ericdwong

..the story goes like this, I was drivin on my way to school today when I shifted my car into second gear. All of the sudden I heard some nasty grinding, I'm like oh no. When I go to put my foot on the gas, the engine just revs yet the car goes nowhere. I made sure the car wasnt just in neutral, but I check again. Great, I blew second gear. I immediately pull of the road into a parking lot. So my wish that I posted in another post came true, my car did indeed break.

So heres the diagnosis. Basically the car does not have second gear at all. All of the other gears are fine. The shifter goes into second gear slot just fine as well. There are some odd noises in the tranny when the input shaft is spinning (clutch engaged in neutral) so this tells me a gear is most likely shattered, or one or more of the "baulk rings". I suppose its also possible that a shift fork broke but I won't really know until I open the thing and find out. One might ask if this may have anything to do with the work I just done. My response is it is always a possiblity, however when I was in my transmission I did not touch the gearing in the input or main shafts at all.

I was also talking to one of my hot rod friends and he tells me torquey cars have a tendency to bust 2nd gear more so then any other gear. This is because the 1-2 shift is the hardest, particularly when theres alot of resistance at the wheels now with the Quaife differential, the poly motor mounts and the harder grabbing clutch, so the transmission is exposed to forces never seen before. 1st gear even when dumping it there is usually enough gear ratio that it'll just bust the tires loose. By the time 3rd gear rolls around the engine does most of the bogging and the car is already at speed so the tranny isnt exposed to nearly as much torque as the 1-2 shift, and especially not when most of the driveline slack has been eliminated.

Before I get flamed for this post, realize that I'm not placing the blame on anybody in particular here. But I'm aware and quite sure my style of driving had something to do with it breaking 2nd gear. But then again we all know that the Nissan manual transmission arent the most reliable thing in the world. I also do not run nitro or boost. I should also mention that I have NEVER powershifted or attempted to. I always do full lift throttle with fully clutched shifts.

So onto what course of action am I going to take? Obviously this is the excuse I've been looking for. The final setting in stone that pushed me over the edge to get rid of this car and take the hit for depreciation and its miserable resale value. I can't have a car that's going to break like this and throw transmission parts every few thousand miles. One thing is for sure, I must repair and once again rebuild the transmission.

My 2 main choices will be this, fix the car and keep on going with this car. If I do this, I must find a shop who can treat the transmission internals so that blowing up gears will not happen again, particularly if I start adding nitro or boost. This would be the cheaper route.

My second choice would be to fix then part out the car, return it to stock and purchase another car. I'm leaning towards option B right now because Ive been looking for an excuse to get rid of this car and this is it. Especially now with many incentives to buy a new car, I'll just have to take the hit on depreciation. This car has continued to dissapoint me and I better get rid of it before it looses anymore value. Another concern is my insurance costs. For some variety of reasons, this 4 door FWD family sedan costs me only $200 less to insure then a 1998 Camaro z28 LS1 (with the same 0 deduct comprehensive, $500 deduct collusion, 250k/500k/100k liablity and 250k un/underinsured motorist with roadside assist). Not saying that would be my next choice in car, but it shows how ridiculously high my insurnace rates are on this grocery and kid hauling car that is nowhere near the fun of a z28. Obviously I have alot of thought and research ahead of me of what the next car is going to be, but it sure is not going to be another nissan.

Here is what is available just FYI if I decide to take this route. A Quaife differential with bearings, Place Racing Polyurethane motor mounts (these will be new, I'm getting mine exchanged), Addco rear sway bar, Front Strut Tower brace, dark brown leather seats from leatherseats.com (brand new), Cattman Stainless Y pipe, Stillen 2 piece B pipe, possibly a K&N cone and MAF adaptor, clear front bumper lights, and trading of 4 cleared tail lights for stock tail lights.

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

nissan sucks.. thats as much as i can say

emax02

iTrader: (1)

What did nisan do wrong to you?




