transmission problems

[eclipsed at 3am]

well i think i did something real bad tonight...

i was messing with a buddy of mine on the way home from chilis. I downshift to 2nd gear at like 40 mph, and then brake boost. I go to slam it into third, and all it does is grind, kind of like i didnt have the clutch all the way down. grinds reaaally bad. anyways i get it into 3rd. I didnt wanna mess around anymore after that, plus my turn was coming up. So i go to downshift into 2nd again to slow down for the turn, absolutely will NOT go into 2nd. So i get home, at idle it wont go into 2nd, and even when the car is off it wont go into 2nd. 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and reverse are fine.

What could have happened here?!?! help!

[eclipse98gst]

You could have possibley broken the the 1st and 2nd gear shift fork inside the transmission. If you did not break the whole fork you could have bent the fork in a way that it will no longer engage 2nd gear. If that is not it I would say your 2nd gear syncros are shot, you should try replacing the fluid with BG Sycroshift and see if that helps for the time being, you may be able to juice a more time out of the tranny if the sycros are on there way out.

[eclipsed at 3am]

Originally Posted by eclipse98gst

You could have possibley broken the the 1st and 2nd gear shift fork inside the transmission. If you did not break the whole fork you could have bent the fork in a way that it will no longer engage 2nd gear. If that is not it I would say your 2nd gear syncros are shot, you should try replacing the fluid with BG Sycroshift and see if that helps for the time being, you may be able to juice a more time out of the tranny if the sycros are on there way out.

first, thanks for replying. ive been freaking out for the last 30 mins..

well i know the syncros are fine, the trans was just rebuild like 4000 miles ago. another guy had it, and i absolutely trust that he didnt beat the crap out of it, but then he got a shep tranny and sold me this one. i have 2 questions..

1. if the clutch adjusting rod isnt adjusted right, and its been hard to shift into second(not hard just not super smooth, but sometimes hard), could that affect the shift fork over time?

2. if the shift fork is bad, how much is a new fork and would that mean having to rebuild the trans again? how difficult would that be to replace?

i have a girl FRIEND coming down from michigan next friday, and i was psyched because she would get to see my car and all that and I want to make a good impression, because she appreciates dsms too. i cant impress her with a busted fork! lol.. thanks for the help

[eclipse98gst]

Originally Posted by eclipsed at 3am

first, thanks for replying. ive been freaking out for the last 30 mins..

well i know the syncros are fine, the trans was just rebuild like 4000 miles ago. another guy had it, and i absolutely trust that he didnt beat the crap out of it, but then he got a shep tranny and sold me this one. i have 2 questions..

My first question is, do you have the reciept or some kind of proof showing that the guy had the tranny rebuilt? I just say that because if someone claims that they are not hard on their tranny why would they need a shep tranny?

1. if the clutch adjusting rod isnt adjusted right, and its been hard to shift into second(not hard just not super smooth, but sometimes hard), could that affect the shift fork over time?

As long as the clutch was fully disengaging you shouldnt have had to worry about the adjustment rod affecting you getting into gear. You can tell the clutch is fully disengaged if when you press it in the rpms immediately drop to idol. It could possibly affect the shif fork, but it would have most likely made all of the gears difficult to get into. It is always good to make sure that the adjustment rod is adjusted correctly though.

2. if the shift fork is bad, how much is a new fork and would that mean having to rebuild the trans again? how difficult would that be to replace?

If the fork is bad it would only be around 60-70 for a new one I believe. But unless you absolutely know what you are doing I would have a transmission specialist put it in. There are plenty of writeups on different message boards outlining how to rebuild a transmission, so you may be able to look at those and do it.

Transmission problems are very difficult to diagnose, if I were you I would take it to a transmission shop and have them check it out. Its very hard to diagnose a tranny over a forum unless you actually drive it.

One more thing that it could possibly be but is very rare is a stretched out shift cable. If this just all of the sudden started happening though I kind of doubt that this would be the cable. Since you dont have a lot of time, make sure the clutch is disengaging and if thats not it try replacing the fluid with GM Sycromesh (you can buy it at your local GM dealership) youll need 3 bottles of it.

