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Grinding 1st to 2nd gear


Matt Pugh

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I own a 2016 370z Nismo with 25k miles. I am the second owner of the car and bought it August 2019 when it had 18500 miles. The gears have always been notchy which was expected but recently the last few months its been really difficult to change from 1st to 2nd. 1. There is a lot of resistance trying to go into 2nd so I wait and don't force it then it falls in and 2. There is a grinding gear sound most of the time if I have to try change gear without waiting. This happens both warm or cold and high or low rpm. I've lost confidence in the car with shifting from 1st to 2nd which is a real shame because I love driving it. I'm a sensible driver (not boring) and don't rag the car very much I just enjoy the ride. Could this be a sign of bad/worn synchros? I've checked and upon buying the car from an infinity dealership it came with nissan extended warranty, would this be for a 12 month period? Any thoughts what route I should take from calling up a dealership to changing the tranny oil to redline mt-85?

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Sounds like a syncro issue to me, or perhaps a hydraulic CSC issue in the making but I would be leaning towards the syncro.

 

Warranties do not cover wear and tear but only mechanical failure so you may have a fight on your hands.

 

However if you approach the dealership in a calm and professional, non confrontational manner then you may get lucky.

 

Warranties and extended warranties usually have the condition that the car must have a full service history.

 

 

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Thought so, I've read about it alot and many people have the same issue I'm having but I've only seen older cars such as 07 etc with higher miles have it, unusual for mine but guess this stuff happens. 

 

Do I have to go to a nismo specialised nissan garage or can I go to the normal passenger car nissan dealership? The reason is I live quite far from any nismo garage.

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I had similar.
Grinding 5-6th on a similar mileage 2011.
I was 2nd owner and had the car less than a year and it had come from a Nissan shop with the Nissan cared4 (factory approved used car) warranty.


Repaired under that by Kaizer - non factory shop but authorised to repair and a recognised GTR specialist.

 

Was told it could be possibly because previous owner maybe used to lean or have some rest hand on the shifter type action while in gear.
As a result happier it happened as it's one of those things you can't easily check and I now have the proof of inspection and rebuild.

And always been of conscious not to lean on shifter!

But I already knew that as I run another car with full mechanical linkages all the way from box to shifter and a mechanical clutch so all too well experienced with how over 50 year old technology and parts and the gearbox connections and linkages wearing out and being forced to do clutchless shifting that goes with it!

 


 

 

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43 minutes ago, Umster said:

I'd also say let another Z driver test drive your car - or for you to drive another Z and feel the difference. 

 

Assume the diff and gearbox oils have never been refreshed? Has it ever had a P3? 

I have drove another newer nismo in the past but didnt feel similar to my situation. Unfortunately I don't know anyone else who owns a Z near me, lonely ranger haha so I'm stuck lol. 

 

And I haven't had the car long enough for a service, I presume or hope they refresh the oils lol. Personally I haven't refreshed the oils in the 7000 miles I've had it. Sorry I don't know what you mean by P3? 

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36 minutes ago, chips said:

I had similar.
Grinding 5-6th on a similar mileage 2011.
I was 2nd owner and had the car less than a year and it had come from a Nissan shop with the Nissan cared4 (factory approved used car) warranty.


Repaired under that by Kaizer - non factory shop but authorised to repair and a recognised GTR specialist.

 

Was told it could be possibly because previous owner maybe used to lean or have some rest hand on the shifter type action while in gear.
As a result happier it happened as it's one of those things you can't easily check and I now have the proof of inspection and rebuild.

And always been of conscious not to lean on shifter!

But I already knew that as I run another car with full mechanical linkages all the way from box to shifter and a mechanical clutch so all too well experienced with how over 50 year old technology and parts and the gearbox connections and linkages wearing out and being forced to do clutchless shifting that goes with it!

 


 

 

Yeah I've always been aware of the don't rest on the shifter and clutch etc so I know it's not my part. Like your situation the previous owner probably did :/

 

I'll see what nissan will say or if they will get back to me during this pandemic but would be interesting if I can take it to an approved garage to get it looked at, it's horrible and really getting in my nerves. 

 

Hopefully it would be covered

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Likewise, I've had this issue with mine from 1st to 2nd. A gearbox fluid change and some molyslip did help the situation quite a bit it still persists when cold.

 

I just tend to baby any 1st to 2nd changes to ensure that it doesn't get any worse. A gearbox rebuild with new syncros can be pretty expensive from what I've seen.

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1 hour ago, Matt Pugh said:

And I haven't had the car long enough for a service, I presume or hope they refresh the oils lol. Personally I haven't refreshed the oils in the 7000 miles I've had it. Sorry I don't know what you mean by P3? 

Nissan service schedule defines the services as P1, P2 and P3 and IIRC its at every 9k miles or 12 months. 

 

Some suggest changing the oils at 30k/36k miles though Nissan only usually check the oils if they service your car - added cost to refresh them. 

 

Follow @ZMANALEX advice as he's the guru here.

 

My 2 pence is I've had different opinions from my mates with the feel of 1st to 2nd and 5th to 6th like you've mentioned. 

 

Concluded it depends on what car you're coming from and what feels/sounds normal. Most people refresh the oils and feel an improvement. 

 

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I sure will drop him a follow thanks. 

 

Righteo I understand that now, probably will have the P3 at 27000 miles then I believe. And I think I'd like to change my oils before then so will see that in the near future but I really think that this isn't a normal feel, I believe it's the syncros 100%. I came from a totally different spectrum car so I knew it was gonna be more notchy and stiffer but this isn't right I think, will try get it sorted out thanks for the help

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I'm on my 5th Zed now and 3 of them have had rather 'agricultural' gearboxes and one was an auto.

My current 2016 (12K miles) is very smooth into all gears even when cold - I think it must be broken : )

Edited by Ponsonby
correction
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