Sorry to here about all this Eric, good luck with what ever you do.

Whitemax

I am sorry to hear it. Maximas are great cars, but you're right, the manual tranny bites.

KNow what else bites? The " The server is currently busy" error....

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

well you shot yourself in the foot by saying that your gears are fine and you don't grind gears or shift hard...guess u were wrong.
well i know that 2nd gears didn't blow up on it's own.

anyway...nissans sucks right?

so u want to take back that statement below?
yeah i'm busting your chops now..good luck.

bill99gxe

iTrader: (1)

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....threadid=60533

dmbmaxima2k2

iTrader: (1)

sorry man, you have given me so many ideas. i'm off to mc donalds this week to take like 50 trays to have fun once it snows again. you have to think off all the stress you did put on the tranny. how many people with mostly stock cars have you heard having problems, very few. you can't blame it all on nissan, but honestly, even though i would hate to lose you, you need something different in a car. good luck in whatever you do.

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

i am just repeating what he said the last time he f'ed up his tranny.. then blamed it on NIssan.. but he posts burnout, egg crates and pillow stories all the time..

ericdwong

Yes, the gears were in perfect condition when I examined them when I opened up my tranny to put in the Quaife differential. While I was in there I also found toasted differential carrier bearings, which also seems to be a plague around here.

Of course the possibility also exists that there was minute hairline fractures that were present that I was NOT able to see with the naked eye.

Tell that to BriGuyMax, SxR7, Whitemax95 just to name the people with serious 5 speed issues in the last week, as well as the people in this thread http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ssion+problem.

I didnt say that in this post, but yes, I have been very dissapointed with this "cars like it 0" 4DSC in almost every way. Dont make me list my top 7 reasons never to buy a nissan again...


How the hell do I blow 2nd gear doing burnouts when burnouts are done in FIRST gear with no shifting? I also never power shift and never have tried to power shift. My shifts are always full lift throttle with full engagement of the clutch.

Keep trying to burst my chops, it wont change the fact Nissan cars are poorly developed, poorly built and poorly engineered. This is reflected by the amount of sales of the cars as well. Figures why in 2000 the Altima AND Maxima sold only 1/2 of what the Accord OR Camry sold.

Craig Mack

200 Less to insure than a z28 !?!? What kinda insurance company do you have anyway ?? My dad payed like 600 a year for his old '95 GXE. You must have gotten into wrecks and not gone to traffic school?

I know my insurance is waaaay less than if I had a V-8 camaro. If my insurance was only 200 less than a z28, I sure as hell would get one too.

Again, what insurance company are you with, and whats up with the high rates ???

bill99gxe

iTrader: (1)

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread...&threadid=60533

1MAX2NV

iTrader: (5)

Go with a Toyota. My next car will be a Toyota.

ericdwong

I do have some points on my license, but it must be something about the area or what not that gives high insurance rates for a 20 year old male driver on a Maxima. I have never wrecked the Maxima and infact, never wrecked any car that was my fault so that's not it either. Even progressive.com came up with high numbers for a Maxima for me. But if my driving was so bad, why is a 98 Z28 camaro (which is supposed to be one of the most expensive cars to insure) ONLY $200 more per year for me to insure over a FWD family sedan Maxima?

I go thru State Farm, and coincidentally my motorcycle insurance (full coverage on a 2001 Honda CBR600F4i) runs me about $500 a year (and thats $50 deduct comprehensive, $250 collusion, 250/500/100k liab).

ericdwong

My thoughts exactly. Infact I used to drive a 90 Camry before I drove this car and my mom has a 98 Camry v6 LE (which is much better then my car) so I know Toyota's engineering/quality.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

. . .and I'm sure the Max would have still broken down its gearbox if your mom was driving it, right? Let's keep this in perspective, shall we?

