Grind before entering any gear.

[DSM IN MN]

Here is a problem my friend has/had in his '95 GSX he picked up. If the car was idling and you pushed the clutch in and went to put it into gear, it was almost as if you hadn't pushed the clutch in. The transmission would grind and if I remember correctly, rarely would go into gear like this. It would happen in every gear. So to get it to go into gear, you would have to slam it into whatever gear you wanted as quick as possible. This worked 98% of the time.

Here are the modifications according to the previous owner:
6 bolt swap, ACT 2900 pressure plate and street disc. Fidanza aluminum flywheel. Welded differential.

On top of this is has solid under hood shifter bushings. I do not think this would make too much of a difference; especially with the grinding.

My theory is that possibly the clutch is dragging a little causing what you would expect to happen if you tried lightly putting the car into gear without the clutch peddle pushed down.

What are some of your guys' suggestions on what to look for or possibly adjust to decipher if this is a clutch problem or a trans. problem? The car is not currently running (isn't that a surprise), so I would like to set up a plan of attack before the car comes off of it's jack stands.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ulitka]

If you are positive the clutch pedal and slave cylinder rod travel are set properly, then inspect the pressure plate and clutch disk for damage.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYJxQyjIhUw]Proper Clutch Adjustment - YouTube[/ame]

Sounds like the transmission will need to be rebuild because it was abused by forcing into gears while grinding. When transmissions grinds the slider teeth and gear engagement teeth are being damaged not to mention synchros are being burned. Be prepared to replace damaged gears, hub/sliders, and synchros.

 

[DSM IN MN]

My friend and I took both the engine and the transmission out of the car to help with cleaning and sorting the engine wiring and such. When we got the transmission off we found the TOB in this condition.

*I did break the one ear/clip hole off. All it took was a little pushing on it and it snapped.

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The flywheel looks pretty normal with some heat marks as you would expect. One side of the clutch disc looks perfect, the other seems to have a bit more wear on the outer-most part of the disc. I am no expect here and know pictures will more than likely help; I'll work on getting some.

Our plan from here to to take he side cover off of the transmission to see if the grinding caused any major damage.

Here is a question I had; would this TOB be a likely cause of this problem? I did a little looking online and it seems a bad TOB may behave this way. On the flip side though, you have to wonder what would've worn it out as bad as it did. This is where I'm at.

Any input would be great!

 

[Spector5]

I'm having the same problem, the trans was just rebuilt by a shop.

I'm almost certain it's clutch drag, it grinds in every gear which would eliminate a bad synchro because its all gears and not just the one. Also, the car wants to bogg out on take off. Have the rev and slowly let the clutch out.

Keep us posted on what you find. I'd like to know what to look for on mine.

 

[JackM]

I good rule of thumb is if your trans is grinding, then your synchro is weak and wiped out. If it 'blocks' you from a gear, then it is trying to tell you something and it is still healthy, but if you continue to force it until it grinds it will be ruined.

The synchros a very well designed in many trannies from the 1990s on up. What kills them is clutch drag. If your synchros are grinding or weak, you absolutely must look at your clutch. If no one ever had a clutch drag issue, 90% of all DSM transmissions would never have to be repaired.

I would say your TOB is the smoking gun to your issue. I would double check to be sure your 2 engine-to-trans alignment dowel pins are healthy and in place as TOB failures like that are usually caused by an alignment issue between the trans and engine. I would also look at you pressur eplate fingers and that they are sitting even and at the same distance so as to not rattle the TOB around and break it.

Good luck!

Jack

 

[DSM IN MN]

I good rule of thumb is if your trans is grinding, then your synchro is weak and wiped out. If it 'blocks' you from a gear, then it is trying to tell you something and it is still healthy, but if you continue to force it until it grinds it will be ruined.

The synchros a very well designed in many trannies from the 1990s on up. What kills them is clutch drag. If your synchros are grinding or weak, you absolutely must look at your clutch. If no one ever had a clutch drag issue, 90% of all DSM transmissions would never have to be repaired.

I would say your TOB is the smoking gun to your issue. I would double check to be sure your 2 engine-to-trans alignment dowel pins are healthy and in place as TOB failures like that are usually caused by an alignment issue between the trans and engine. I would also look at you pressur eplate fingers and that they are sitting even and at the same distance so as to not rattle the TOB around and break it.

Good luck!

Jack

Thank you! I was hoping to hear from you on this issue. I'll make sure to do what you mentioned above.

You wouldn't suggest taking the transmission apart just to see what's going on inside would you? Just to make sure nothing was effected.

According to the previous owner it "never did this before" when it came to the grinding.

Thanks again!

 

[JackM]

I would say more likely that the trans does have damage. Grinding is a very bad sign as a synchro will do everything it can to not grind if it is healthy. If it's easy for you to remove and install the trans I would just pop it back in and see how it feels. If it is a pain to remove/install then I would take it apart and inspect/replaced the synchros.

 

[DSM IN MN]

Will do. The engine and transmission are completely out of the car now so I figure there is no better time than now to do it.