I've got 750 or so miles on my Z now and I have no such problems as described. I'm hoping it's an isolated case.

 

I've gotten a grind a couple times going 4th->5th but I chalk that up as driver error and inexperience with an MT. I'm at 1050 miles, but haven't pushed it hard yet. No aggressive downshifts yet either. Curious to see how this turns out.
--
Jeff

 

I listen to my 3rd to 4th gear shift this morning, didn't notice anything different than 1st to 2nd, or 4th to 5th. Every gear is normal, no grinding at all. I have about 350miles so far.

 

Honda's suppose to be one of the best tranny made, from the magazine reviews...

 

I think the gear whine is pretty universal with this car...mine definitely whines a lot more than my Integra R...I kind of like it as well. I did notice the first day that the 3-4 shift is a little more notchy and firm than the other shifts...but I haven't had any sort of grinding, etc. I think my gearbox has definitely loosened up a bit over the first 575 miles or so...less notchy overall. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Everyone else...don't hit the panic button yet. Just try and be aware of what the car is doing.

 

Go to the S2K boards and you'll find that isn't the case. Honda even issued a TSB because of the second gear synchro problem. You know what they said: "Shift slower!" Way to fix a problem.

Anyway, I dropped my baby off this morning at the dealer. They had the service foreman do a ride along with me. As sure as ****, I couldn't reproduce the problem. I was getting real frustrated so I told the guy, let me take it on the freeway for 5 minutes to make sure it's all the way warmed up. Pulled off the fwy after a few minutes and the problem showed up. Thank God! (Not that I have a problem, but that at least I got it to show up so they can't just say I am being paranoid!) It wasn't as bad as the night before, but he could hear it clearly. That was 9am and it is now 12pm. No word yet. I'll keep you posted.

 

OK, the dealer just called. They are having a factory rep come out to look at the car now. The service writer told me they are doing this with any out of the ordinary problems on the 350Z's. We shall see. The wait is agonizing.

 

Good luck with the wait

--nub

 

always happens that way, doesnt it?

 

Just my $0.02, but I had a gear whine problem a few months back in my 98 Pathfinder (5-speed). Is your problem temperature-dependent? In my case, the noise mostly stopped once the tranny was warm. It ended up being a worn pilot bushing (replaced a lot of stuff while I was in there, but that was definitely the culprit).

I'll be interested to hear what Nissan says about the trans. Aside from that isolated problem, my experience with Nissan trannys (and I've seen a few) have been very positive.

 

OK, dealer just called. The rep was there and did hear the noise. They examined the tranny and don't believe that was the problem. The rep thinks it was a vibrating or resonating shield that surrounds the driveshaft. They told me to come pick up the car in about an hour when they put it back together and then to drive it the way I normally would to see if the problem continues. Hopefully tightening everything down makes the problem go away. We shall see.

 

I can comment a little on this since I had an S2000 for almost 3 years and have 600 miles on my Z which I got last week.

S2000 - From the day you pick it up the S is notchy in 1-2 and 2-3.
I am talking about normal driving. If you hesitate in neutral or take off wide open it doesn't do it. In normal driving no other gears are notchy.

Z350 - I like it better than the S - no notchy gears up or down - a little whine in a couple of gears that sounds kind of neat - if there is a minus at all it is just that it is a little rubbery feeling.

My car is perfect and to those that are worrying about their Z having problems the odds are way way higher you will not than that you will.

With the S a large percent of those with drive line problems were driving their cars extra hard - racing - Honda more or less implied the car was made to race so I blame Honda for this, however, the average owner who just enjoyed spirited driving did not experience drive line problems.

 

I know, we'll see. Maybe I was just misinterpreting the noise. I would hope that is the case and nothing was wrong. I'll keep you guys updated.

 

Raceboy,

Thanks for the continued updates...I'm following this one closely. Maybe it is just a vibration...it could be only at a certain frequency, etc.? If it really is a shield near the driveshaft, maybe when you lift throttle for shifting, it resonates? You said it only does it when you are under light load...this implies that the shift is occuring more slowly...if it resonates as the load is taken off of the drive shaft...it makes sense that you would be more likely to hear it during longer shift intervals. When you quickly bang it into the next gear, the load is only off for a short period of time, and you will quickly pass through that vibration's frequency...if you see what I mean. If this is the case though, I still don't get why it's only on the 3-4...hmmm.

I had a weird resonance issue on my Type R once with the header/exhaust. I would hear a metallic ringing sound from under the car, but it only happened at specific rpms and only in gear.

I hope those techs are right. Good luck, and let us know.

*crosses fingers and toes for raceboy*

 

Back when the CBR900RR came out in 92' they some seriously notchy shifting. The bike just didn't like to be shifted slowly. If you weren't going through the gears with your hair on fire over 6K RPMS you'd sometimes get a misshift. Different oils tended to excerbate the problem. It took about 8,000 miles to break the bike's transmission in and I don't drive gently at all. My friends with the same bike had similar experiences and I think one's bike is still notchy even with 12K miles on it.

I chalk this up to the fine tolerances that the Japanese machine most of their engine parts to. Some of the problem on the 900RR was just shift mechanism layout that they addressed a few years later.

 

My 01' Vette 6speed had a mechanical rattle when taking off in first gear that was attributed to the light weight driveshaft and housing that was commonly referred to as "marbles in a can." It was completely normal but always freaked out the newbies.

I'm curious to know if the lightweight Carbon Fiber driveshaft is creating some resonance or vibration???? The Vette did it every time on every car which at this point does not seem to be the case with the Z.

 

hopefully we can get this sorted out...but Raceboy I really appreciate the fact your updated the hell out of the forum. This kinda dedication to co-owners and soon to be's of the Z is whats gonna get a problem fixed in the car...and we better not have to fn pay.
gluck, and thanks again.