Skip a gear?

Dembflyr

My friend went to get my car and bring it to the other dealer today. The service manager told him that after he and I had talked yesterday he took another Z that was on the lot for a drive and said that he now feels a big difference in the way the two cars shift. He started a file to either get the transmission swapped or the syncros replaced.
My friend was unable to get in touch with me to ask if I wanted to leave the car at the first dealer so he just took the car to the other one for me.
I am glad that the service manager went a little further to investigate but I do not feel comfortable with them doing the work.
When my friend was leaving the manager said "I still say that you shouldn't skip gears with this car".
Well see what the other dealer says. I have no problem adjusting my driving style if this is a problem to these cars.

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2012 G37S Sedan 6MT - Project Practicality

2009-6MT-Sport/Touring-Dembflyr's Journal-TT Build Thread-CAR IS SOLD

wishihadnav

yeah i do it all the time...1st to 6th..haha.

SkyZ

better than me, didnt know u had to shift into first in the first place. no wonder the car didnt really move anywhere.

rmorrow

I do not skip gears shifting up...just me...nothing is wrong with skipping on upshifts as long as you do not bog the car excessively. I skip quite often on downshifts, and I usually shift into neutral from second or third gear when slowing to a stop at traffic signals/stop signs...I just coast in at neutral to a stop, then shift into first when I start moving again. In heavy traffic (all the time in Houston) it is easier to coast to a stop in neutral rather than wear your leg out downshifting.

memorylasts

i go 1-2-4-6 if i am just cruising, if i am on the highwy i downshift to 4th if needed, and skip 5th, and if for some reason im doing a full row, then i will use every gear.

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nurseryboy

With the kind of roads / lights / traffic around here, I often go from 1st - 3rd - 6th. As long as the RPM's are where they need to be, it's perfectly fine for the transmission. I'm glad they're going to fix it for you. Something is definitely wrong (if you haven't figured that out from all the posts).

Dembflyr

Well the second dealer is saying that there is nothing wrong with my car. Now the first dealer is going back on their word and will not repair the transmission because the service manager believes that I am abusing the transmission.
He said "If I put another transmission in this car and you keep shifting the way you do, you'll be back here in another 6000 miles."
Who started this wives tale at Nissan that you cannot skip a gear?
Got a call into NNA and a third dealer in town.
As of yet there has been no file started on my car.

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2012 G37S Sedan 6MT - Project Practicality

2009-6MT-Sport/Touring-Dembflyr's Journal-TT Build Thread-CAR IS SOLD

Dembflyr

Third dealer agrees with me that there is a problem and that skipping a gear probably didn't cause it. It is now grinding 5th to 6th and is difficult to get into 3rd as well.
New transmission has been ordered and will be installed, hopefully, by Friday.

It really sucks that I had to go through all of this trouble just to get a warranty issue fixed. Out of four Nissan dealers that I have dealt with I have only gotten good customer service from the last one. The service manager has kept me in the loop the entire time and they have treated me with respect. Unlike the last three. 25% Satisfaction with Nissan dealers so far.

I also have to say that I am so thankful for good friends. I have been out of town during this whole ordeal and a few friends have been awesome. They have been shuttling my car from dealer to dealer for me. I think I owe them a dinner.

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2012 G37S Sedan 6MT - Project Practicality

2009-6MT-Sport/Touring-Dembflyr's Journal-TT Build Thread-CAR IS SOLD

terbo

I had this exact issue. I took the car in and told them that. They responded with the same nonsense about not skipping gears. I hit them with "I've got a degree in mechanical engineering, I know what the hell I'm talking about" card. They took it for a drive and a week later I had a new transmission installed.

As for skipping them now, I still do. Sometimes I'll take off in 2nd, go to 4th, then to 6th, usually when I'm feeling real lazy.

The BlueMax

This trans is a finess type it has to warm up and at certain RPMs it might clunk a little or grind a bit you just have to work around it like first thing in the morning I shift from 1st to 3rd and its smooth. You have to shift slowly unless your really getting on it. The a T56 six speed in my 97 WS6 T/A shifts better and the gate travel is less. This is one of the reasons of how they keep the price down on the car. I would of outsourced the transmission to Honda.

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The Blue Max

Josh@STILLEN

Glad you found a dealer willing to look at what it is for the merits, and also glad you don't have to deal with your initial thought of "I thought it was normal".

I have an '04 G35 Coupe 6MT and have gone through three transmissions due to synchro issues, 5-6 was definitely one, another can be second, but it's very common, and documented all over the different boards.

There is a synchro problem, and it either hits you or it doesnt, and I'm happy to say the 4th transmission in my G has been trouble free for over 40k miles, where the others were less than 20k..

Nissan's fix is to throw a new transmission at it instead of fixing the actual issue, I'll refer to their judgement on cost and effectiveness of that program, but I can guarantee you there are a LOT of transmissions sitting around with bad synchros.

Did wait the first one out, and I can guarantee you it would definitely not get better.. on my first go around after being turned away from a dealer I finally got the point where even a 4 second shift to 5th with the clutch depressed woudn't get it into gear without grinding.. and at that point the service manager who I had to take with me recognized the problem.

Unfortunate, but simulating the problem with a service advisor in the car is usually the fix.. and yes they won't be happy at you attempting to show them shifts at 130mph.. typically does it on the downshift at high revs too.. regardless of ultimate speed.. FYI

Itsalex687

shifting really? I just stay in first everywhere I go. You should see the looks of jealousy I get when people look at me cruising at 7k rpm going 20 mph. But when I do shift I skip gears.

11Thumper

If you skip gears you're putting stress on the syncros of the gear you're going into. Generally not a great idea, especially if skipping more than one gear. I may be overly sensitive coming from the S2000 world. It's a big no-no there...

alb84z31t

I'll jump from 3rd to 5th or 4th to 6th, I do it frequently to get up to speed when turning onto a highway then stay at the speed limit. There is no problem skipping gears down shifting or up shifting. I've done it my whole life with all different types of cars. The service manager that told you not to do it just gave an opinion from ignorance. As a side note... I had my wife call the service dept. of my local dealer for a valve stem cap and the person she spoke to (ironically also a service manager) told her it was an after market part. I went down there after work, and they pulled one out of a drawer at the parts dept. and gave ot to me. Not all service managers are experts on all the cars.

Dembflyr

Since this thread got bumped I guess I'll update.

The car now has 18,000 miles 12,000 since the transmission was swapped and I've had ZERO grinding issues since. And just in case you missed it I've been boosted for the last 6,000 miles too. So much for it being my fault that the first trans went bad.

I've found that service managers and techs will usually follow the rule "If you can't blind them with brilliance then baffle them with bull****".

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2012 G37S Sedan 6MT - Project Practicality

2009-6MT-Sport/Touring-Dembflyr's Journal-TT Build Thread-CAR IS SOLD