A few questions for 5-spd S14 owners

[maddindian]

Ok I have two questions to ask regarding 5-spd S14, I want to know if what I'm experiencing is normal or not.

1) When I'm in a high gear and the speed becomes to low, I hear a rattling sound coming from the rear (sounds like its coming from the differential), is that normal? It goes away once the RPMs are above 1.5k RPM but its there in any gear when the tach is reading less than 1.5K...is that normal for a 5-spd manual tranny car?

2) When I start the car in the cold, I have problems getting into 2nd gear. I have to fight it to put it in to 2nd and I hear a crunching sound that can't possibly be good. However once the car is warmed up, its as smooth as butter. Is this normal for everyone else as well?

Thanks for your time.

[S13Grl]

It shouldn't be too hard to put it into second. Do you have a short-throw shifter? My boyfriend's S14 is sometimes hard to put into second if it's cold, but there are no crunching noises. He has the B&M shifter, which makes for harder insertion into gears.

I don't know of a crunching noise at certain RPMs either. My boyfriend is also experiencing some whining noises coming from the rear of the car when slowing down in second. I'll get him to look at this topic when I get home tonight. I'm sorry I'm not of much more help.

[BadMoJo]

well when my car is cold, its harder to get into second gear and will *crunch* sometimes. But I just double clutch for the first 2 blocks and then its fine, slides right into gear.

[96SEChick]

Same here.  When my car is cold, it is tougher to shift into 2nd.  I get kind of a "clunk" but it smooths out perfectly on the 3rd or 4th time I go into 2nd.  I do also hear a slight "vibration" while slowing down while still in gear.  My cause is the wonderful exhaust heat shields--discovered by a Nissan technician.  I couldn't figure out if it was coming from the very front (engine) or the very back (differential), but it is actually my heat shields (sound echoing through the pipes).  I don't think there's anything wrong with either of the questions asked, especially since everybody seems to be having the same concerns, with no diagnosable problems--just odd little quirks of our cars slightly aging.

[misnomer]

Transmission fluid is more viscous, that's why it's so tough to put in gear when it's cold.  As far as the rattling goes, it's prevalent on any car when the engine is under heavy strain and being lugged (engine doesn't have enough power to turn the crank properly). Try to avoid it, not good, particularly for your bearings.

And welcome back SEChick!!! :-)

[tnord]

you should never be below 2000rpm much less 1500 in a manual. except for maybe 1st gear.  that bad noise you're car makes when it's that low in the revs is you're drivetrain begging you to downshift, or at least put it in neutral.

[gfisch]

Im not sure about rattling, but my 240 definately didnt did make some wierd noises when running at low RPMs, especially if I was in to high a gear going up a hill and the engine got bogged down.

[maddindian]

I thought it was ok to keep the RPMs below 2k but above 1.5K?? I usually hover at around 1.7K during normal cruising and there are no vibration noises.

any comments?

[DrDubbleB]

Well...I personally don't like to have the RPMs that low, and it would seem that the engine really doesn't either. &nbsp;It shouldn't vibrate unless you are getting down below 1.5K though. &nbsp;Why are the RPMs that low anyways, are you trying to conserve gas that much?<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'> &nbsp;It won't kill ya to have them a little above 2K.

[DoriftoPnoy]

For some reason its still hard for me to get into 2nd when car is warmed up. Any suggestions?

[aznpoopy]

thread is from 2002. searching (which you did) = good. bumping 3 year old threads = bad.

try double clutching it. if it works easy with a double clutch, your 2nd gear synchro is shot.

you might want to try replacing your manual tranny fluid.