Hey guys,

I've had my Evo since February, and I've been having a slight grind in 3rd since the 1st day. It's not like a major grinding or anything, but I occasionally feel a little vibration feedback in my shifter when I go into third gear. I've also noticed that I NEVER have this happen on warm days...Has anybody else noticed this?? I now have almost 3k miles on my car, and I'm getting concered because people have told me this would go away after a thousand miles or so. I asked my service manager about the idea of either replacing the bushings, or putting in GM sycromesh (ideas from previous posts), but he gave me a concerned look like I'd be doing something wrong - my fear is that he'd void my warranty or something. Any ideas on what I should do???

 

Just a comment, My transmission seems a lot less cooperative when its cold. 1st, 2nd, 3rd I seem to get a "double notch" when shifting if the cars really cold (it was worse in the winter) and half the time it really dosent want to go into reverse. Another thing, In the winter, I used to nearly _always_ grind the hell out of second if I shifted at above 6500rpm's. Since its been warm i've not missed one quick 2nd gear shift. Who knows if that's completely tempurature related or not, but it's been my experience. I'm still on stock tranny and diff fluids etc.

Anyway, my 2c.

Also, nice to see more evo people from salt lake around here lately.

 

Yeah, not too many of us here...where'd you buy your car from? I got mine from Mike Riddle - the service dept's been OK, but they seem to be very much against the idea of even minor mods. When I mentioned to them the idea of replacing the bushings (I would ONLY do this to make shifting smoother) the rep told me that he didn't think it was a good idea. I asked him if he'd void my warranty or something, and he replied that he would only do it if I tried to get something fixed that he determined was a result of the aftermarket part...That sounds a little too broad to me!

Back on the issue though...cold mornings seem to be a big problem for my car. Shifting in general always seems to be a LOT smoother on warmer days. I love my car, but I've been getting a little frusterated with all the "quirks" I've already had. I had less problems in the Acura that I had for 5 years than the 3 months that I've owned this new car.

 

Hehe, careful with those service managers ... they might get ideas.

I've had my Evo since beginning of April and I've noticed that the shifting is fairly notchy for the first 10 - 15 minutes of driving (especially 1st - 2nd gear shift), then it gets much better ... I assume because it gets warmed up.

 

ditto

 

the viscosity of the gear oil, is lower when cold, thats why the gears grind or get "notchy".
all cars can have problems going in reverse, ALWAYS put the car in any forward gear before going to reverse, this will stop the reverse speed gear from spinning and make it not grind, reverse gear is not syncronized thats the reason for this.

dont take your car to mitsu to get its tranny or transfer case or rear end serviced, they most likely will not use mitsu fliud or any quaility fluid for that mater, the dealership i worked at just used some generic bulk 90w gear oil, when i asked the parts manger what it was he didnt even know. yeah they used mobil 1 syn oil cause mitsu will throw a fit, but they didnt care about the gear oil. and most dealerhsips i worked at cut corners like that, i work for honda now and you think they use honda genuine oil? nope.

alot of people are having good results with syncromesh products (bg-gm-pensoil) but dont get me lying, ask someone who has dealt with alot of mitsu awd vehicles like buscher.

 

it looks like your problem is somewhat tempature related especially there's another person in your area having the same situation like you.

If warranty is a big concern to you....I will suggest flush out the tranny oil with the oem stuff to see if the situation may improve.

As for my own car.....the shifting is definately more notchy when the car is cold....lucky, i have no grind at all. Once the car/ tranny warm up......everything is fine.

btw....did that service manager make any suggestion to your problem.

 

Yeah, I'm thinking I'm just going to put syncromesh in - Mitsu couldn't ding my warranty for that, could they?! I was reading that pennzoil sycromesh post a moment ago, and it sounds like people really think it helps!

 

Whosevo,

The only thing the service manager said was to keep driving. He said the transmission would probably smooth-out after 4-5k miles. He said if it didn't, not to worry, cause it would still be under warranty, and they could fix it then. As I mentioned, the service manager actually seems like a pretty decent guy, I just wish he'd be a bit more bold about making changes that aren't out of a Mitsu box...if GM makes a better tranny fluid, use it! If an aftermarket company has made bushings that dramatically help the tranny feel, use it!! I've already been through a whole bunch of problems with him when I bought a red EVO - it turned out to be a lemon! I've had a few probs with my silver car, but they've handled them pretty well so far. I just can't believe that I could have 2 seperate cars, and have big problems with both of them! So far, my silver Evo has had the tranny problem, the dashboard has a pretty bad rattle (the dash actually dropped about half an inch on the driver's side!!), and the driver's seat fabric keeps coming unclipped from under the seat...a problem that I'll be having fixed soon...man, this sucks!! It's got to get better!

 

I use RedLine Fluids and everything is all smooth now. Mayb you should give that a try.

 

At 37k miles, I've done 2 fluid changes in the gear box/diffs. I just put in BG synchroshift last night to replace the redline mt90 I had in there. The MT90 felt great when I initially put in at the 15k mark. I thought the cold gear grinding went away for a few days, but it started to come back a few days later.
With the synchroshift, I still have the very notchy 2nd gear and the 3rd gear mild grind is still there.

I really dont know what else to do. I try to granny shift as much as I can when the car is cold. It works 80% of the time, but it still grinds sometimes. This still cant be good for the long run.

I really dont even see point of bringing it in to have looked at. After reading enough posts describing the samething, its definitely an inherent problem with these cars.

I dont believe these 2 or 8pc shifting bushing kits are the best way to address the problem either. But some seem to rave about it.

I wonder if the 04's are having the same problem?

But still, on a hot summer day after warm up, the car shifts like butter....