what are symptoms of a bad transmission?

[sepulchral]

Just got a 4th 240sx ka24de it has a bad clutch, i purchased a new clutch and flywheel, but i am thinking of getting another tranny, is there any way i can find out if this transmission is in bad condition? all i have is the previous owners word..


when i take the tranny off is there any way i can examine it?

[kandyflip445]

Put it in gear and turn the shaft. It should turn freely (not get harder to turn in any place) with a little effort. There shouldn't be any grinding sounds. Go through each gear. Manual transmissions are pretty tough. It should be alright if the maintenance was kept up. My tranny fluid wasn't changed until I took ownership of the car and it's still doing good.

[nismojunkie]

As far as trans bearings go, it'll sound pretty rough while driving in lower gears.
My 240 sounded like a bulldozer in 1, 2 and 3rd until I changed the trans bearings on the main and counter shaft.

[kandyflip445]

If the Main AND Counter shaft bearings were BOTH failing, you would have had noise in any gear.

[RBS14]

Grinding....

[Pacman]

*Hi Jack*

Trans grinds when going from first to second when the trans is cold and is sometimes hard to shift into second. Whats the problem?

[nismojunkie]

Not sure about the grind from 1st to 2nd. Maybe shaft bearings. The inability to shift gears easily may indicate bad synchs?
Someone help...

[Inland180]

if it grinds its going bad or its already bad :).

[kandyflip445]

Or that you just need to change the fluid. Try that first. That helped mine out LOTS, as it had never been changed since the car was bought. If that doesn't work the blocking ring for the 2nd speed gear probably don't have sharp edges anymore and are wore down. IIRC. A USED 1-2 synchro assembly was around a $100 from a junkyard here. Might be different there. And labor, unless you do it yourself.

[sepulchral]

thank you all

[Var]

bearing/synchro kits are pretty inexpensive. Try a company called Transtar for transmission internals. As far as i'm concerned your tranny hasnt gone bad unless you damaged the actual gearset which gets pretty expensive to replace unless you got a spare transmission laying around.

[Twinkie]

*i have an sr20 tranny* and today while going to work, i was trying to warm up the tranny, so while rolling and keeping my foot on the clutch at around 10 mph, i was shifting gears from 2nd to 5th, i accitdentally shift from 5th straight down to Reverse (because my ass was day dreaming for a second) and i was surprise my tranny actually even let the stick shift go into reverse while rolling. i didnt takre my foot off the cluth (or else i woulda been screwed) but it made a horrible sound. My heart was sad. I dont want to accept that my tranny is going bad. But i was wondering, if thats normal for the tranny to allow the gears to go into reverse while rolling at low RPM and MPH??? :doh: :bite: :eek:

[kandyflip445]

Of course it's gonna make a horrible sound. If it still goes through 1-5 THEN Reverse (at a standstill) without making noise. It should be fine. If you had your foot on the clutch long enough for the shafts to slow down in the transmission then it would be possible to shift into reverse with grinding. If you are in Neutral and moving backwards at any speed and shift into reverse it will still grind.

[kandyflip445]

Anyone know if Reverse is even syncronized in our transmissions? I need to get my FSM out i guess.

[Pacman]

No, reverse isn't synchonized.

Are synchros hard to replace? I did change the gear oil and there is enough oil in there. I cant actually check the fluid level since the filler plug is stuck (long wrench, 160 pounds hanging of it, no budging at all), but I do know that there is enough fluid (like 3 or more quarts). Any other ideas.

[citizen]

the fill plug must come torqued to 2000ft/lbs from the factory or something. we couldnt get my friends off by jacking up a breaker bar under the car (thats most the weight of the car on it) and i've just about given up on mine.

[kandyflip445]

Use a torch to heat it up red hot then let it cool and try it. If you MUST get it out that would most likely work.

[citizen]

i was probably gonna try something along those lines tomorrow