Who's 3rd gear sucks?

[spitz7985]

Who's 3rd gear sucks? I've talked to a few 240 owners around here and all of them have a sucky 3rd gear synchro. Not that my transmission is by any means great to begin with, but the horrible grind when shifting from 2nd to 3rd without a quick a pause in neutral is not only irritating but it slows me down when I'm trying to drive quickly. Has anyone rebuilt? When you rebuild, do you just change the sychros, or do the collars need to be swapped out as well?

[bcar240]

I second that! the 3rd problem is well known amung 240 enthusiasts. I love it when it happens with my friends in the car and they have no idea what is going on. Usually you can find a used, low-milage replacement transmission in a junkyard for cheaper than it would cost to rebuild the old one.

[spitz7985]

but if i do that, isn't it bound to happen again?

[ricebike]

change your transmission oil 1st; my 3rd gear was starting to grind... any fresh GL4 would make it shift waay smoother...

if that didn't work, then it's time to think of rebuilding transmission/trading it w/ a newer one...

[burnin240sx]

my 3rd syncro is fed. but double cluthing alows me to upshift fast still.

[ZULU]

YOu know... i was racing today and 3RD GEAR SUCKS !!! I was racing a GTI new one like 03 model beat it by two car lengths but anyways.. now without a grind and pop into 3rd shift...

and I just replaced my transmission oil with MOTUL which REALLY helped

[PhaneSoul]

my 3rd doesnt suck, all are fine.... but my car has been babied all its life...

[spitz7985]

change your transmission oil 1st; my 3rd gear was starting to grind... any fresh GL4 would make it shift waay smoother...

if that didn't work, then it's time to think of rebuilding transmission/trading it w/ a newer one...

did it. still grinds.

[fuzion]

I get a slight grind when going from 2nd to 3rd sometimes

Maybe its because of my crappy OBX SHORT SHIFTAH!!!!!!!!!!!

[spitz7985]

my 3rd syncro is fed. but double cluthing alows me to upshift fast still.

double clutching? :rolleyes

push the clutch in, shift out of 2nd, leave the clutch in, pause for a split-second in neutral, then shift into 3rd. explian to me how double clutching is better then this ^

AND... it is not fast, not even close to fast compared to what i'd normally be able to do with a working synchro

[spitz7985]

I get a slight grind when going from 2nd to 3rd sometimes

Maybe its because of my crappy OBX SHORT SHIFTAH!!!!!!!!!!!

or maybe it's because your synchro is on its way out. thats how mine started.

[[Zero-S]]

double clutching? :rolleyes

push the clutch in, shift out of 2nd, leave the clutch in, pause for a split-second in neutral, then shift into 3rd. explian to me how double clutching is better then this ^

AND... it is not fast, not even close to fast compared to what i'd normally be able to do with a working synchro

Rev matching (ie double clutching) is faster than waiting in neutral. I would know, my s13's 3rd gear synchro was on its way out as well.

[WeldingHank]

heel-toe, gotta love it!

[NX95240]

my grinds to in 3rd. not to bad but still does

[crzycav86]

Rev matching (ie double clutching) is faster than waiting in neutral. I would know, my s13's 3rd gear synchro was on its way out as well.

How exactly would double clutching work when upshifting? Isn't it a downshifting technique? Letting the revs drop while in neutral is the only way to rev-match an upshift to my knowledge.(unless you want to shift from 2nd to 4th and then double clutch into 3rd...)

[[Zero-S]]

No, you can rev-match upshifts as well. I did it all the time...

--Too bad I was just going through the process in my head and yes, it would be faster to wait that half-second in neutral as the ka doesn't drop revs all that fast.

I stand corrected.

[240SXer]

My SR grinds going into 5th gear. Like you can feel the syncro spinning still. Luckly I rarely take it into 5th racing, i'm smooth on it all the time. It feels like my transmission issnt aligned or somthing though, not quite like a normal grind. My KA transmission ground 3rd till I had the transmission rebuilt. What a waste of money...

[SilviaS14KA24DE]

hmm you CAN double clutch, match the rpms, upshifting, but it's no use cause if you shift right, the rpm will drop down where it's supposed to be anyway. unless you take forever to shift, then double clutch can come into play

Double clutching is a downshift technique as crzy said.

oh, heel-toe rocks! I've got it down and i can take corners like craaazay!

[[Zero-S]]

The only good time to upshift by double clutching is when your clutch goes out:)

[SHIFTrl240]

my 3rd is fine... but my 2nd gear grinds in when its cold still... usually only happens 1 or 2 times when i first start it up. but it could be something to do with the fact that its an s14 trans with about 35k on it

[SilviaS14KA24DE]

rofl zero

[StrangeLove]

Hmmm my trans has about 127k on it and it never grinds...

[Touchdown038]

Mine's not grinding at 155K, but makes a crapload of noise whenever the clutch is out and it's in any gear but 4th.

And 240SXer, why was rebuilding the transmission a waste of money?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

seriously... i have 160k on mine and it never grinds, even when shifting clutchlessly

[KRUZNBY]

My 2nd to 3rd is a bit hitchy as well. It does not grind very often. I put Redline in and it is at the very least not any worse. I usually just pause for a split second in neutral during daily driving.

[240SXer]

And 240SXer, why was rebuilding the transmission a waste of money?

Because it costed me 1800 bux (got a new clutch too), and I only kept that motor for about 20k miles on it. The grind wasnt all that bad, and the clutch was fine. I thought the waranty was going to cover the transmission. It didn't..

[[Zero-S]]

Mine's not grinding at 155K, but makes a crapload of noise whenever the clutch is out and it's in any gear but 4th.

And 240SXer, why was rebuilding the transmission a waste of money?

Because you could get a low mileage one for cheaper than the cost of a rebuild.

(Won't stop me from rebuilding tho)

[Touchdown038]

Yeah you can get a used one, but I've read many stories about people who bought a transmission with "80K" on it only to find that it started grinding / making noise within 5K miles.

However, $1800 is definitely not worth it. I was thinking it would only be around $1000...

[Arrow]

Mine's not grinding at 155K, but makes a crapload of noise whenever the clutch is out and it's in any gear but 4th.

Just so that you know that is because your 4th gear bearing is going out. Mine did that too with about 160K on it... Other than that I had no problem w/ it, then I rebuilt it... Now the only problem I have is it catches going into 5th! But I hope some new/better transmission oil will fix that problem!

[cory2081]

Mine grinds when upshifting to 3rd if I wind the KA near redline. I fix that problem by shifting a little early. Mine grinds 2nd a couple times when it's cold outside, but, if you shift it slowly it won't. When it's warm, it does fine. I don't forsee being able to powershift this trans though like I could in my '99 Mustang GT, it's just not gonna happen.