Good luck man,

PS maybee you should try writing or calling either Shep or TRE about your tranny.

[eclipsed at 3am]

First of all, thank you for your help.

He said he had it rebuilt about 2 years ago, and then put about 2,500 miles on it(its not a dd), and i trust him. Then he got the shep tranny because his clutch was shot, BUT he thought it was the transmission. So he right away ordered the shep trans because he was planning on getting one anyways. Then when he had the rebuilt trans taken out and the shep trans installed(by a professional, not a "backyard" professional lol), they checked out the rebuilt trans and found there was nothing wrong with it, just pieces of clutch. So they took out the pieces and sold the "supposidly" fine rebuilt trans to me. In writing this, I'm thinking maybe the pieces of clutch could have bombed a part inside of the trans, that they didnt see.

I think this because its been kinda hard to get the car into second gear sometimes. Meaning the shift fork probably slowly disintegrated, and the brake-boost-pull-to-7500-rpm stunt i pulled last night was the end of it.

I'm taking it in about the middle of this week, and I'm going to have them check it out, and if it is the fork, replace it with an evo fork, i guess they are made of steel, unlike the stock aluminum fork.

correct me on any of this if im wrong. I'm sick of dumping money into a car that continually breaks things, even though I'm a careful driver and hardly ever get on it.

EDIT: When they installed the trans into my car, they used 1 qt of bg syncromesh and 2 qts of valvoline 75w90. I think.. but it did have a full qt of syncromesh and topped off with the valvoline.

[eclipse98gst]

The clutch is not encased inside of the trasmission, it is on the outside, so theres no way that a piece of the clutch could be in the transmission. But since 2nd gear is the ONLY one your having trouble with, I would bet its your sincro thats going out. But def have it checked out by a pro and let me know what they say.

[eclipsed at 3am]

Originally Posted by eclipse98gst

The clutch is not encased inside of the trasmission, it is on the outside, so theres no way that a piece of the clutch could be in the transmission. But since 2nd gear is the ONLY one your having trouble with, I would bet its your sincro thats going out. But def have it checked out by a pro and let me know what they say.

alright, i talked to a friend of mine today who is an automotive genius, especially when it comes to dsms. he said that its either the shifter cables(which i checked and they seem fine) or the shift fork. he says if the shift fork did break, its probably not something that just happened, but an existing problem with the fork, and it was slowly weakening, until last night when it had enough and just snapped. that would explain why 2nd gear was sometimes hard to shift into, especially downshifting.

im going to bring it into his shop sometime this week, and he is going to take a look at it.

[eclipsed at 3am]

ok we got the transmission out and apart. the shift fork is fine, a little scratched but fine. the problem is the 2nd gear syncros, the sleeve, and the gear itself. the sleeve sort of "melted" to the syncros, and looks like it wore away at the gear. everything else looks perfect.

i'd already planned on paying for 1st through 4th gear syncros and a shift fork, but now i dont need a shift fork, i need the syncros plus a sleeve and a gear. does anyone have any idea how much a sleeve and a 2nd gear would cost?

[eclipse98gst]

Originally Posted by eclipsed at 3am

ok we got the transmission out and apart. the shift fork is fine, a little scratched but fine. the problem is the 2nd gear syncros, the sleeve, and the gear itself. the sleeve sort of "melted" to the syncros, and looks like it wore away at the gear. everything else looks perfect.

i'd already planned on paying for 1st through 4th gear syncros and a shift fork, but now i dont need a shift fork, i need the syncros plus a sleeve and a gear. does anyone have any idea how much a sleeve and a 2nd gear would cost?

Good to hear you found out what was wrong. I thought it sounded like a syncro problem

You should either contact mitsubishi about parts or Call TRE to get the parts. I bet it will be cheaper if you go through the dealer though.
Try Rey Reece Mitsubishi,I think there site is down right now so heres there number 503-256-3700. Just let them know you were trying to order off the site but it was down. They have stock mistu parts for much cheaper than any other dealerships.