in order for me not to have a small grind into 3rd i have to slightly go into 4th gear, not all the way in, then up to 3, but that takes away the grind, my upshift to 3 causes this weird "grinding" but the downshift does not, could this harm my 4th gear at all? or any gears?

 

Yes you aren't supposed to skip shift upwards, you can do it from 5th to 3rd, but not 3rd to 5th, although this has been debated. I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say you put it in but not all the way.

I have to say it, "just the tip?"...haha

Apparently it does harm on the syncros, im just trying to sum up thread i read on skip shifting somewhere on here, so im not trying to get flamed up and start a debate war....

Have you ever changed your transmission fluid?

 

yea, as soon as i noticed the problem I changed it, no change, it is very odd, if i shift quickly into 3 it wont happen, and if i wait about 2 seconds after i clutch it, it wont happen. but i will not shift 2 to 4 to 3 anymore

 

if going from 2nd to 3rd grinds then there is probably an issue with your syncros...

 

It actually sounds like he is describing the notchiness of our tranny.

 

Having to go in the direction of 4th gear before you can put it in 3rd sounds a bit different. Never had to do such a thing in mine....

 

Does it do it at any rpm, or do you just notice it at lower/higher rpms?

It sounds like the third gear syncro is going, but there are so many things that it may relate to, and im no transmission professional.

I'll use some snake oil if the problem gets annoying enough but I dont have a suggestion for transmissions other than lucas products, seemed to help my dad car when shift kicking problem in his bmw.

 

Yea but when it gets specific to a gear, then its probably an issue that specific to that part, and not the general notchiness. Although I know the second gear problem is fairly usual.

 

it is not notchiness, i know what that feels like, and I too get that, but this is a single grind, not like traditional grinding though, just like 1 little notch is causing it, and you can hear a little tick as well when it happens, it is more likely to do it when i am at higher rpms, but still happens at low rpms as well, i think it is the synro, but it almost goes away after about an hour or driving in heat.

 

Sounds like your syncro is not working for 2nd to 3rd, but it is for 4th. So your slowing down or speeding up the shafts, getting them in sync for 4th, and then when you got to 3rd they are slow fast enough that the syncro for 3rd is ok enough to not grind. It sounds like your pretty much "helping" the 3rd gear syncro with another syncro.

As for it shifting ok when you go fast or slow, if you go fast, you may just be "getting lucky" and the gears are aligned correctly. And for going slow, your giving the weakened syncro enough time to do it's job (in a weakened state) to sync the gears enough to not grind.

Or am I completely missing what your saying?