failing to seat in the holes on the side of the gear. It takes a lot of abuse to wear them down or break them. Try not to do it, but you shouldn't worry about the occasional grind either.

 

I've grinded my gears quite a few times, because I won't notice that the shifter hasn't quite made it completely into, say, 1st. And then I'll let go of the clutch (not completely, slowly but then I hear the grind). This car is my first stick experience, and I have been driving it for a month. Is this horrible?

 

That's basically what were talking about... no it's not a big deal.

However, grinding first is a common problem amongst new manual drivers.

Let's say you've come to a stop at a stop sign, and you're still in second gear with the clutch depressed. Instead of just moving the shifter to first, you should do this instead. Move the shifter to neutral and release the clutch. Depress the clutch again and wait a moment for the input shaft on the transmission to stop spinning. Then select first gear. It will slide right into gear without grinding.

 

Haha I was actually just making the 1st thing up, I don't think its ever happened going into 1st. Its when I'm shifting to 2nd, 3rd, etc.

 

That's exactly what has already been discussed.

I'm glad you made that up, because it's a different grinding problem that a lot of people have. If you don't follow the above advice that doesn't mean first gear will grind, but if it ever does, you will have a good idea why.