So I finally picked up an SE yesterday after months of searching and I love it. I do have a few questions concerning the tranny though. I have a 5 speed, and I noticed that sometimes when I shift too quickly into 3rd (i.e. when merging onto a highway), theres a crunch..almost like it doesn't engage smoothly. Another thing is that if I try to shift too quickly into Reverse, the tranny will grind. I'm a former DSM owner so I know that sometimes you have to give it a second or two when trying to shift into reverse, but is 3rd gear supposed to be like that? My car only has 8600 miles on it and it's totally stock. I hope there isn't something wrong with the transmission already. So yeah, any insight would be appreciated.

 

Hey Congrats on the new SE I'm assuming it is the 06 ix SE not sure if they made any others. I have the same problem not only into third but 1 - 2 also but not as bad as from 2 - 3. I've asked a lot of questions and a number of people are saying they have the same type of issues. Motor mounts, engine damper, shifter bushings etc might help. I haven't done anything yet to help it because I'm not sure if that is my problem or something else. Mine has1200 miles on it and I just hope it isn't my clutch going out already. Mine is totally stock still also.

Currently my solution is to shift slower or double clutch.

 

yes i have a evo x now for about 3 weeks and at 850 miles i to have had crunching going into gears even shifting like a granney it is also a five speed if you find the trouble please let me know and i will do the same

 

I have almost 2,200 miles on mine and my 1-2 and sometimes my 2-3 are a little notchy which I've heard is normal but I have never crunched the gears before. I think with the Evo you can shift through the gears quickly but I always try to be smooth and not force it into the next gear. I used to bang my 350Z trans pretty hard and it would occasionally crunch, so when I got my Evo I changed the way I shifted. While I like to row through the gears quickly, I always give it a split second and then smoothly shift into the next gear and it never crunches. I know some people like to rip through the gears fast but thats how you wear out synchros and chip gear teeth. Just my $.02 though.

From my experience its always a good idea to put the car into 1st and then go into reverse and it should engage smoothly everytime. I do that on every manual car I drive reguardless of what it is.

 

yea I'm thinking that learning how to shift slower is my issue. I had German cars and the transmission was slick no matter how fast you shifted.

 

Yeah I finally figured out the "sweet spot" for shifting into 3rd. And I think my problem with reverse was that I was accidentally letting the car roll backwards a little bit. Thanks anyway guys!

 

Change your fluids, I run Redline MT-90 and it helped smooth out the shifts. I heard the Redline MTL and BG Synchroshift are also brands to consider, just do a search and decide which on you like.

Shep recommends MT90, so thats what I run