If you get a Camry, and if it's a 5 speed, chances are you'll put it through those hi stress maneuvers you seem to be famous for. I would advise you against it, history may repeat itself. Why not get RWD car?? It can withstand hard driving better.

DW

emax02

iTrader: (1)

Nissan/Honda and Toyota are all very reliable car's, your not going to find a big difference it repair bills between the 3. My 95 max has been very reliable and I love the peace of mind I get owning a Nissan. I drive my car's very hard too.

seouljah

ill post this first.

dibs on b-pipe

costcowholesale

iTrader: (12)

buy a hummer

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

server error..let's try this again..

ok i can tell you're getting upset...let me ask u this

who post about doing burnouts?
who posts about spinning the car on trays or starting fires with pillows?
and who posts about how their tranny going bad?

you see a pattern here?

u don't think you abuse the tranny...u think that's normal? or there's less stress when you're spinning out in the rain? or spinning on the trays? you think that's normal?

so u think doing spin outs in 1st and your 2nd gear going is unrelated? do u have a magic tranny that the 2nd gear is at one side of the tranny and the 1st gear is at the other side?

you can list everyone who have tranny problems..but what do u say about people with NOS or SC? oh wait..do they have a different tranny than you?

so you're telling me that toyota transmissions DO NOT FAIL under your "aggressive" style of driving?

you had a camry automatic...i bet u that i can blow your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear out in that car...i can even blow a toyota 5spd/6spd w/o a problem.

if u love toyota so much..why did u buy a nissan maxima??!?!

i was trying to joke around w/ the last part...but i guess you can't take a joke...that's ok...my tranny is fine and i'm sure a lot of other owners don't have tranny problems.
good luck w/ your toyota purchase. let us know when you blow your tranny on that.

ericdwong

Actually I'm pretty happy my car broke.
Its no mystery I do out of the ordinary things with my car. However, look at the issue here. The two transmission problems I've had so far, are busted differential bearings (which is NOT caused by abusive driving) and a shattered second gear. Spnning wheels in water wastes gas, its probably easier on the transmission to burnout in water then it is to simply do city driving. Burnouts (dry or wet) are done in FIRST gear, so why did second gear blow up then?

As for doing drifts on the trays, how on earth does that have anything to do with the transmission at all? Thats like saying my stereo is so loud it caused the tires to pop. Totally unrelated things.

No I have a normal transmission that if you knew anything about you would know that in a manual transmission car, each gear is seperate from one another. So yes in a sense, "first gear is at one side of the tranny and 2nd gear is at the other side".

What about people with failed differential bearings? Go back to that thread I cited and check again. I know not everybody here drives their cars hard. Frank at motorvate.ca who also had to rebuild his transmission had the same problem. Infact I believe Daniel B. Martin had to replace somebody's (possibly his own) tranny bearings before too just from searching through his posts.

BriGuyMax runs NOS and he blew his tranny two times. What about the people WITHOUT NOS that have bad differential carrier bearings? And also, NOS is usually not engaged until the car is at speed and in the higher gears, so still the transmission isnt exposed to the torque during the 1-2 shift, even under boost or NOS, cause you don't boost during shifts, nor do you spray.

They have not under my abuse and yes I abused my 1990 camry which is a beaterboxcar. That things an econobox too, it took neutral drops, towing trailers, towing tree stumps out the ground, playing tug of war, going off roading, yet it has 190,000 miles on it. As for the 98 Camry, its seen the drag strips with power torquing and its share of burnouts as well, yet it doesnt leak a drip, or slip a bit, yet its still 100x more refined then a maxima transmission and I know other members here admit that too.

You can break ANY car, but I wasnt trying to break my car (althought I was hoping it would happen), it gave up the ghost cause it was poorly designed and poorly built.

Because I made the mistake of giving into the hype that the Maxima is the world's greatest sedan "Cars like it= 0" and other BS like that.

