How to Tell if 2nd or 3rd Synchro is out?

[S14aMike]

So what would I do to tell if the synchro is out in my 2nd or 3rd gear?

[Daunttless]

It grinds and will not go into gear very easily unless you are at extremely low RPMs.

[S14aMike]

LOL, no worries here.

[SLIMMY240]

it actually might still go in, but just grind a little. mine does in 3rd and 5th, they go in fine but they just grind a little at high rpms. it sucks though cause when i race and i hit 3rd everyone thinks im missin a gear or somethin

[Good240]

Mine has had trouble grinding going into 3rd for quite a while and hasn't gotten much worst. It has been a pain in the a** for a long time and I'm replacing the transmission. I have 1st to 2nd trouble also. Could it be failure of lubrication that made the syncroes get bad. I used to never miss gears until it became difficult, yet when I bought the car used and it had the 1st to 2nd issue from day 1. I hope to have a long and stressfree transmission life this time around. Any recommendation to keep the transmission in new working condition?

[SLIMMY240]

probably just keep descent maintnance on it, like fluid changes. i think its somethin like after the first 1000 miles of the transmission, and then every 30000 or somethin like that. i could be wrong. but also just try not to miss any gears too much, or force any in.

[Good240]

I was late too changed fluids I believe and the previous owner may never have eighther because of the apperant problems from the begining.

I've never powershifted, or missed gears except in the gears the syncroes got involved. When I did miss the gears I didn't make it anywhere but nuetral. So basically I never slammed it into any position it didn't want but I did shift quickly and neglected fluid maintence.

Any guys around here have a lot of miles on your 240SX and have little or no problems shifting at any given RPM? I would expect so. Also have you had the car most of those miles that were put on it to assure that was the original transmission.

[Good240]

Oh I forgot to mention this.

I plan to run some redline MTL in the transmission as soon as it is installed. I also plan the installation of a popular short shifter assembly. Do you think these help from missing gears or are they hardly nessecary?

[SLIMMY240]

that will help you as the driver not miss gears, but as far as the transmission itself not wanting to go in, you might wanna try some syncs in it. especially in 2nd and 3rd, cause in a 1/4 mile thats really all your shifting through.

[240sleeper]

I have a similair problem, it is hard as hell to get from neutral to first gear. As far as the other gears they all work fine. Is this my first gear synchro?? If so, is it a expensive operation or something that can be performed by myself? Thanks