Grinding Noise going into 2nd Gear - help!

[Danny]

If you can learn to give the transmission that little pause between gears it may not give you any more trouble for quite a while.

This is what I do, and it seems to work well.

[lespaul]

Replacing syncros is so much more involved than swapping a transmission, it makes it not even worth the effort.

lespaul, if your car is grinding into 2nd with only 120k, it's pretty safe to assume that someone abused that transmission, slamming it into gear, running it without ever checking the oil, etc. Try pausing for a second between 1st and 2nd gear. Alfas have the worst syncros ever, they had crunchy syncros since day one so you have to take your time shifting. If you can learn to give the transmission that little pause between gears it may not give you any more trouble for quite a while.

Thank you.. The only thought is that it's shifting from 3rd to 2nd. Same advice with pausing?

[downernsp]

reply to post.

Just replace the tranny unless you wish to get very in volve much easier to just do a swap just my thought, but a s far as the sycro. yes that sounds about wright just to in volved like I stated above but fun if wishing to go into the " land of no re-turn" good luck.

[BDSax]

syncro's are expensive too. tranny was toast in my m535i, and i wanted to keep everything original, but they were like $70 a piece at my cost

[Yakinho]

For casual driving just stop downshifting into second gear. Syncro's are expensive and extremely complicated to install/work with. Danny I know you like to autox, so you'd be better off just going to the junkyard...

[gearheadE30]

I downshift into 2nd all the time in daily driving, and I have 200k on the stock motor and tranny. My 2nd gear synchro is also going out, but it works fine if I heel and toe. I have big feet, though, so it's not exactly a stretch to do.

[winfred]

i have the tranny that came from my 318 when i 6 cylindered it if you are interested let me know, the odo died at 117k miles but i don't think it had too much more then that, car was women owned and didn't look whipped

[twothrees]

Lespaul,

Have you checked the fluid level in your tranny yet? I found about two tablespoons worth of tar looking fluid when I did my fluid change after I bought my cabrio. Redline MTL seems to be the most often recommended gear oil.