'ello guise I've got a manual -97 Nissan S14a 200sx, (driven around 200 km/124 miles) and I have a problem with the transmission or clutch. The problem seems to occur only when the car is cold, it shifts from 1-2 and from 3-2 very stiffly, it even makes a grinding noise. When it's warmed up, it's still stiff to shift but doesn't make any noise. Any car-guy here who know about motors and trannys? The problem could be a bad throw out bearing, bad fluid (now has Redline fluid) or broken gearbox. I've no idea. Any help is appreciated, thank you!
There is no way a clutch can cause that issue so you can eliminate that directly. Without knowing exactly where it feels stiff its hard to say, I'd personally suspect a knackered synchro on 2nd gear and possibly 3rd too.
It's hard to describe, but it feels like it won't go into second gear. Sometimes it goes halfway and makes a horrible grind noise, then I back it to neutral, put it to second and it goes normally. It only does that when it's cold though, sounds really bad.
The material synchros are made of does alter size with temperature a little. I personally suspect the one on the 2nd gear has been knackered, 124000 miles, its reasonable for one to be worn out after that mileage if its been abused. The synchronising clutches in a gearbox typically engage before the gear itself fully engages, they allow the input and output shafts to synchronise in speed quite gradually to allow the dog clutch to already be rev matched when it fully engages. If they fail, well you can treat it as a gearbox without a synchroniser such as in a heavy truck (typically unsynchronised) or a really old car. Double clutching and rev matching kinda eliminates the need for one. No idea how much it would cost to replace. But as it is in use when shifting into gear, it stands to reason that it may be responsible for making it difficult to shift into 2nd. That horrible grind, that is you ramming a dog clutch into place when the input and output sides are spinning at different rates and the synchro hasnt smoothed that out for you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_transmission#Synchronized_transmission Replace wherever I say dog clutch with dog collar (i count it as a type of clutch myself)
Actually now that I think about it, I remember shifting into any gear too slowly (enough for RPM to drop to about 1000 or below) it is very stiff to shift. But it's only the second that makes the noise and doesn't want to engage. (I might also be a slow shifter or a bad driver, I've only had a license for about 5 months ) Might be nothing, the car wasn't really intended to drive in my country with below 3 celcius degrees and under in the winter Gotta see what I can do about it without costing too much, the car was expensive enough as it is Thanks a lot, very informative help!
