420A 420a grinding 5th gear

[Emazzii- insta]

i have a 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS 420a and when I put it in to fifth gear it grinds no matter if I do it slow or fast and sometimes when I put it in reverse it just grinds when I let off the clutch or it pushes it out of gear can anyone help me only works in reverse if I put it in first then reaverse

 

[CKOPOCT]

Sounds like the shift bushings may be worn, not allowing the shift cable to push far enough to engage 5/R (both on the extreme right of travel for the shift forks). I would remove the center console and inspect the shift linkages there. If everything seems good then check the bushings on the transmission. If everything seems good there too try shifting with the engine off. If it goes into gear fine with the engine off (and the bushings and linkages are all fine) you likely have a problem with the transmission itself.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Is a 420a trans anything like a 4g63? The end nuts get loose or come off on them. If your transmission is setup with end nuts on the main shafts, I would pull the end case cover and look at those big 32mm nuts. I had one loosen up and it would not stay in 5th then. That was on a W5M33.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

The 420a trans is a little different. Instead of using end nuts everything is a press fit. There isn't much hardware that can come loose on an NVT-350.

+1 on checking the bushings. The interior bushings don't usually go bad on these. But definitely check them after the ones on top of the transmission, since they're exposed to much more of the elements and rubber dry rots.

Your reverse issue is pretty common though. Reverse has never worked right for me but I didn't replace that synchronizer either. I let people talk me out of doing it because "it's not used much" but I'm willing to bet that would fix my problem. I had originally assumed it was a shift fork but after swapping the issue persisted.