Somethin fishy with the tranny...

[anisht]

Ive been trying my car out with a friend.  he has been teaching me to drive stick today, and when he drove the car, at a light, making a turn he down shifted to first and before it got into gear it made this high pitched grinding sound.  He said the car wasnt grinding, but it was a first gear lock out, to avoid shifting into first and revving up too high, or somehting.  He was going like 15mph, about 1.5k rpm.  Is this normal? SOmething doesnt seem right...

btw- its a 1990 240sx.

[YellwMonky]

you should NEVER downshift into 1st gear with a stock transmission. The gear lockout will not make a "whining noise," it should have just prevented you from going into gear. That noise was probably him grinding first. I know on cars that don't have a first gear lock if you shift into first at a high speed it will grind. My car will usually lock me out if i'm going above 8 mph or so. If yours didn't, it was probably a nice fat grind.

[Fuzzy Ewok]

ew, yeah, downshifting into 1st gear = ugly unless you're almost completely stopped.

Edited because my keyboard hates me.

[sykikchimp]

I don't know of any first gear lockout on the 240 tranny.  however I am pretty sure 1st gear lacks a synchro that the other gears have, soo.. you have to rev match to get the gear in if your going a bit faster than normal

There really is no reason to be in first above 10 mph.  If there is, you must rev match to get it in gear.

[BboyOxygen]

My 91 had lockout.. It wouldnt let me go into first anywhere above 10mph.. You should never need to put it into first above that speed anyway.

[DuffMan]

Theres no such thing as first gear lock out, you can shift into first if you rev match. It's not really a good idea though.