Gear Grinding

[judaspriest517]

I'm having some issues with 2nd gear (also 5th, but that's obvious). Whenever I shift into 2nd the gears tend to grind. I can usually avoid this by easing it into second, but that doesn't always work. This grinding becomes really annoying after delivering pizzas for 8 hours on a friday night.

I have only come up with 2 solutions so far, possibly I just need to adjust my clutch, or my synchro is wearing out. I really hope that it is the first because I have directions for that in my Haynes manual.

[toy-driver]

Mine does the same. Probably synchros as the clutch is hydraulic and rarely needs adjustment. If it was the clutch it would be much more noticeable on 1st gear.

[judaspriest517]

Can you replace individual synchros or is that something that requires an entirely new transmission?

[Raptor13x]

The clutch likely has nothing to do with it. Your synchros are wearing out. You can try changing the trans fluid, replacing it with some high-quality stuff like Redline MT90- that should help, but if you want it perfect, it's a matter of tearing down the trans and replacing the synchros, which isn't all that cheap. Expect to pay at least $400, probably a lot more, unless you do all the work yourself.

[judaspriest517]

I already replaced the tranny fluid with royal purple, that stuff is so cool, i wish it smelled better. The new fluid helped some but not enough. Well hopefully it will last me another four years, or maybe I'll be able to find a decent paying job in college.

[MR2 Drifter]

its gonna cost u alot of money, and its worth it because I know that nobody with an mr2 wants to be caught in a red light and along comes a honda and then he heres you grinding n laughs

[conor]

If the fluid change didn't help, then yeah.. time for a rebuild. You can always try a heavier fluid, too.

In a synchronized transmission, the rings must match speeds/slow down and mesh in order to lock in a driven gear ratio. The transmission fluid, aside from lubricating and cooling the internal parts, also serves to slow down the synchronizer rings between shifts, allowing them to mesh smoothly. The fluid, which contains friction modifiers and is a multi-weight oil (just like engine oil) needs to be changed at specified intervals (just like engine oil). So.. a heavier fluid will slow the synchros down to matched speeds quicker, resulting in smoother shifts.

Originally Posted by MR2 Drifter

its gonna cost u alot of money, and its worth it because I know that nobody with an mr2 wants to be caught in a red light and along comes a honda and then he heres you grinding n laughs

I think it's worth it because a functional gearbox is a lot more fun to drive than a broken one. Not sure what stop light racing morons in Hondas has to do with it, but hey.. whatever tickles your fancy..

[judaspriest517]

So a heavier fluid wouldn't damage anything in the process would it?

I agree that since my gears started grinding, I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about driving it anymore.

I used to try to race those hondas, until I came to the realization that my stock 4a-ge really can't compete too well with a riced out vtec.

[Gairloch]

You can also learn to double clutch until you're ready to do something about it If you do it well double clutching allows you to bypass bad synchros.

If you need some directions on that ask and I'll write it out later. I would do it now but it's almost 6am and I'm about to topple.

[lsgheero]

The question is would it be cheaper to buy a (used/already rebuilt) tranny and put that in over getting a rebuild done. I know the guy I got my engine from a year ago asked me at the time of purchase if I wanted the tranny as well and said it would only cost me another $600 for it. (rebuilt of course). I told him no because I didn't have the extra cash and I was certain my tranny was fine.

(now the $600 was just the cost for the tranny not labor to install I do all my own installations)

However I friend of mine recently had his tranny (auto not manual) rebuilt for his 1997 dodge caravan and it cost him over 1k to have them do it. (his was parts + labor)

[MR2 Drifter]

Trannys r expensive, try 2 find someone in your area that'll rebuild it for cheap