How was I supposed to take that as a joke? There was no smileys or anything along those lines. And what you said above that sure doesnt sound joking at all...

OK well you keep driving your weak structured, non independent rear suspension, poor paint, poor resale value car while I move on to something better before this car depreciates and develops even more rattles. Nissan spent all the cash on building the VQ motor and forgot to engineer the rest of the car.

Dave B

I can't help but think that the way you drive your car has a lot to do with your problems. Burn outs are bad news simply because you're sitting still and letting the tranny "cook" itself because there is absolutely no air movement around it (yes, manual trannys can fail from heat too). Banging 2nd gear at WOT with a hard shift, with filled mounts, on a ACT clutch, with a HLSD, on a regular basis does start to push the limits of the tranny......on any car. All the stress is transferred to the driveline. I think the Nissan manual is actually a pretty strong tranny seeing that most people don't have any problems with them. You drive it hard, expect to pay the price. That's racing.

All make and models have had their share of transmission/driveline problems. My buddy has a 94 Del Sol VTEC that he bought as a project car. 3 months into it, his 5th gear was all, but gone. He picked up a slightly used ITR tranny (supposedly bullet proof according to the Honda world) and installed it. 3 weeks later he's getting a grind at WOT into 3rd. My buddy isn't a hard driver either. He's very nice to his cars. The 6 speed in the LT1/LS1 F-Body has had it's problems. First was the gate problem which lead to misshifts and overevs. Then a batch of shifters were literally coming off in owners hands on the 1-2 shift (the whole shifter!!) Ford had to redesign the half-shafts on the 99 Ford Cobra because people were snapping them like twigs on axle-hop launches. Toyota has had 1000s of Celica GT-S 6 speed problems including overrevs, blown trannys, and blown motors/heads. There is a possible recall for the GT-S right now. All I'm trying to show is that all makes, Import or Domestic, have thier tranny problems.

You have fun with that Z28. I had a blast with my 94 Z28, but you'll have to get used to some things. When it comes to overall build quality, don't ever think of your F-Body as actually screwed and bolted together. Instead, think of the parts as flying in a tight formation. Get use to having little problems with hardware (switches, lights, misaligned body panels, electrical gremlins). Over the 2.5 years I had my Z28, I replaced an intake manifold gasket, ignition coil, Optispark ignition, driveshaft, two ball joints, turn signal stalk, window switches, rear main seal, timing chain cover seal, rear differential seal, and the entire A/C. With also those problems, I still loved the car, but I wanted something more refined. You'll come to realize that the Maxima is light years ahead of the Z28 in build quality. What's even more amazing is that my Maxima is only .3 slower than my Z28 when it was stock. (14.4@96 vs 14.7@95). Fair warning, the super weak 7.5 rear axle gear doesn't take kindly to lots of abuse. They are NOTORIOUS for going BOOM!!!!

Every once in a while I get the itch to get another musclecar. I go visit the Impala SS and F-Body websites and then I read about all the problems these guys have. Many of which are odd and quirky problems. You'll come to realize that trouble shooting these cars is near impossible. I can't deal with those kinds of problems anymore. It's exhausting.



Dave

sx7r

iTrader: (15)

i knew my third gear was going out sooner or later. if i miss a gear, it's third. well, if you're going to get rid of the car then i'm interested in your quaife. good luck.

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

woah...wait a sec....ok..lets get one thing straight here. My tranny went the first time for the same reason that sx7r's did....missed the 2-3 shift one too many times. My initial trans failure had NOTHING to do with NOS...I'd only had it in my car for a month..and hadn't even gone through two bottles on a 50-shot.

The second failure was becuase the dumbass tech messed up my re-build...and then they blamed it on me.

I do not blame Nissan AT ALL for my trans failures..and my car is PERFECT now with my quaife ATB.

