I've had issues with my transmission since day once. A month into ownership, I had the entire clutch assembly replaced under warranty for a warped and poorly seated flywheel. I was sincerely hoping that month of driving (albeit for a very short time) would not have any sort of chain reaction. Do you think it could have? Details to follow.

Turned the car over a bit ago. The engine oil temperature indicated that the car was 1/4 warmed up, if you will. Now, I've always had an issue with my 2nd gear grinding for as long as I can remember. We thought that maybe I wasn't letting my car warm up long enough (a full minute), so I let it sit for a bit. Despite, pulled out of the garage and slowly put it into first (I always do in the morning), and shifted around 2800 revolutions into 2nd. Here's the interesting part - I got kicked out of second...somewhat. The clutch for SURE was completely disengaged (clutch pedal all the way to the floor). It grinded (like when you try to get into a gear without disengaging the clutch) MUCH noticeably this time. What distinguishes this time from the other grinds? It kicked me out - synchros remained closed and I did NOT get into 2nd. Slowly pulled over...tried again. Got into 2nd with some grinding yet again, but it stayed in.

I've been known to somewhat take my car to the dealership over zealously. Can someone please GUIDE me in HOW to explain my issue to them, so that they take me seriously, please?

Your time is greatly appreciated,
Eric



PS I also sometimes (as best as I can describe it) get pushed out of 1st into 2nd as well. It's not that I'm getting kicked out, but when I disengage the clutch to go into 2nd, something pushes the shifter out; doesn't feel normal. 3rd and 5th gears are extremely notchy. The car has 31,000 miles on it (purchased new, so I'm the ONLY driver). The transmission is on FRESH fluid (I did the change myself - I did NOT over fill or under fill the transmission case) - OEM Nissan MTF purchased from Infiniti of Kirkland (about 1,000 miles old).

 

thats so weird your having those issues on a manual transmission.
tell them to drive it ? have a mechanic from infiniti take it home ?

 

^ whs, the best way is to tell them on the phone that you are having engagement problems(probably synchros) and you want a tech to drive WITH you when you come in for your appointment since thats the only way you can express the problem to them in person.

If there is something wrong with the car (and im sure that there is) then the tech should take care of everything under warranty. just make SURE that you tell them that you need the tech to ride with you else if the cannot replicate the problem then they'll just return the car with that phrase and ask you to come in again on a fresh appointment to drive with a tech.

 

Definitely have the dealer drive it. If they can reproduce the symptoms you're describing, they will most likely want to verify that your clutch is properly disengaging (regardless of the pedal position), and if it is, you will most likely receive a new transmission. What you describe is typical of bad clutch disengagement, or bad synchros. It's just unusual to have multiple synchros fail simultaneously. Again though, reproducibility is absolutely key here!

On a side note, engine temp has nil to do with tranny temp. When it's cold, you can warm up your engine up completely, but still get sticky, notchy shifting until the tranny oil warms by friction of the tranny turning while driving. My 6MT always had a sticky 1-2 and 2-3 shifts when cold. I just took shifting real slowly...almost feeling them into position until the tranny warmed up, then all was fine and I could shift normally

 

My friend had his 350Z bought back by Nissan for the full amount he paid on the car under lemon law due to the exact same issue! The dealer rebuilt his transmission once, and replaced it twice. Never resolved the grinding issue. Since you're well past that period, the only thing I can suggest is that you bring back the service invoice showing that you already had it replaced once under warranty before and they shouldn't give you a hard time. Just take the mechanic for a drive and if you are able to reproduce the problem, they should take it in once again under warranty.

 

And my 6mt performs the same hot or cold, if it's more notchy when cold, it's probably time to change the mtf.

 

Well, from my experience, the temperature dependent behavior of the shifting had nothing to due with the freshness of it's oil, because it was exactly the same throughout the life of both the original factory oil, which went 30k, as well as the 19K I put on it after the change to synthetic. It didn't matter whether it was new or not.

 

Crossfire and G35 both their manual boxes are very notchy and chunky. If you have driven a Honda/Acura it is like butter and slides right in (NO HOMO...seee sig ). The G35 gearbox and crossfire took some finesse and correctly handling the gear-shift. Cold weather was absolutely horrible for the gear boxes and made them very chunky and had plenty of resistance. Once it warmed up then you had an easier time. That is the nature of the beast but for how little it cost to change the fluid and how easy it is no one should have any excuses to blame old fluid.

 

^ i actually love these gearboxes more than acuras cause they feel more 'precise' and there seems to be a near 0% chance of messing up a shift at higher rpms at least for me, i have not had the car push me out of a gear yet and it drives fine even on the coldest of mornings though there is no doubt it gets smoother as fluid heats up which is common physics.

 

I should perhaps clarify, I meant if the gearbox feels more notchy to the point it feels like it's going to grind or it does grind and you have to slow your shifting because of it, fresh fluid usually helps.