I have an '03 350z, with about 40,000 miles. A while after I bought the car I noticed that when I shifted to 5th gear there was a bit of resistance, no grinding, other gears shift fine. Now 5th gear is locking out! It only goes into 5th gear when I push down on the shift like I was going to put in in reverse. Could it have something to do with the reverse saftey lockout??? I also noticed that my shifter feels long and loose, or flimsy, rattles sometimes! A friend of mine owns a 350z and his shifter is not as loose as mine!....Any ideas????

 

Theres a "guide" plate below the shifter that tends to get misaligned causing either a common 1st or 5th gear issue that you described. That might just be it.

 

do you have warranty? if so take it to the stealership

 

No warranty! But I will have to check out that guidance plate, the shift can actually stretch past the 5th gear slot by about an inch or so, into no mans land!.....Thanks for ur help!!

 

On the shifter shaft, there is a flange that bumps against the guide plate below. You either have the flange worn out, or the guide is mis-aligned. Take off the boot cover and you can see the reverse lock-out feature is extremely simple. My buddy's 03 track ed. has the same issue.

 

 

Ok, Im hoping that its just the guide and not the flange being warn!....I will see tommorrow when I check it out!....I will let ya know! Thanks!!!

 

Problem solved!......was just the guide plate!.....THX 4 your help guys!!!