I've searched the archives, but can't find anything the least bit definitive to answer my question, so I thought I'd ask it.

Ever since new, my car has had a significant grind when shifting from first to second, and seemingly just a one-tooth grind shifting from second to third. This happens only when cold, which is defined, oddly enough, to be the first 30 or 40 minutes of driving. After that, shifting in all gears is remarkably smooth.

I changed my transmission oil to GM Synchromesh Friction Modified, and that made little or no difference. The fluid level is absolutely full.

I have almost 15,000 miles on the car, so I'm about to bring it in for the standard service, and I want to know if I should tell them that there's a problem. I did that once before, when the car was pretty new, and they said it was normal. I've never had a car which grinds; I drove my previous car (a 1989 Toyota Celica GT) for 15 years, and never had a gear grind (and the car was still on the original transmission and clutch when I sold it after 15 years, so don't think that I can't drive a clutch car).

I would appreciate any guidance anybody can offer.

 

is it really cold out side when it happens?

 

I have the same 1-2 slight grinding on my 04 with 8000 miles.

Its a significant grind when shifting from first to second only when cold for about 15 minutes of driving.

None of my other cars I owned before had this issue.

 

yea my car does that too actually its an 01 wit 60k. somtimes even when its warmed up driving normally it does a half gring from 3 to 4

 

double clutching when cold with save the syncros!

 

Huh? There are more posts on the 1-2 grind than any other mechanical subject.. thousands since 1999. plenty of advice to read that I won't repeat here but bottom line is that is a trait of this driveline.

 

[QUOTE=124Spider,Jan 17 2005, 05:23 PM] I've searched the archives, but can't find anything the least bit definitive to answer my question, so I thought I'd ask it.

Ever since new, my car has had a significant grind when shifting from first to second, and seemingly just a one-tooth grind shifting from second to third.

 

Yeah, getting it on record is a good thought. If I'm not killing my synchros when this happens, I don't particularly mind the grind, but I tend to think that this really is causing undue wear on the transmission parts.

To answer another question, it's never really cold in Seattle, so, no it's certainly not extremely cold when this happens. It happens in the summer and winter, but it might go away a bit quicker in the summer.

And to respond to another response, I am fully aware of the plethora of threads on this issue, but I am just as aware that there seems to be no resolution. I was asking if there had been any resolution.

 

My '03 has had a long history of the problem. The transmission was rebuilt once and subsequently replaced under warranty (the rebuild did not fix the problem).

Unfortunately, every time you grind gears - you do damage. If the GMSMFM didn't help, your synchros have probably had it.

The new transmission in my S has had a handful of grinds, but the number and severity has been minimized by using GMSMFM. It's not a cure all, but it helps.

Double-clutching and shifting slower helps a lot when the transmission is 'cold'.

 

i think as "definitive" as we can get is THIS IS NORMAL
SOLUTION: double clutch shift (slowly, i might add) and there will be NO grinding...do this until the car is fully warmed up.