a couple of times, when shifting from 1st to 2nd (racing), i have cought a grind! now every once and a while (every few days or so) i get a quick, faint, grind going from 2nd to 3rd! (under normal driving ) i cant reproduce this problem on demand?!?! i have just under 7000 miles, and im conserned it might be tranny problems! so to those of you with replaced trannys, does this sound firmiliar?? (yes i know how to drive a stick, so please dont jump in and accuse me on not knowing how to drive! this happens under PROPER driving!) thanks all in advance!

 

my car does the same 2nd to 3rd grind a few days a week, when the car is cold... so only the first or second 2-3 shift.

 

My tranny clunks into gear on the 1st to 2nd shift, mostly when cold, but sometimes when warmed up. And yet other times, it's nice and smooth. It must be something about this particular tranny. However, I've owned 3 honda's previous to this car, and they all had smooth as silk shifting, every time. Unlike the Nissan, it didn't depend on the alignment of the planets, or what kind of mood the car was in that day or anything. So now I'm just waiting for it to get worse before I bring it in.

 

I found out that the problem with the tranny is for those who are getting the grinding shifting into third at 4000 rpm. the clunking noise we here is the self test it does on the traction control. thats in our owners manual. hope this helps.

 

My problems started with grinding from 1-2 shifts at high rpm's. I jackrabbit start basically every time I become stopped and I usually do 1-2-5-6 shifts, or on roads with less people or higher speed limits, I might do 1-2-3-6 or 1-2-3-5-6.

When I skipped gears (like 4th), going into 5th or 6th it started grinding like hell after a while, even when speed/RPM matching.

One thing that the dealer told me is that the '04's were going to have an updated clutch fork bracket. They were going to install that in my car instead of a new trans, but then changed their mind and just put in a whole new tranny.

I had about 5.5k miles when it was replaced. Got a new trans and it's been good ever since, got about 1k miles on it now. Hopefully it will not give me any problems.

Try skipping gears and see if it grinds for you too. I'm wondering if you might be having the same problem I did.

Good luck.

 

DeeZee,

I have pretty much the exact same situation as you. All through winter my car would clunk when going from 1-2 when cold, but would get much better when warm. Very rarely do I get a slight, umm..."hesitation" when going from 2-3. Also, going to 1st is pretty much impossible if I am rolling (even as slowly as 1mph) and things are cold.

My tanny has never been what I would call smooth. It has always felt notchy, but also very precise and solid. I don't mind the feel too much, although my 1-2 shifts are not always that quick.

My transmission has been like this ever since I got the car (but I really only started to notice it when the weather got cold - maybe a couple months after I got the car). I now have 23K miles, and nothing has become better or worse. I'm of the opinion that my tranny is fine but will probably never be extremely smooth.

If anything DOES happen, you all will be the first to know.

Oh yeah, I do drive pretty hard, and have been to a couple track days and 8 AutoX's. I also drive a twisty mountain road to work, and am shifting very frequently between 3-4-5 gears.

-D'oh!

 

D'oh, do me a favor, next time you drive your Z, start from a stop and take off FAST! like a drag race! when you hit 5000/5500rpm shift (fast!) try this a few times and see if you get a grind hitting second? this doesnt happen often, but im SURE the clutch is FULLY depressed! i dont drive like this from every stoplight/sign, but when i do drive like this ONCE IN A WHILE i get the grind??? im 98% possitive it a clutch problem!

 

I've posted this a bunch of times, but here it goes...........

You can either:
a. Wait 'till whenever you feel like it (or when the car has 35,999 miles ) & go to the dealer to get a new transmission

or

b. If it annoys you (like it did me) go to the dealer as soon as you can & get your new trans.



The problem is to replicate the grind to a Nissan tech. I did a fast shift from 1-2 3 times before it grinded in front of the tech. Once the tech hears your grind a few times, you have yourself a new transmission.

Grinding is NOT normal for our transmissions!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get it fixed!!!

Mine is smooth now, no matter how fast I shift.

Good luck guys!

 

thats my ONLY problem, i CANT do it on demand?!?!?! its occuring more often now, but they WONT fix it untill they get to see/hear it! its REALY frusterating!!! i know its going bad, now i just need to play the WAITING GAME!!!

 

Same here...

 

I've been theorizing about a clutch problem, too, since my clutch chatters and clunks like crazy. Its either a throw-out bearing that was bad from day one or the springs vibrate on the plate. Either that or its a synchro problem. But if it were a synchro prob, why does it seem so erratic? It never shifts nicely when the gear oil is cold. It usually shifts like butter when the oil has been warmed, but even so, I still get a few clunky shifts to 2nd. I can't downshift to 2nd without rev-matching either, usually. That kind of inconsistency doesn't seem indicative of synchro problems...

 

haha....that is...nice? well, is actually not bad, for titanium construction. I actually like the one they welded the pipes like that...sort of looks like the Amuse exhuast's piping, it looks aggressive. If you clean it up, it should be very nice.

good luck/.

 

The grinding is an issue, I think the rattle is normal. My car has both, but only happens 2-3 times a week into third gear. Other than that my tanny is the same as those above.

I think a lot of the chatter is the 2 piece flywheel, and the 2 sides are attached, or seperated by springs, so under certain conditions the 2 sides bang togehter.

Although when my brother drove my car (he drives a turbo talon with clutch and flywheel) he thought my tranny was going to blow up ...

 

Doing that right when you start up your engine is bad
You should let it get to operating temps before going above 3.5k rpms.

 

First time I took my car out to the track I had over 3500mi. My biggest annoyance was being locked out of 2nd gear everytime I raced. I realize if I did everything slower then I wouldn't be locked out of 2nd gear. So my times ended up around 15s-16s.

It's about 7k miles now and I've noticed the tranny working better and 2nd gear is getting easy. I can shift faster as well, too, when driving hard.

Grinding? Yup I've grinded a few times in all of the gears. It's pretty bad when the clutch isn't as forgiving.