A few months ago, my transmission locked up. It had been grinding in fifth and sixth for a few months. I had stopped at a light and somehow, when I shifted back towards neutral, it stayed in fifth gear, but jammed in the neutral position. I had to have the car towed. I put it in the garage and after a cold winter and a long trip for work, I finally found time to tear it down.
The transmission looks good; actually, quite stout and the sychros are in decent shape, albeit some wear. I found a chunk of the 5/6 fork in the baffle. My replacement parts come in Wednesday. The total cost of this repair is about $150, which includes seals, gaskets, and oil.

 

Props for doing it yourself.

 

That looks fun, but i can easily wait to tear mine apart.

 

Lawndart,

Big-ups to you for undertaking that repair job by yourself! How long did it take you to sufficiently perform the job? I only ask because the 5-6 gear shift in my '03 350z is alarmingly notchy even after I changed the clutch fluid, transmission and differential oil. I'm wondering if I need to replace the 5-6 fork as well..

Also, this may be a silly question but is the shift fork the same as the control lever assembly? Part Code 32840P in this diagram http://bit.ly/jCNNqP is the 5th & 6th control lever assembly but I cannot locate a 5-6 fork anywhere in the said diagram. Any clarification on this subject would be greatly appreciated!

 

Where it says "Parts Listing 1 of 2" on that page, click next. It's in the second illustration.

BTW - I forgot to mention, it's a CD008 transmission. I have a 2004.5 and it was replaced under warranty a few years/30,000 miles ago.

 

how the heck did you do that? the forks in these are pretty beefy.

 

No idea. It's the 5/6 fork, so it's not like I was racing or anything. CD008s do have some problems, so maybe I forced it. Who knows.