i was wondering if anyone else's shifter on the 1-2 upshift felt as if it was getting caught? when i shift from first to second, the shifter gets stuck in a notch around wehre neutral is before it goes into 2nd, and sometimes i get this same feeling in the 2nd gate as well...my friend says its common with 2003 as he has one as well...

 

That is common as well as 1 - 2nd grinding on the earlier VIN cars.
Allot of stuff about this in the repairing forum. Check it out.

 

I had these exact symptoms, including the grinding when ran very hard. I had the tranny replaced. It didn't help one bit. It still grinds, I now have a 2nd appointment for a tranny inspection.

 

ppak3... as Zrated said... you can check this problem more thoroughly in the repair forum.

The 1-2 shift problem you are referring to has been affectionately called "the lump"....

 

hhmm...mine just started getting caught trying to go to 6th. I have to leave it in neurtal, let the clutch out and press in back in and put it in 6th. other gears seem fine though.

jon

 

Mine's 2-3. I've got 3 "grinds" going from 2-3 during maximum acceleration efforts. I put the same effort as normal, but a "lump" as someone referred to it, suddenly appears between 2 and 3 and my normal timing to let the clutch out happens, but the shifter is caught and unable to go to 3, resulting in !@##@#@!#$ noises. It's not guaranteed to happen, and I'm more aware of it now, so I think I mentally have that "uh-oh" feeling on that shift, ready not to let the clutch out.

 

if you hear grinds that is your transmission going bad..trust me im on my 2nd one..