I don't know if this will apply to all tranny's in their various stages of synchro decay, but i get 3rd gear grinds when my tranny is cold in the morning. This is what i've been doing, and it seems to help:

1. Start the car and let it warm up.

2. While you're letting the car warm up, depress the clutch fully.

3. Run the stickshift through all gear positions. Repeat this about 10-15 times. Maybe more if you feel the need to be thorough.

4. Start driving. For the first few normal shifts from 2nd to 3rd, try letting the RPM's drop close to idle speed before going into third.

5. Resume normal driving.

I've been testing this out for a little while now in the mornings. At first, it seemed to lessen the amount of grinds i had. This particular morning, i didn't have any grinds at all.

I don't intend this to be a solution, but if you're like me, and you're waiting for a clevis pin, or a tranny, or whatever it is they're making you wait on, this could help extend the life of the damaged tranny until they get you your new stuff. I hope this helps.

 

I agree with your process and think it seems to be a hit or miss proposition.
Some days it grinds; some days it doesn't. I never know why one day is good and another isn't.

Have you also just passed third gear altogether? I've done that for most of the last 6 months when the car is cold and gone from 2nd to 4th. I just let it run to about 4000 rpm and it's got enough torque where 3rd is almost not needed, just a bit of a bog. However, no grind, no guessing, no wincing and gritting my teeth if it does grind going from 2nd to 3rd gear.

Not the real answer we all need but in the meantime.....

 

Mine only grinds on colder mornings, and only until the tranny gets warm.....we've had like 2 mornings here that were unusually warm, and i got no grind those days.....other than that, it's been every day.......skipping third is a good idea.....never tried that before........lets just hope that Nissan will soon find a way to get the tranny lube itself properly.......in my case, that seems to be where the problem lies

 

your cars should never, ever grind, for any reason. You need new trannys and clevis pins, probobly. I had the problem twice, and got two new trannys and pins. Im on my second new tranny now, and the car drives great, no grinds, ever! Somethings wrong, so bring it to your dealer, dont let them convince you otherwise, because trust me, they'll try to.

 

I know....i've been in contact with NNA.......this is just so i can limp it along until the parts arrive.....clevis pin is currently on national backorder, so i thought that others might need to make their tranny last until the clevis pin is available again

 

See my orignal posting on this subject from Jan 8, 2003 and follow the threads as so many of us have had this same problem.

If you follow the threads to the end you'll see I've been working with my dealer for some time now and I'm waiting for the Clevis pin [it's now back-ordered {what does that say?} and frankly, my service rep says we'll end up putting in a new trans very soon anyway].

By the way, going from 2nd to 4th is fine and if you need to, where traffic is slow, it's never been a problem to immediately downshift to 3rd from 4th without any grind/rake.

 

I've been driving on my first bad tranny for almost 10k miles now, and that 3rd gear synchro is totally gone Now i'm hearing grinding on the 3-4 upshift and 5-4 downshifts too. The worst part is, when i'm rolling at low speeds.. around 20 mph, the 2-3 upshift will grind regardless... i can shift from 2-3, back 3-2 then 2-3 .. GRIND... 3-2... then 2-3..GRIND! I'm saddened that I had to drive with this bad tranny for the longest time because nissan wouldn't acknowledge it. Sigh.

 

Personally, i think the Clevis Pin fix that Nissan is frontin' is pure horsesh*t......i think they're trying to buy time until they can figure out whats going on.....i know some people are on their 3rd transmission....if they were to receive 2 more, and the problem still persisted, Nissan would have to buy the car back.....they REALLY, REALLY don't wanna do that......especially not with their flagship

 

I have an issue but I don't know if its actually the grind everyone speaks of.

Going to 3rd or 5th (clutch to the floor), sometimes I feel a strong knock on the shifter (no sound at all) just feels like something slightly punches the shifter. It seems to happen more often if I let the revs drop a little before shifting.

Also, does everyone else get the loud bang sound in 1st when you drive(whine) up to about 3-4k and just kick the clutch?

 

Sorry, don't have that one.......does it happen all of the time?.....or just when it's cold?

 

I get no grinds from my tranny when shifting, but the one thing that is bugging me is the grind i hear on startup. It seems to happen like once in awhile. It was there before I changed to redline tranny oil (two weeks ago) and i just recently heard the grind again like a couple days ago. Anybody else have this?

BTW, the switch to 50/50 of Redline MTL & MT90 has made my tranny more smoother than before. I also changed the differential oil with Redline gear oil. What I noticed is less whine, not as notchy, and made the 1st-2nd shift in cold much better. Also before the switch to Redline, I would hear a pop sound when pushing the clutch in when in 1st.

 

Selski12:
I took my RedLine trans and diff oils back home with me until my dealer gets this grind issue resolved by either the Clevis pin or another trans installed.

I can't see wasting the $30+/- for oil into a trans that may be sent back to Nissan for a teardown and engineering study.


zxsaint:
Once in a while I'll get a slight push-back through the shifter. It happens when I'm not really shifting vigorously. More of a "lazy gear change" shift than any other way to describe it. No grind ever but I feel that push-back.