Loose/sloppy shifter

[leper421]

I just picked up an 03 z, and the shifter is extremely sloppy. When the car is in gear I can move the shifter side to side almost as much as I could move the shifter on my 240sx while in neutral. Is this normal, or is the bushing on the linkage extremely worn?

[leper421]

29 people viewed this post, and NONE of you have a mt or cant say "thats normal" or "my car isnt like that"?????

[bone_stock_240]

That definately isn't normal. Hey there Restless Rhonda, maybe people didn't know, so they didn't want to feed you false info. The shifter should definately not move around that much. Maybe the bushing is completely busted or just not there. Does it pop out of gear at times? Does it have an aftermarket shifter?

[leper421]

Thanks for the reply It has the stock shift knob, and I assume the shifter itself is stock. It hasnt popped out of gear at all. Also, I dont know if it is related, but 5th gear is a ***** to shift into, from 4th or 6th gear. If dont do it right(I'm down to about half the time now) I wind up in 3rd. A friend's girlfriend said she had the same problem with 5th gear on her 6sp GTI, until she got used to how to shift it correctly. And while I'm on a rant about the transmission, 5th and 6th grind before engaging unless I hold the clutch for a full second before shifting.

I just bought the car a week ago with 43k miles, and it is a 'certified' pre-owned from the dealer. I have a 60 day bumper to bumper warranty, but would prefer not to bring it back to the dealer to have them fix it. I have a VERY strong distrust of any mechanic touching my car. I did all my own work upkeeping my 91 240 for 6 years (and it was quite alot of work). On two occasions shortly after bring my car to two different places for an alignment or NY state inspection, some important bolts mysteriously started working themselves loose (no proof, but strong suspicion). And also 3 seperate instances of crossthreaded lugnuts that had to be drilled out after getting new tires put on.

[leper421]

I just fixed the problem with the difficulty of shifting into 5th by moving the guide plate on the shifter a little to the right. Still grinds going into 5th and 6th though...

[jspence]

My 03 is sloppy but not that sloppy. My 2nd gear synchro is slow sometimes. Otherwise what you describe isn't normal. Grinding is BAD.jbs/

[bmike818]

Hey there Restless Rhonda

[350zSJD]

There are many issues on the mt, I would take this in for warranty work

unless you know about transmissions

[H4RDCOR3]

its probably your shifter bearings....

[Pycakmark]

[H4RDCOR3]

bushings lol thats what i meant

[jabber87]

i know a guy that i met down here that has gone through 2 mt's... not saying he doesnt power shift or anything, just that the transmission in the Z is an obvious week point in the 03's... I got my 03 Z in december of 04, and the dealer i got it from put a new mt in june of 05.... i was disapointed to find out its a common problem though... maybe they will fix the problem in the later models...

[leper421]

As a closing to the thread I started, the transmission locked up 3 weeks ago. I had it towed to the dealer I bought it from, and they replaced it with a brand new transmission, shifter, and a new clutch too. It now shifts like a completely different car, and it cost me nothing other than being with out my car for a week.