My 2003 touring was made in 6/03, doubt if they changed anything between 2003 and 2004. Mine shifts fine but I don't drive it that hard. I'm use to shifting a Dodge 1ton 6speed CTD so this thing seems smooth.

 

Mine was built in 7/03 too, had the tranny replaced back in Jan or Feb due to some weird gear whine/howling in 5th. No grinding in any gears, but they replaced the tranny anyways. Howling is gone, and the whining in 6th is present and is said to be normal by many members of this forum.

But, even the new tranny behaves like you described. It's not butter smooth, but I can live with the notchiness going into 1st or 2nd gear. I never downshift into 1st unless I'm either stopped or barely rolling. Also, the service manual specifically recommends or requires that the clutch is depressed all the way for a gear change. In the past, I've always gotten away with depressing the clutch only half way for a gear change. I don't do that in the Z though because of these tranny issues.

 

Just to let others know that are having problems with the tranny issue. Im in the final step in resovling my problems with nissan. After getting BBB involved got a call from nissan today and they are going to buyback my veh. After 4 trannys and tire issues Im glad its over. So all in the same boat dont give up its a long process started in Oct last year. If anybody looking for a cold air filter intake I'll sell my its new never bolted on $50 you pay shipping.

 

Any G35 owners out there have the problem? Post even if you haven't... there hasn't been any G-related tranny posts here yet.

Joe Mac

 

I know on my old sentra, among other cars, that if someone drove for a long period with there hand resting on the shifter, that it would cause problems with the tranny staying in gear. I've also heard that sometime when people are having problems with the tranny and going in and out of gears, sometimes the shifter itself is to blame. I'm curious to see if the short shifter could be a couple thousandths of an inch off causing chronic problems in the trannys. Has anyone looked into this? I know that getting the 008 tranny and the undated pdeal assembly helps the problem, but are you just putting an oversized bandaid on to make the problem go away for a lot longer.

my $.02

Joe Mac

 

The problem with the pre-008 transmissions was bad synchronizers....not the shift linkage. I haven't heard of any 008 trans failure yet...and I have nearly 10k miles on my 008 trans.

 

... but what caused the syncros to go bad... its either a bad design, or something else is doing something it shouldn't be doing, resulting in the syncros to go bad. I guess either way they can just beef up the syncros to make em last longer, but if so the problem will come back after maybe 3 or 4 times the miles as before... just a thought... it could very well that the syncros where just poorly designed, but you gotta explore all possibilities when troubleshooting.

Thanks

Joe Mac

 

I have the 008 model with the double cone synchros and I also have grinding into second and third, just like the old design. I had this right out of the box with this new transmission. It's actually worse than the original broken one which sounded like it was going to blow up. When it's cold you can't shift into 2nd or 3rd at all without grinding. I don't know if I got a bad one or this is as good as it gets. According to Nissan, even after watching a video of it grinding, it's "normal".

 

I have the 008, but without the new clutch assembly, and I don't get any grinding. My friend with his original clutch ('04 Perf) has no problems either. I have about 13k miles and he's at 20k. OverZ, how many miles do you have on either of your trannies? Maybe I drive like a grandma (23-24mpg avg)...

I still have a bad habit of leaving my hand over the stick shift too, which I read might be bad for the syncros, but I don't know where else to put it (especially without a porno mag).

Since you're in FL, it must be the humidity that's screwing up your syncros! Move to NorCal, and use moisturizers!

 

LOL, tough to break old habits eh?

 

Easy answer...cheap synchros...they thought they could skimp, and it came back and bit them in the a$$.

Snychros will always eventually wear out...just like a clutch wears out. They take the brunt of the gear speed change when shifting gears and they wear. How long it takes them to wear out depends on the quality of the synchro and how much abuse they take.

Holding your hand on the shifter will not hurt the snychros.

 

When down shifting into 1st while rolling are you rev matching??

 

The first tranny was loud when I bought the car. 2nd and 3rd gears became progressively difficult and it was replaced at 10k. It was obvious the moment I drove off the lot that the second tranny was worse than the first. It's not making alot of noise but I cannot not shift into first unless at a complete stop and second and third clunk or grind on almost every shift, particularly when cold. You may be right about Norcal though. Not only is it humid here, it's very hot. Been in the 90's all week. It's a good thing that the AC works.

 

Tranny replaced by Nissan of Scottsdale approx. January 04.

 

There shouldn't be any grinding. I think notchiness into 1st, 2nd, and maybe 3rd is something I can learn to live with. All that rattling in the transmission is funky...I'm learning to live with that too.

But, grinding. No, I couldn't live with that. My old car started grinding its gears at around 140k miles, and it's only getting worse. The car is worth less than $2k now, so it's not even worth it for me to get a new clutch/tranny. I got 10 years and over 150k miles out of it without ever getting a single tuneup; I just did the basic air filter, oil change, spark plug, brake pads maintenance myself. I consider that car disposable now. On a Z with less than 20k miles, I'd be demanding the dealership fix the grinding problem (again)!

 

Mines going to be finished this Tuesday at Mossy Nissan San Diego 19k-ish miles

 

Tranny replaced April 2004, Maroone Nissan (Miami, Florida)
First one had problems with third gear.
New one will gear from fifth to neutral on its own.
Maybe, I will have an accident and die and Nissan will finally noticed our problems.

 

tranny replaced at 14,400 miles. 5th gear grind. Courtesy Nissan Richardson, Tx.

Great service dept. Have all my service done here. Ken Palmer asst. service mgr is a real prince.

 

Mine's just about junk now. I bought from Mossy in SD. Which location took care of you? My Mossy that I deal with is not recepyive even though I complained about the trans at the first service. Now at 19,000 mi, it's crap on the end of the stick.

 

on my door it says 04/04. I bought the car this month. Does that means I am less likely to experience a problem? knock on wood!!!>.................