Strange 5MT issue...

So occasionally, I miss a shift , and afterwards 1st and reverse are hard to engage. It happened again on Monday.

For the first mile afterwards, it wouldn't even try to go into first. The shifter just felt bound up. Gears 2-5 were OK.

After that, it would partially slip in (), but would pop right out it I tried to give any throttle.

I left it parked for ~5 hours at work, then went to head home. At first it was still a little tough to get into first, but it felt like it went in fully (). Fed in a little power and it stayed in gear fine. It felt like it was getting easier each time I put it into first.

Yesterday and today it pretty much feels fine.



This isn't the first time it's behaved like this either. Once after a missed shift at the track, and once more on the street.


Anyone else had a similar problem? Any insight as to what might be the issue? I did drain and fill with fresh Extra-S, but it's happened both before and after that service. Is it just a matter of time before my tranny goes?

Sounds like a potential synchro issue. You might try to change fluid and see what happens (something sychro friendly like Redline)

Thanks KC, I may give that a try when it happens again.

I had the same thing happen years ago, I did an extra s flush and it's been fine. I also found I was missing shifts because the clutch I had was catching too close to the floor, my arm was quicker than my leg and I would clash shifts alot. Went to a new clutch and never missed a shift again. Also the is an articulating joint in the shift shaft where the linkage connects to transmission. I am finding those siezed up and it affects shift ease. The fix is easy, remove it, disassemble and grease the crap out of it.

Originally Posted by Turkeylord

Thanks KC, I may give that a try when it happens again.

You are changing out the fluid every 30,000 miles, right ?

Originally Posted by Max Capacity

You are changing out the fluid every 30,000 miles, right ?

I'm not sure of the service history before I owned it, but I drained and filled with Extra-S last June. I put on less than 8,000mi/yr so it should be pretty dang fresh. Only thing I can think of there is that I had the front of the car up on ramps so I was only able to jack the back of the car up to level while draining - I wish I would've been able to tilt it "nose down" to get more out of the back of the tranny. I still put in a good amount of Extra-S and I'm sure it blends over time so I dunno if that's an issue or not...

If draining and filling again would take care of it that'd be a pretty cheap fix so I may do it anyway.

had similar issues with mine, not that intense but 1st and reverse were "try again" most of the time. Fresh extra-s made almost no change. Bleeding BOTH master and slave clutch cylinders helped. I think I had air in slave some how, fluid didn't come out at the first stroke.

Give it a shot. Most people don't touch the slave cylinder for some reason.