Here's something that's happened to me 3 times over the last week or two...

When I shift from 1 --> 2, the transmission doesn't seem to fully engage 2nd gear. After I appear to shift into 2nd gear, I'll apply throttle, and the engine RPMs will rise, but the car won't accelerate. At this point, if I look at the shifter, I can see it pop out of the 2nd gear gate and go into Neutral.

Now, with the shifter in Neutral, I step down on the clutch and attempt to shift back into 2nd. I get a grind. To get the car into 2nd gear, I have to put it back in Neutral (following the grind) for a split second and then back into 2nd.

When it happened the first time, I figured it was an error on my part. When it happened the second time, I got more suspicious and started paying greater attention to my shifting. It just happened for the 3rd time yesterday, and now I'm even more certain (although still not 100% sure) it's not driver error. Has anyone else seen similar behavior? My car is a '02.

To clarify...what happens is that after I shift into 2nd gear, the car feels as if no gear is engaged. So, I figure maybe I didn't push the shifter all the way into the gate. However, at that point, if I step on the clutch and try to shift into 2nd, I'll get a grind. That seems weird - had the initial problem (no 2nd gear engagement) been due to my failure to completely shift into gear, then I still shouldn't get a grind.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Possible known issues, possible causes, possible problems, possible driver errors? The vast majority of the time, the car is just fine...but this has happened about 3 times over the last 1000 miles, and I'm a little concerned.

Btw, I've had the 1 --> 2 grind before, and it wasn't like this. With the 1 --> 2 grind, I would just get a grind going into 2nd gear...the shifter didn't pop out or do anything funny, it simply would grind when going into 2nd.

 

Never heard about this one before, you should definately have to dealer check it out. At least it will be under warranty.

 

When shifting into 2nd from neutral, you're likely not to be all the way on the left of the gearbox. Many people have pointed out that you need to be right on the wall of the gearbox to go into second cleanly. Next time you shift to 2nd from neutral, go all the way left until you bump the wall, then go down.

Now, why are you popping out of 2nd? Is it possible you're hesitant due to the 1->2 grinds you've experienced in the past? I've had it pop out of 2nd twice, and both were due to me hesitating and not going securely into 2nd.

 

Sounds to me like your baby shifting. I did that the first week I had the car. You ARE NOT completely in second gear when you engage the clutch hence the RPM spike and the spitting out of the stick. Nothing is wrong with your tranny at all...you just need to apply some more pressure when shifting between 1st and 2nd to make sure you are actually all the way in gear.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by payneinthe
[B]When shifting into 2nd from neutral, you're likely not to be all the way on the left of the gearbox.

 

Thanks a lot for the input, everyone. Anyone else with feedback, please keep 'em coming...

 

cyber_x, my transmission behaves EXACTLY like yours.

For the same reasons as yours, I too have developped this second method of shifting from 1 to 2 in which I push the stick slightly away from me. The shift is so quick and seemless that way that the stick often "drops out of my hands" into 2nd. When I try again to keep the shifter along the left wall, I invariably feel the bump or notch.

Here's how I push my shifter through the gate in order to get the smoothest shifts for the other gears. 3rd is a little grinding right when I hit the top wall, barely noticeable. I observed it happens less frequently if I stick to the left wall for that gear. Fourth always gets in quickly and smoothly no matter how. Fifth goes in fine along the right wall, this is also the quickest way to make that upshift. Sixth is also smooth along the right wall.

I was actually thinking of bringing the car to the dealer to the transmission checked. I'm glad other people are experiencing the same (amazingly) exact behavior with the shifter.

I also noticed that when you're not pushing the car hard, which is probably when you get the most notchiness, it helps to give the gas pedal a little kick just before releasing it and pressing the clutch.

 

s2k02,

Whew! Well, normal or not, at least I know that others are experiencing the same thing. That's at least a bit of a relief.

I'm going to try shifting from 1 --> 2 with the shifter against the left wall for a while, and see if the problem reoccurs. I don't really mind the notchiness...I had just originally figured that since my second method (pushing the shifter slightly away from me) resulted in quicker and crisper feeling shifts, it was the better method. Now I'm beginning to question that. At any rate, a bit of notchiness beats a grind any day, so if having the shifter against the left wall avoids the problem, then that's cool with me.

I also observe a very, very slight notchiness when going from 2 --> 3. It feels like the shifter just barely nicks the gate on the right while entering 3rd. This is much more minor than the 1 --> 2 notchiness. I don't mind it and don't plan to do anything about it, since I'm afraid of accidently downshifting into 1st if I change my shifting style.

I'll keep you posted if I run into anything else funny. I'm in San Jose also, so if worse comes to worst, and it does turn out to be a problem, maybe we can go bitch and moan to the dealer together for some collective bitching power.

 

more reason that the 2nd gear is a piece of shit in the S!