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

I've driven all my cars as hard as I drive my Maxima... and yet my maxima is the only one which has had an internal transmission part fail

black019

so if you were to get rid of your car, i guessing you wouldnt get a 2k2....

mingo

iTrader: (4)

automagics are cool so are my f o c a l spe... hehehe... just kidding man...

eric... sorry to hear abotu your troubles.. i thot the manuals were suppose to be alot better than our slush boxes?

2maxgarage

I've had 3 Maxima 5 spds over the past 6 yrs and 90,000 miles. I've never had any trouble except for the linkage needing lubed after 40K miles on the '97. We also had a 5 spd in our '95 Altima with no problems other than the linkage/lube issue.

I went through 3 Mazda trannys in my Probe GT over the course of 85,000 miles, so it's not like I'm babying the Nissans.

Let's face facts here: if you abuse the hardware, it's going to fail...it's only a matter of when. Nissan designed the transmission to take the power generated by the stock motor, driven with "enthusiasm" - as soon as you mod for extra horses, the safety factor diminishes.

I'm sorry to hear about your tranny problems, but based on your posts in this thread (burn-outs, etc), you'll have similar problems with your new Toyota, Honda or whatever car brand you choose.

Want to see automatic tranny issues? Check out the TL/CL boards and the latest generation Accord boards.

Good Luck

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

busted differential bearings...ok I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say it's possible that the bearing may have been bad. that problem was fixed when you repaired the tranny..right?

drifting in trays...so how do u actually make your car move? you can put the car on trays...no problem. when you decide to move around that's where the problem comes in. but i'm sure u know that right? or didn't u?

yup manuals have different gears..but it's still all in one transmission. you think the 1st gear and 2nd gear are not close to each other? yeah they drive on different gears when u shift...look at how far the shifter moves...that's all it takes to shift to 2nd gear. you think 1st and 2nd are 3 feet apart or something? no it's cm if not inches away from each other...all carrying the same MTL.

you don't think toyota or honda ever have a defective tranny? are you telling me they have 100% reiablility? if that's the case i'm getting one right away. go visit a TL board and ask how many honda trannies from a TL-S has been back for a rebuild.

oh so you're saying that the 2nd gear blew because it broke on it's own? at no fault of your own that it broke? true you don't boost during shift...but once you make the transition in gear...don't you think there's additional stress put on the transmission due to the increased power? or does that have nothing to do with it?

so you like to tow people, play tug of war, and pull tree stump from a toyota camry? so u do have a record for being a retard with cars.

you weren't trying to break your car?? are u serious!?!?!

you think i drive a 4th gen...FYI..ind suspension came in my car. over 138K and it's still running strong. i redline everyday and there's not one problem with drivetrain or engine. i don't have and fit or finish problem. the paint has been flawless. no rattles from the interior. so don't assume.

please get your toyota so you can leave this BBS.

Dave B

Man, you guys are harsh sometimes It may be possible that his 2nd did have hairline cracks and crushed under load, but this would be the first one I've ever heard of. I have heard of differentials blowing up on slicks. But what do you expect with slicks I think Eric just doesn't understand that most cars have there quirks and problems. I do believe that the 1-2 shift is the hardest shift on the tranny simply because you've got a lot more leverage and the gears are deeper. You put stress on the gear and the syncros. Only when I'm going in full "race mode" is when I hit my 1-2 hard. All other times, I wind out 1st, let the revs drop a bit, and then slide it into 2nd instead of banging it.


You those that are missing the 2-3 shift. You're holding your shifter completely wrong. I've got $20 saying you guys are either putting your palm on top of the shifter or holdign the shifter pistol style when you shifting the 2-3. This is completely wrong. Take you palm and place it behind the **** with you fingers pointed to the passenger side and push directly. Ta da!!! It goes right in everytime with no resistance. I can hit the 2-3 hard everytime. I've been shifting like this for over 2 years with no misshift. Wanna hit the 3-4 fast. Invert your hand so that your thumb is pointed down. Wrap you hand around the front of the shifter and pull back. Again no resistance and it goes right in.


