Crunch on 2nd

370Fan2000

Hi Guys,

Does anyone experience a "crunch" when going in to 2nd? I've had this problem since I've owned the car. The crunch happens as soon as I put it in 2nd, before letting go of the clutch.

John@Z1

If it's a grind you need to take it in to Nissan.

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m4a1mustang

If it is a grind, take it in.

If it's just a clunk... that's normal. Especially if it happens mostly when the transmission is cold. These are direct-input type transmissions so you get a lot of feedback through the shifter. They are beefy to handle the power so they aren't exactly the smoothest things around.

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KingZee

Yeah 1st to 2nd is hard to get used to on these cars. I was driving with my brother next to me and he wanted me to show him what the car had so I punched it in first and totally missed second totally got and he couldn't stop laughing at me. Damn younger bros grow up and laugh at you

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370Fan2000

It definitely does not sound like when you try and shift without the clutch. This is more like a crunch, not a grind. I'll try to record it and post it here.

m4a1mustang

Does it happen mostly when cold?

Does the shifting smooth out when it warms up?

A bit of a crunch/clunk is not abnormal, especially when cold with the stock transmission fluid. A switch to Redline fluid generally smooths the shifting action out quite a bit. The stock fill is not very good.

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370Fan2000

I will try and see, I don't recall right now to be honest.

Bathsponge

Exactly the same symptom with mine.

1) Crunch on 2nd - This doesn't happen all the time. I guess it happened mostly in the morning. Is this just because the mission fluid was not warmed enough? Will this get better if I change the stock fluid to some other product? Please somebody recommend good ones for me.

2) Shifting 1st to 2nd - It doesn't go in 2nd smooth if I don't shift at the certain RPM and speed. My question is, if I was pushing the clutch, shouldn't I feel any resistance when I put the gear into 2nd because the clutch is completely disengaged?
I went to Nissan dealership several times because of this, but their answers were just same. "normal".

KingZee

Guys this is really sounding like the normal tranny operation for the 370Z, there are a lot of posts on the board regarding this. Some Red Line tranny oil might help but isn't necessary.

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m4a1mustang

Depending on fluid, operating temperature, and your shifting style your shifts may or may not be smooth. Even if you've got the clutch pedal on the floor you can still experience a notchy feel on gear engagement.

You can help the transmission by switching to a quality fluid like Redline MT-85. It functions much better than the stock fill, especially in cold operation.

You also need to shift slowly and smoothly while the transmission is cold, or just during normal driving. When shifting gears you can apply very light pressure onto the shift lever as you are selecting the next gear and you'll feel the transmission "pull" the lever to the next gear. Often times you can avoid the clunk/crunch with this method completely. It's especially helpful following a cold start. Don't force your way into the next gear... glide right in.

In general these types of transmissions are noisy, notchy, clunky, etc... as long as you are not actually grinding gears (you'll know it if you are) you're fine.

My suggestion is to switch to Redline MT-85 and experiment with your shifting methods a bit when the car is cold to see what results in the smoothest engagements.

Agreed. The Redline is a major plus. Highly recommended.

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Bathsponge

Thanks, m4a1mustang. So mine was just as "normal" as others. "Abnormal" becomes "Normal" when it's common. HaHa..

By the way,

When shifting gears you can apply very light pressure onto the shift lever as you are selecting the next gear and you'll feel the transmission "pull" the lever to the next gear.

Did you mean that I can slightly push the lever toward the next gear and put the lever completely in when I feel the "pull"? This must take 0.5 more seconds to shift..?

m4a1mustang

Yeah, it is a slow shift. You'll have to try it out to get a feel for it, but the goal is not to force the shift if the transmission isn't ready for it. This is really important when the transmission is cold. After it warms up it should shift relatively smoothly so you won't need to take as much time as when it's cold.

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Mecinoid

The 6MT in my 350Z acted like that until a couple miles down the road and the oil in the tranny would warm up. I used to sit in the driveway and let the motor run in neutral with clutch out for about 2-3 minutes before cold morning drives and I didn't feel the notchiness or hear the noise as much. Once the tranny was warm... Not a problem. As the tranny broke in over the years it was less and less .... but, always there when it was bone cold and had sat over night especially outdoors.

I did see noticable improvement by draining out 1/2cup of tranny oil and replacing it with Prolong transmission oil. However, do not use the full 8oz. In other cars it made it so slippery that the syncros started to grind. A little bit of fiction is required on manual transmissions for syncro alignment I was told.