Hey, my car has issues

When i bought my car a couple weeks ago, it shifted beautifully, but the shifter felt loose. (it rotated, not the knob, the shifter itself) Now it's gotten worse and grinds gears a lot. It hates downshifting unless I double clutch. I really don't want a new tranny on the car I just bought. It's sitting in my parking space now and I'm using an alternate car. HELP PLEASE!!

What i've tried:
The shifter seems to tighten in one direction. I tried to tighten it but it loosens itself. i didn't know short shifter were 2 piece jobbies... even when tightened, it doesn't downshift smoothly.

Now I'm double clutching all the time. It's cool, but much slower than just revmatching.

Another thought: could it be that the clutch isn't engaging/disengaging all the way?

Thanks so much,

JackoliciousLegs

 

Maybe, but when you have to double clutch just to get it into gear, it usually means your syncros are going...sorry buddy.

 

I don't HAVE TO double clutch, just downshifting i still have to match revs and go very slowly

 

Go very slowly gear to gear, i mean

 

that kinda sounds like your synchros man. Did you check to see if there is fluid in the tranny? You should change the fluids when you buy a new car.

 

might be a bad clutch too

 

Right thats true it could be your clutch isnt disengageing fully. If that was the case wouldnt he have trouble upshifting as well as down shifting?


You can try shifting when the car is off, if you can shift smoothly then I would probably look at the clutch first, tranny next. Fortuantly when the clutch gets looked at the tranny is dropped =) Of course its $$ to do either one though.

 

it truly sounds like some good ole synchros and they are very cheap i dont think. well good luck finding the prob

 

I do have trouble upshifting sometimes, and do have trouble putting it into 1st gear starting, or reverse getting out of my parking spot. I'm getting a new clutch, it's a 96 gsr, some mods, what do you recommend?

 

well i would guess that most people have a little trouble getting into 1st and reverse from a stop every now and then. When you get the new clutch make sure the shop visually checks out your tranny fluid and the tranny if they will to check for unnessary wear and tear.

Since you have trouble upshifting as well as down shifting it sounds really like your clutch isnt disengageing fully. Can you shift fine without using the clutch? If you lack the skills to downshift without the clutch, you should be able to upshift fine if you just go a tad slower on your upshifts. To do this:

while driving in 2nd gear (1st gear is just henious imo) when your ready to shift to third gear let off the gas slightly, pull the shifter into neutral and gently slide it up into third. If you do this in a fluid motion without letter the RPM's drop more than 1k (in a GSR atleast) then the tranny should pickup thrid gear just fine. (Remember your not using the clutch for this test) Continue shifting into 4th and 5th wihtout using the clutch. Let us know if you can do this. Key is to let the synchros do the work as your slowly shifting into the next higher gear. If your tranny is fine you should be able to do this easily. If you can do this test, but when you try to shift using the clutch it dosen't work it sounds like your clutch is shot.