2nd gear grinding

When cold, my car grinds when doing the 1-2 shift. If i Jam it it will then go in. Also, when going from 3 back to 2, will grind again. Seems to ok when warm. Also, have had a few occaisions when i went from 2 to 3, and felt as if the gear was never fully engaged. There was a loud banging sound and a feel that the gear jumped out. Car is still CPO 02 with 69,500 miles. I have searched and my initial feeling is synchros. Any feedback on warranty work would be helpful. Thanks

If it's really cold, like below 35F (not to be confused with 35 below), I have developed a habit of double clutching until everything warms up. Seems to save a lot of syncro issues.

sounds like internal trans issues take it in

I've noticed that the cold weather has made my 1st to 2nd transition less smooth than it was. I wouldn't say grinding- grinding is not cool, but I certainly notice the gear changing being less smooth. As the poster above said, I take it easy until things warm up.

I always find that shifting from first to second is harder when the car is cold. Shifting up into first when the car is rolling is also a little hard. This is usually only for the first 5-10 minutes of driving in the morning. Once the car is warmed up, it shifts fine. At the start of the evening ride back home the car shifts fine, even though the engine hasn't warmed up.

I've noticed the roll thing also, can someone explain that to me?

The second gear synchros are usually the first to go, since that is the gear most people shift quickly into. The faster you shift- and especially if you have a short-shift kit, you are puttting much more wear on the synchros. As far as grinding going from 3rd to 2nd, this shouldn't be an issue if you simply rev-match before downshifting- as you should be doing anyway for smoothness and transmission longevity's sake. Rev-matching, or even better - double clutching- would make your synchros love you and they'll probably never wear-out.

oreganet - here is the "roll thing" explained When the car is rolling and you downshift from 2nd gear to 1st gear, if the what-cha-mcall-it is rotating too rapidly for the thing-a-ma-jig to engage smoothly it causes additional torque on do-hicky, which will temporarily cause resistance to the thing-a-ma-bob. Once the rotating speed of the what-cha-mcall-it becomes synchronous with the thing-a-ma-jig, it will allow the do-hicky to mesh with the thing-a-ma-bob and the shifter will slide into 1st gear. Any questions?

Tim: So for the first poster when did the "crap-o-la" decide to go?

I was trying not to get too technical!

Well, that bit I figured out. The strange thing is that this is the first car where I've ever seen that behaviour.

At what pont in clutch travel does the clutch start engaging? How far off the floor? When was the last time you change tranny fluid and if you did, what was used? Do you have an aftermarket shifter? Have you checked the cable adjustments to the shifter? Once warmed up, shifting should be smooth with no noise. You should be able to downshift easily to first gear at any speed less than 30 mph.

New clutch at the 60K recently. I have not changed fluid myself. I do not know if it was done at 60. I don't think so. Clutch engages about 1/2 to 3/4 way up. I have not checked any linkage or cables. I do not have any modifications to the shifter. Also, ther is a whine that is evident when clutch is out, but goes away when the clutch is pushed in. Leads me to think that something in the transmission is not rotating smoothly. I did post that a while back, and the dealer did say tranny was within specs. I never felt right with that. This was also before the grinding started. As far as I am concerned, grinding should never be normal, no matter what the temp is. Thanks for input. I am calling dealer now to set up service.

If whine is evident with clutch out and tranny in neutral tha goes away when depressing clutch pedal, you have a problem with the tranny internally. Bearings bad.

If it continues to "pop" out of gear, you will certainly have to replace the "slider hub". Since it is "popping" out of gear, it not only sounds like the syncro has had better days, but the hub is not fully engaging, this results from misadjustment of the shifter or cables. "Popping" out also can be caused from a few really good mis-shifts under power.