My LS tranny has had a slight grinding noise happen in 3rd gear for the past few months. Today when I went to switch into 3rd it flat out doesn't go in gear, just makes a loud grinding noise and won't engage. No other gear has this problem. I called a couple of local transmition shops and they didnt really know, they wanted $200 just to take a look at it. I will crack open the tranny and fix what evers wrong, I just need to know what the problem could be and what kinda parts you guys think i'll need. What could the problem be?

 

There are many things that it could be..... If you open up the tranny you'll have a lot better idea what is going on... The first thing that I would think of locking up the gear would be a bent interlock or fork.... Another posibility could be something wrong in the syncros.... Do you run Honda MTF?? Anyways here are a couple pics from Acuraautomotiveparts.net if you don't know exactly what I am talkin about...

you can see here that part #6 is the interlock... I've seen problems with the teeth on these being bent before causing the forks not to move properly..
Here is just another pic of the forks...




[Modified by JDMspecEG6, 11:53 AM 12/15/2002]

 

sounds like the syncronizers they help the gears engage smoothly

 

3rd is usually first to go. You can double clutch it if you need time to save the $1200-1500 for a rebuild. Push clutch in, shift in to neutral, let out clutch, push clutch back in, then shift into 3rd. Try that and see if it helps.

 

Ok, I got a question.. if the interlock was bent, wouldn't that cause all the gears to engage harshly or could it just affect one gear? Also, is there any way to tell if the interlock or a shift fork is bent? Thanks.

-Mike

 

Yea most times that I have seen the interlock bent it causes the tranny to lock up really easy in most gears.... You will be able to tell if it is bent because the two teeth on the top side will look out of wack.... If that's not the case then I would see the problem being more in either your synchros or forks... A bent fork is a little harder to spot but you'll be able to see that it isn't sitting perpendicular with the rod that it is mounted on.... Good Luck

 

1500$!!!
GOOD LORD!
you can buy a syncro kit for about 300$ (correct me if im wrong) and do it yourself!

you can probably buy a NEW transmission for that price.

 

*shakes head*