Hey guys,

I brought my 2003 touring to the dealer earlier this week due to the 3rd and 4th gear grinding.

the dealership (as i told them) diagnosed the problem to be bad synchros (duh!) and recommended replacement of the transmission.

I provided them with the info for my extended warranty (3rd-party). Now the extended warranty company wants me to pull my car out of the dealership and take it to AAMCO so they can disassemble my transmission and inspect the synchros to determine if it will be covered. Needless to say, I'm out of pocket for $125 diagnosis from the dealer!

I have a bad feeling that any conversation between my service advisor and the warranty corp did not fair so well. service advisor was telling me that nissan has a TSB that my aftermarket shift **** may cause problems with the synchro! WTF!

In any case, I'm scared of taking my car to AAMCO to have them take apart my transmission only to be stuck with a bill for the entire thing if the warranty corp screws me over!

Please help! Any advise or info that I can provide to the service advisor to share with the warranty corp to convince them that this should be covered?!??!

 

A shift **** broke your transmission? Not sure how that happens.

 

If you have a third party warranty, then you're bound by their rules. I'm sure they are looking for a second opinion rather than blindly throwing out $$$ to replace a transmission. If Nissan can't convince them that's the problem, there's nothing we can say or do that's going to help Nissan's argument.

I searched the TSBs on the Z and can't find anything that even remotely looks like it's shift-**** related. I'd ask for the TSB number or a copy of it if I were you.

 

The weight of the shift **** and the length from the pivot point will have an effect on how much pressure is exerted on the synchronizers when you shift gears. That's just the physics of mass, momentum, and leverage. Whether or not it's enough to make them go bad is up for a lot of debate.

My guess is that they equate an aftermarket shift **** with aggressive driving habits, which everyone knows is hard on the synchros as it is with everything else in the drive train.

I didn't think AAMCO dealt with standard transmissions. I just looked at their website, and they only mention replacing clutch parts on cars with standard shift. It said nothing about the internal parts of the transmission. That doesn't sound like the right place to go for diagnosis of problems related to the synchros.

Sounds to me like you'll need some KY cream, which should come in the package from the company that sold you the warranty.

 

Yeah, I would think that would be a bit of a stretch for them to prove. That's why I'd like to see the TSB on that one.

I forgot to mention - there is one shift-**** related TSB - it has to do with the shift **** not being aligned straight. It pretty much echos the FSM instructions on how to remove/replace the shift **** without damaging the shifter mechanism.

 

No matter who replaces the transmission, make sure you request a cd009 be put in. If not you could be facing this again later down the road.