3rd gear acting up....grinding like a drunk highschool girl

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

So this problem started the day I went to the drag strip. I try to nail 3rd which usually goes well but this time I grinded(or ground?) it really bad. My left foot beat my hand so the clutch came out a little too early. Now every time I try to hit 3rd, it grinds a little bit. I can still get it in the gear but it grinds some and there is a little bit of resistance. 3rd feels perfectly normal during regular driving so this only happens when I’m driving it hard.

All other gears are fine. I have the JHM SS which judging from other gears, it’s aligned properly. I changed the trans fluid 10k ago with Motul Gear 300.

I’m thinking syncros…

#2

3rd gear synchro is notoriously shit. Not that it’s any shitter than 4-5-6 but it’s the one you use most so it wears out fastest of 3-4-5-6

1 and 2 are built ford tough, but they use little bitty weak synchros for 3-4-5-6…the same one for all 4 gears. As a result, the gear you use most (3rd) wears the synchro out the fastest.

Tranny re-builds are a hell of a drug. Hopefully it’s not that bad. If you do have to get anally raped and have it rebuilt have a look at getting the diesel 6th gear thing done. Pretty cool…highway cruising at 2100 rpm at 80 mph means your fuel savings will pay for the tranny job if you do lots of driving (about 10-20% more fuel efficiency in 6th on the highway than our ready-to-rock 6th gears that come stock)

#3

Yeah I’m pretty sure a rebuild is in my future. I’m not paying someone to do it, I’ll summon some of you guys to help me and we’ll make a day of it with free food provided by me. I’m definitely doing the taller 6th gear. If If the trans is coming out, that is getting done no matter how much longer it takes. Next year I’ll be doing some serious highway trips so it will probably pay for itself.

This cuts my drag racing season short…fuck.

#4

All the respect in the world for you Joe. I’m down to help. I respect that you added how this started and not just took the high road and said this just started out of no where.

Chances are on your money shift you kicked a tooth off your syncro. This will male it lightly grind above say 3k. You can probably expect the same servace life out of it but big shifts are not going to be as possible.

#5

I can sense a ricer double-clutch going from 2nd to 3rd in your near future!!

On a side note our rally car has the syncro issue on 3rd and has had it for a while. Same deal is fine for normal driving but when your on it…

I just throw it home and ignore it. However. That being said. Its not the pride and joy and I understand the pain

#6

Joe, That sucks… Was looking forward to seeing you improve on your times… keep me posted on the tear down of the tranny… My brother has been making shift forks, syncros, input shafts, etc for Mustang T45, T3650, and T56 trannys for years now and if we can help in anyway I would be glad too… I don’t know enough about the weak links in these but if we can make something that could help will do it… later Ron

#7

I only have 15k on my car and my 4th gear has the exact same symptoms as your 3rd gear. I better get it under warranty before its too late!@

#8

Wow 3rd gear when the car Is cold in the morning is a nightmare.

#9

skip it! 2nd --> 4th

ill go 3rd to 5th all the time when driving in traffic on the freeway

#10

Use 2, 4, and 6. Us S4 guys have low gears.

Sucks about the transmission though, Hopefully JHM will do a rebuild video on the b6/b7 transmissions in the future