Dave

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

That is how I USED to shift...then I saw a post of yours a while back on how to not miss gears...and implemented it...and I haven't missed a gear on my newly re-build tranny yet! It's amazing just how consistant you can be if you shift right...

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

for some reason i shift better when i am leaning towards the drivers door.. don't ask .. also i can bang 2-3 without the clutch easy.. someone on this forum told us how.. not sure if it was you Dave

Axel

iTrader: (3)

I personally shift with my fingers on the **** as opposed to my entire hand. Index and middle finger in front of the **** and my thumb on the back for the 1-2 shift, index finger in front of the **** and middle finger behind the **** with the **** snug at the V of my two fingers and my thumb on top of the **** for the 2-3 shift (slightly rotating my wrist to finish the shift with my thumb pushing the **** just as it's going into third). My palm never touches the ****.
You guys are probably going to laugh and flame me but I timed my shifts using a stopwatch (I know, not super exact but hey..) and managed to shift 1-2 in about 1/15th of a second and 2-3 in about 1/10th. I obviously don't do this on a regular basis though.
How did I time myself using a stopwatch you ask? A friend filmed me from the passenger side during a Solo-1 lapping day. Again, not super exact but oh well...

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

hey dave.. i just drove home shifting the way you described.. all perfect shifts.. no grinding.. felt smooth.. perfect on the tranny.. now i really appreciate my STS.. thanks

kit99bar

I learned to shift from DaveB also

I drive a 6spd Celica and I have absolutely NO fear of misshifting
even though other drivers do.

PS those misshifters almost always admit to holding their shifter "Pistol style"

Dave B

I'm glad everyone is getting good results with the proper shift techniques. It really does make a difference in the smoothness of the tranny. It's really a beautiful thing when you learn how to do a quick and smooth rev matching 4-3 or 5-4 downshift on the highway. When I land it just right, my passenger's jaws hit the floor.

When you hold the shifter "pistol" style or on top of the shifter on the 2-3 shift, your leverage is all wrong for the linkage. Your end up trying to push straight up instead of up and over. What usually happens is a stiff shift or the shifter gets hung up in the "gate". With your fingers pointed to the right and your palm pushing from behind the shifter you end getting that up and over motion. You're actually letting the shifter do the work.

On the 3-4, most guys hold the shifter "pistol" style like they were doing the 1-2 shift. What ends up happening here is that you end up pulling the shifter towards your body. Either you'll get hung up in the gate or you could pull the infamous Celica GT-S 4-2 misshift (and possibly kiss you a$$ goodbye). The correct way to do 3-4 is to invert your hand with your thumb pointed down and your palm wrapped around the front of the shifter. This "inversion" will force you to shift down instead of down and over.

With short shifter, you've got to learn this technique or you'll get very sick of the notchiness and hard shifting. With a short shifter at only 50% of it's max setting, the 3-4 is as simple as a flick of the wrist (no joke). I can hit the 3-4 very quickly. Same goes for the 2-3. Hell, it might even lead to lower ets.

I'll try to make a "sticky post" for the proper way to shift a 5 speed. This technique applies to all manual trannys.


Dave

dmbmaxima2k2

iTrader: (1)

sounds nice but want to include the 5-6

Lordrandall

iTrader: (4)

Same as 3-4

dmbmaxima2k2

iTrader: (1)

actually no, if you try it like that you might end up back in 4th. you have to put you hand on the side of it and push away from you and back

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

That sound a helluva lot like reverse. Has reverse been moved in the 6th speed? If not, must be eery shifting from 5 to 6 knowing that reverse is right there. One bad move, and boom! New tranny!

DW

Lordrandall

iTrader: (4)

Not if you do it correctly, that's why you have your hand upside-down. I'm not worried about going into 2nd on the 3-4, why should I be worried about going into 4th on the 5-6?