5th gear shift
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 24
From: Aspen, CO
Car Info: 2002 WRX wagon
5th gear shift
Yes, I know there are several mentions of problems shifting into 5th gear, but does anyone have this problem at normal RPM ranges (say shifting from 4th to 5th at 3500-4000 rpm)? I get a grind 80% of the time, but the other times it is perfectly smooth. Is this gear just hard to shift into? Is there something I'm missing or should I just go get the syncros checked? It seems the harder I push it into the corner of the gearbox the better luck I have. Every other gear is smooth, and since I rarely use 5th, it seems hard to imagine the syncros is the problem.
2002 WRX
Mileage - 35 k
Stock
2002 WRX
Mileage - 35 k
Stock
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 720
From: The Hunted Forest
Car Info: Mazda Protege '02 (Wishing protege has AWD and a H6 twin turbo)
Originally Posted by funkendrenchman
Yes, I know there are several mentions of problems shifting into 5th gear, but does anyone have this problem at normal RPM ranges (say shifting from 4th to 5th at 3500-4000 rpm)? I get a grind 80% of the time, but the other times it is perfectly smooth. Is this gear just hard to shift into? Is there something I'm missing or should I just go get the syncros checked? It seems the harder I push it into the corner of the gearbox the better luck I have. Every other gear is smooth, and since I rarely use 5th, it seems hard to imagine the syncros is the problem.
2002 WRX
Mileage - 35 k
Stock
2002 WRX
Mileage - 35 k
Stock
I'm relatively sure that your synchros are going out if your having issues at 35k miles and no other problems in other gears.
Any second opinions anyone?
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Posts: n/a
wanted to chime in here, Matt....
Would be really odd if the synchros were going. I babies that tranny. It was never launched, never "money-shifted." Downshifts rev-matched, downshifts to 1st were double-clutched. In fact, the reason I ultimately sold it is because I thought I was wasting it on my consistent-speed-45mph boring commute to work! I also find it odd that, if a synchro was going to go out, 5th would go first. You would think a much lower gear synchro would go - going into 5th is such a low-stress shift (??)
I agree, though, it's almost like, it's so rare anything should be difficult about that shift that it HAS to indicate a problem. I believe your tranny should still be under the powetrain warranty, though. The only thing I can think of is the Mobil 1 synthetic tranny fluid I put in at 29,500 as part of the 30K service. I read many opinions and all sorts were out there; however, a respected friend of mind with plenty of experience was there helping me and was well aware of what we were putting in. If THAT alone could start wrecking synchros, I'd have a call into Mobil.......
Would be really odd if the synchros were going. I babies that tranny. It was never launched, never "money-shifted." Downshifts rev-matched, downshifts to 1st were double-clutched. In fact, the reason I ultimately sold it is because I thought I was wasting it on my consistent-speed-45mph boring commute to work! I also find it odd that, if a synchro was going to go out, 5th would go first. You would think a much lower gear synchro would go - going into 5th is such a low-stress shift (??)
I agree, though, it's almost like, it's so rare anything should be difficult about that shift that it HAS to indicate a problem. I believe your tranny should still be under the powetrain warranty, though. The only thing I can think of is the Mobil 1 synthetic tranny fluid I put in at 29,500 as part of the 30K service. I read many opinions and all sorts were out there; however, a respected friend of mind with plenty of experience was there helping me and was well aware of what we were putting in. If THAT alone could start wrecking synchros, I'd have a call into Mobil.......
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 24
From: Aspen, CO
Car Info: 2002 WRX wagon
Originally Posted by sonicblue
wanted to chime in here, Matt....
Would be really odd if the synchros were going. I babies that tranny. It was never launched, never "money-shifted." Downshifts rev-matched, downshifts to 1st were double-clutched. In fact, the reason I ultimately sold it is because I thought I was wasting it on my consistent-speed-45mph boring commute to work! I also find it odd that, if a synchro was going to go out, 5th would go first. You would think a much lower gear synchro would go - going into 5th is such a low-stress shift (??)
I agree, though, it's almost like, it's so rare anything should be difficult about that shift that it HAS to indicate a problem. I believe your tranny should still be under the powetrain warranty, though. The only thing I can think of is the Mobil 1 synthetic tranny fluid I put in at 29,500 as part of the 30K service. I read many opinions and all sorts were out there; however, a respected friend of mind with plenty of experience was there helping me and was well aware of what we were putting in. If THAT alone could start wrecking synchros, I'd have a call into Mobil.......
Would be really odd if the synchros were going. I babies that tranny. It was never launched, never "money-shifted." Downshifts rev-matched, downshifts to 1st were double-clutched. In fact, the reason I ultimately sold it is because I thought I was wasting it on my consistent-speed-45mph boring commute to work! I also find it odd that, if a synchro was going to go out, 5th would go first. You would think a much lower gear synchro would go - going into 5th is such a low-stress shift (??)
I agree, though, it's almost like, it's so rare anything should be difficult about that shift that it HAS to indicate a problem. I believe your tranny should still be under the powetrain warranty, though. The only thing I can think of is the Mobil 1 synthetic tranny fluid I put in at 29,500 as part of the 30K service. I read many opinions and all sorts were out there; however, a respected friend of mind with plenty of experience was there helping me and was well aware of what we were putting in. If THAT alone could start wrecking synchros, I'd have a call into Mobil.......
Also, it would be odd that the 5th shift is a problem now and wasn't when you were driving the car 2 months ago. I swear I have only shifted to 5th less than 20 times since I bought it from you and the grind is only the slightest of grinds. So, I'll just keep playing with it for now.
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May want to investigate with your dealer (Glanzmann?) first. Since I'm pretty sure it would be covered under the powertrain warranty, the sooner it gets to them, the better. You may even get a good guy who decides, even if it's marginal, since you're barely out of 3 years and not even out of 36K miles, they'll take care of whatever it is. Since the few opinions out there seem to suggest synchro, it'll only get worse.
man i got the same problem shifting into fifth gear all the time but at about 80% percent as well the clutch will be all the way and low rpms and it will still scratch. i am takin mine in on monday to have the syncros looked at because it is really startin to **** me off. what year is your wrx?
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