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Tranny won't let me go throw gears like they're butter.

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Old 12-24-03, 10:23 AM
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Tranny won't let me go throw gears like they're butter.

Alright, riding with my brother the other day in his 240sx S14, he can throw gears like there's absolutely no resistance whatsoever. The same thing applies with his roomates' S5 GTU and S4 TII... Whenever I try to power shift the tranny won't let me throw gears in quickly. Could this be from:

1. My gear box not being broken in yet? (only 13,868 miles on it as we speak)

2. Something internally wrong?

3. Me just being a wuss and need to build up the muscles in my right arm?

I just changed out the tranny fluid over Thanksgiving with Redline MT90 so it's not the fluid.

Thanks
Michael
88 10AE "Still poking fun at RarestRX"
Old 12-24-03, 11:21 AM
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Well, the first thing is that YOU need to drive the other cars so you have something to compare to other then watching somone else do it
Old 12-24-03, 11:24 AM
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The Redline is a lot more slippery then standard fluid. I have actually seen this fluid reduce the efficiency of the syncros and cause harder shifting. It will definitely eliminate the common "grinding".
Old 12-24-03, 01:21 PM
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Tofuball: I will try to compare them, but it won't be easy considering my brother's roommates live far away.

Aaron: The Redline did take away the annoying grinding from 2nd gear, but it still does it sometimes, what would cause it to only happen 1 in 5 times?
Old 12-24-03, 04:10 PM
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hahaha

my low milage 10ae did EXACTLY this.

You know what I did? I put in about 5oz of ATF in there, along with the gear oil. 2 weeks later, it shifted MUCH smoother, the grind went away, etc.
Might be worth a shot...
Old 12-24-03, 07:22 PM
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Put 5oz of ATF in the tranny?
Old 12-24-03, 08:44 PM
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What in the *** is "throwing gears" that does not sound like a good thing to me.

You can't shift? Please explain what it is your rambling on about.


Thanks,


-Robert
Old 12-24-03, 08:53 PM
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is throwing gears the same as dry shifting? as in without the clutch....let me say its takes 2/10ths of a sec off my 1/8 mile
Old 12-24-03, 10:18 PM
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I'm wondering about putting a little bit of friction modifier in there... the stuff for LSD's... just to make the synchros bite... sortof like the ATF I guess.
Mine is VERY notchy. No grinding, just notchy.
Old 12-24-03, 11:43 PM
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My old n/a tranny was so smooth and notchless. After doing the t2 conversion, my t2 tranny sucks. Its super notchy..
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Old 12-24-03, 11:44 PM
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I beleive friction modifiers for LSDs make the clutch plates have less friction so they don't chatter and cause excessive wear. They wouldn't make the synchros 'bite'.

- Cooper
Old 12-24-03, 11:47 PM
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Alright, well I'm N4ji's brother. When I shift I always use the clutch and my gearbox goes in out of gears with little effort (this is in my 240). The first time I drove his FC there was a ton of resistance when I tried to power shift into second from first using the clutch. Almost like the syncro wasn't working. It felt like I was hitting a brick wall inbetween 1st and 2nd gears. Even after I helped him change the oil it still felt like this. It even feels like this when shifting into second under normal driving conditions. All of the other gears are fine iirc. Next time I drive it I'll try double clutching to see if that helps.

Last edited by thelinja; 12-24-03 at 11:50 PM.
Old 12-25-03, 12:11 AM
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Does it get any better as the car warms up? (Although, I assume you aren't trying to powershift unless the car is properly warmed up)
Old 12-25-03, 12:21 AM
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The car was fully warmed up.
Old 12-25-03, 03:33 AM
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What about the shifter bushings. Does the shift know wobble when in gear?

Remove center consol and but lots of silicone lube ont eh bushings.(well for my honda i did that) Not sure if you can do the same for an RX, never had a problem with my TII or R2.

Good luck tho,
Old 12-25-03, 07:44 AM
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Originally posted by n4ji
Tofuball: I will try to compare them, but it won't be easy considering my brother's roommates live far away.

Aaron: The Redline did take away the annoying grinding from 2nd gear, but it still does it sometimes, what would cause it to only happen 1 in 5 times?
the ratio from 1st to 2nd has a big enough difference that if you are slamming gears at 8000rpm you can grind even with a happy transmission.
Old 12-25-03, 10:10 AM
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Mine has been hard to shift since day one. I attributed to the nature of RX7's, since I've never driven another "7" for comparison.
Old 12-25-03, 10:22 AM
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I read somewhere that RX7 transmissions were naturally notchy. When cold, mine is very notchy, especially in 1st and 2nd. After it warms up, it seems to be ok... still notchy, but not as bad.
Old 12-25-03, 10:39 AM
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My 1st gen tranny from my Mariah-bodied '79 RX-7 was awesome! Beat every 2nd gen I've had hands down. Rock solid, light touch, short throws, no notchiness. The shifter had NO flex or anything to it, it was amazing, felt like it was made of cast iron filled with butter (In a good way). Too bad it was only a 4 speed!
Old 12-25-03, 08:50 PM
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yeah, I put some ATF in the manual tranny.

I dunno what's up with TII transmissions being kinda crappy... I've got an '84 B2200 diesel and it shifts SUPER nice.
Old 12-26-03, 09:18 PM
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Originally posted by 89Turbo944
What about the shifter bushings. Does the shift know wobble when in gear?

Remove center consol and but lots of silicone lube ont eh bushings.(well for my honda i did that) Not sure if you can do the same for an RX, never had a problem with my TII or R2.

Good luck tho,
The bushings are perfect. Like my sig says the car has only 13900 miles and the shifter is rock hard when it's in gear (no wobble). I'm finally getting the hang of power shifting (aka throwing gears to me) but there's still resistance. I imagine it's just the nature of the TII tranny. Thanks to all of you who responded.

Michael
Old 12-27-03, 12:28 AM
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the s4 trannies are by nature noticher then the s5. the syncros take a second to catch. cant find it grid it baby!
Old 12-27-03, 01:03 AM
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Told you that you should've gotten a Series 5...
Old 12-27-03, 01:17 AM
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Originally posted by bingoboy
the ratio from 1st to 2nd has a big enough difference that if you are slamming gears at 8000rpm you can grind even with a happy transmission.

Exactly ^^^

1st and 2nd gears have a pretty serious difference in gear ratios. So big, that you should NOT be slamming into second all the time. This will destroy your syncro, and possibly the gear.

When you put redline MT90 in your tranny, it will take about 500 miles for it to get to its peak performance. I put it in my 91 vert and it was notchier than before for the first hundred miles, then roughly equivalent to the old fluid for the next 200 miles, then just kept getting better after that - up until 500 miles.


Good luck!
Old 12-27-03, 03:37 AM
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maybe your tranny is leaking fluid and you are now low on fluid.


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