RunX RSI : Tough 1st to 2nd gear change

[Dolby]

Car is just over 3 years old and just had my 60,000km service. I've had it from new and it's never had grinding gears or an accident or anything.

The RSI gearbox has never been smooth and often battled at higher revs, but 2 weeks at high revs it wouldn't even change (no grinding or anything - just would not go). As the revs dropped, it slotted in.

I thought this was a once off, but it happened 3 times last week and 4 times last night.

Could it be gearbox fluid ... ?

 

[Slootvreter]

Have it checked out soon as you can, otherwise you will be sorry. Does it ever pop out of gear? I had a similiar problem with a Nissan Sentra sick a few years ago and it was something to do with the selectors or sync or something. Hardly ever the fluid.

 

[kevinswan007]

sounds like clutch to me

 

[Thugscub]

Check your hydraulic clutch fluid. Maybe the system needs to be bled or topped up. Or get sombody to look at the clutch arm on the bellhousing to see if it is moving a reasonable amount 2 to 4cm when you push the clutch in. If all seems to be working then could be the selector arms in the gearbox.

 

[Pyro]

If it was just serviced, talk to the person who serviced it.

 

[Fazda]

My guess would also be clutch or clutch fluid.

At 60 000 km, the fluid should have been bled and changed at least once by now, so if it hasn't it could well be your problem. Clutch/brake fluid is hygroscopic, and sucks in water, and then loses its ability to work...ideally should be fushed and changed every year.

 

[Dolby]

Just called him ; he said everything looked perfect 2 weeks ago. He said they check the oil, but don't replace if not needed.

However I must take the car in, he'll adjust the clutch and lubricate the gearbox linkages (or something). I must then drive it and see if better. If not, he'll do further checking :/

 

[JK8]

Think I told you about this before...

 

[Dovi]

I also find the change from 1st to 2nd in my RunX to be a bit grindy. Doesn't flow as nicely as my 2nd to 3rd to 4th and back.

 

[Vegeta]

Had the same problem on one of my cars a long time ago cant even remember if it was the corrola or mazda who knows... But it frustrated me to hell and back so what i did was to rev it to the redline and just force the bugger with all my anger to 2nd. Did that for years nothing ever broke i just did it every once in a while because i was angry that noone could find out what the problem was.

 

[JK8]

Its the entry gate in second gear... its not smooth. What you need to do its pull your gear to the left and bend the left piece of metal form 1 to 2 and then the right piece upwards from 2 - 3...

 

[AveshR]

Its the entry gate in second gear... its not smooth. What you need to do its pull your gear to the left and bend the left piece of metal form 1 to 2 and then the right piece upwards from 2 - 3...

please explain again :erm:

2nd gear grating at high revs are common on the runx rsi's.... one of the ways to solve it is to replace the clutch and pressure plate.

 

[Gnome]

Unlikely it's the clutch, if you have a worn down clutch it'll be easier to shift rather than harder, reason being: A worn down clutch doesn't clamp down anymore and starts to slip, so you could for example have your car at a complete stop with the handbrake up and put into 4th right there and it won't stall immediately, the revs will drop down elegantly whereas a working clutch will bite down, the car will jerk and stall immediately. Another thing that you'd easily spot with a worn down clutch is when you shift and push it hard the revs will climb but the speed doesn't increase, once again because the clutch is slipping.

A clutch's sole purpose is to lock and unlock the input shaft to the engine, nothing more, nothing less.

Anyway if you try to put it into 2nd and it grinds while not going in that's a worn synchro, if it doesn't grind but still doesn't want to go in the selector shaft or part of the selector assembly is no longer properly aligned.

Also your car most likely has a hydraulically operated clutch, they don't usually require adjustment (cable operated types do from time to time) but a clutch that's too high (it's a long story why the height is related) will cause wear on the release bearing whereas a clutch that's set too low will cause the clutch not to properly disconnecting the input/output shaft which means the engine is still turning the input shaft (at least partially) while you attempt to shift, this is bad because the synchro is trying to slow down or speed up the input shaft so that the input and output shafts are spinning at the correct speed for a given gear so that the dog teeth can mesh but the engine is still partially locked to the input shaft, it's like 2 components working against each other and the synchro is gonna lose (or in this case it's going to wear down like there ain't no tomorrow, image you keep your foot on the petrol while braking, same idea).

Basically a badly adjusted clutch can also make it hard to shift but it's usually hard to shift on all gears, not just some of them, at least unless the synchro on one of the gears is unusually weak and it's wearing down faster than the other gears (can happen if you abuse 2nd).

 

[JK8]

Unlikely it's the clutch, if you have a worn down clutch it'll be easier to shift rather than harder, reason being: A worn down clutch doesn't clamp down anymore and starts to slip, so you could for example have your car at a complete stop with the handbrake up and put into 4th right there and it won't stall immediately, the revs will drop down elegantly whereas a working clutch will bite down, the car will jerk and stall immediately. Another thing that you'd easily spot with a worn down clutch is when you shift and push it hard the revs will climb but the speed doesn't increase, once again because the clutch is slipping.

A clutch's sole purpose is to lock and unlock the input shaft to the engine, nothing more, nothing less.

Anyway if you try to put it into 2nd and it grinds while not going in that's a worn synchro, if it doesn't grind but still doesn't want to go in the selector shaft or part of the selector assembly is no longer properly aligned.

Also your car most likely has a hydraulically operated clutch, they don't usually require adjustment (cable operated types do from time to time) but a clutch that's too high (it's a long story why the height is related) will cause wear on the release bearing whereas a clutch that's set too low will cause the clutch not to properly disconnecting the input/output shaft which means the engine is still turning the input shaft (at least partially) while you attempt to shift, this is bad because the synchro is trying to slow down or speed up the input shaft so that the input and output shafts are spinning at the correct speed for a given gear so that the dog teeth can mesh but the engine is still partially locked to the input shaft, it's like 2 components working against each other and the synchro is gonna lose (or in this case it's going to wear down like there ain't no tomorrow, image you keep your foot on the petrol while braking, same idea).

Basically a badly adjusted clutch can also make it hard to shift but it's usually hard to shift on all gears, not just some of them, at least unless the synchro on one of the gears is unusually weak and it's wearing down faster than the other gears (can happen if you abuse 2nd).

Nice post!