91 nissan sentra SE-R manual transmission 54,000 mi

[babyapplejack96]

Hi i have a 91 nissan sentra SE-R 5Speed with only 54,000 original miles on it I have been having trouble with 5th gear for a while. Every time I shift to 5th it grinds into gear. Untill the other day i tried to shift into 5th and it popped right back out. Now it wont stay in 5th at all unless i hold it in and if i hold it in 5th i can't hit the gas to accelerate because it will pop out of gear. And if i dont hit the gas its constantly still trying to pop out . I am very mechanically inclined but this is completely stumping me. This is my only transportation and i have to ride on the interstate to work daily and cant do that with only 4gears Does anyone have any idea what it could be? Please help.

[2_Liter_Turbo]

This is a very common problem in these transmissions. The 5th gear and coupling sleeve need to be replaced. You can get away with just these two parts, but it's always a good idea to replace some other parts while you are in there as well. The 5th gear shift fork is also known to fail. Nissan redesigned the 5th gear (and I think the coupling sleeve) so the new parts should not have this problem. Another "fix" is to just get a replacement transmission for about $300 so you have less down time, and do the work on the transmission as you go. Since it's such a low miles transmission, you probably don't need to rebuilt the whole thing, just replace the worn parts.

[babyapplejack96]

If i replace the worn parts in the transmission is it likely to do the same thing eventually? I read up on google about it and everyone was saying that its likely to do it again if i get the same transmission that is in my car. Most were saying to get a newer model transmission like a 95-97 have you heard of this?

[2_Liter_Turbo]

Nissan redesigned the parts because of this issue. if you order the new parts from Nissan, it shouldn't happen again. If you get a transmission from a second generation G20 or fifth generation Sentra SE 2.0, they are much stronger and don't have the pop out issues. You will have to get new axles, convert it to cable, among a few other small things to get it to work however. I'm not entirely sure if the 95+ cable transmissions have Nissan's fix in them or not. I thought that they didn't, but not 100% positive.