Won't stay in gear

Hi - I just bought a 95 GSX and have list of things to fix, one of which is the transmission. All of the sudden it will not stay in second gear. It seems to go in, but then grinds like crazy when you release the clutch. If you really force it into gear, it seems to stay just fine with no grinding. Like I say in just started doing it (my son drives it and just started on a manual, so I don't know if he did something). I inspected the shift cables and they "appear" to be fine and the clutch fluid looks good. I don't have any sort of manual yet so I'm not sure where to check the fluid (a plug underneath I assume).
 
Any ideas why it would not be able to engage only one gear completely? I was hoping the shift cables could be adjusted, but I don't see anything. Thanks.

Jkid, 2G Eclipse/Talons have issues with the clutch becoming misadjusted (on it's own).  I would suggest possibly lowering the clutch pedal's engagement if it's too high or raising it if it's too low.
Scroll down about 3/4 of the way down and you will see how to adjust the clutch engagement on RRE's clutch info site.
It is odd that it only happen with second gear, but it could also be that second is almost gone.  Let's be positive and try the adjustment first though :)

i agree. First try the clutch adjustment, however i have a feeling its gonna be a second gear syncro

Thanks, I'll give it a shot this weekend and let you know. It almost feels like if I could pull the shifter back another half inch it might stay in gear okay (if I force it, it seems okay... sometimes... I only went for a short drive though). I might try unhooking the "up-down" cable at the shift lever and shifting with a pair of pliers so that any cable slop isn't an issue.

i know it probably wont help much but you can get metal bearings and put them where the crappy rubber was on the shift linkage on the tranny. yours might be so gone its not engaging all the way... its just a thought. if it doesn't help, it will at least take some slop out of the shifter.

they're just skateboard bearing. i got mine from ebay cuz its was cheaper, 8 bucks i think i paid with shipping, but you might be able to find something on the net or on your own for cheaper. if your interested  here is the link from the guy on ebay i bought from:


just something to think about that might be causing it to maybe not engage all the way and pop out.... i know it took most of the slop out of my shifter.

quote:

ORIGINAL: tjbiker031


i know it probably wont help much but you can get metal bearings and put them where the crappy rubber was on the shift linkage on the tranny. yours might be so gone its not engaging all the way... its just a thought. if it doesn't help, it will at least take some slop out of the shifter.

they're just skateboard bearing. i got mine from ebay cuz its was cheaper, 8 bucks i think i paid with shipping, but you might be able to find something on the net or on your own for cheaper. if your interested  here is the link from the guy on ebay i bought from:


just something to think about that might be causing it to maybe not engage all the way and pop out.... i know it took most of the slop out of my shifter.

It could be the rubber bushings having too much play, TJ.  That's really not a bad suggestion.  It could also cause the forks to not set the gears completely.  That could be why he notices that second stays put if it is forced in.  The shift base could have worn out  rubber bushings too.  So, that's two places that may have worn factory rubber pieces...the shift linkage and the shifter base.

yeah it came to mind when he said he has to force it all the way down. i forgot about the shifter base kit also until this morning also. i would just go with metal bushings with anything involving shifting, i dont like how rubber and sometimes polyurethane will sometimes give while shifting hard. thats just me.
 
but yeah i would definitely try those first and see how it works out. its easier and cheaper to see if cheap solutions will work before you gotta rip out the tranny and rebuild it and find out its still doing it.
 
BTW, thanks for the pic edit Silver.

I had the same problem with my 97 Talon.  It started to do that after I put a new clutch into it.  I accidentally left the transmssion mount a little loose.  I tightened it up and it never did it again.  Does the transmission chirp when you hit the gas after you put it into gear?  It may be a little hard to tell since it is a gsx.  It would not be the chirp you hear after you let off the gas to shift gears.  That would be the blow off valve.  It would sound just like the blow off valve but it would chirp when you hit the gas after you shift.  Check all the motor mounts and transmission mounts. If they are bad that would cause it to pop out of gear because the transmission and engine would not be aligned. hope that helps my friend.

quote:

ORIGINAL: tjbiker031

BTW, thanks for the pic edit Silver.

Haha, did you like that?   No worries bro.  I hate those ebay links because they are sooooooooo long and tend to stretch out the page, lol.

yeah i couldnt figure out how to do that, i wanted to atleast shrink the link into a word but gave up. lol

Well, I went outside to play with the shifter cables. I didn't realize it, but the shift lever has plenty of range of motion, definitly enough so it should be providing plenty of force to engage the gear. I was going to adjust the clutch when I realized that I could perform a simple test on the hill in my driveway that should rule out the clutch; put it gear without the clutch and with the engine off and see if it holds the car. It holds fine and shifts smoothly in 1st and 3rd gear but no go in 2nd. I can feel it try to engage the teeth and I can even hold the car on the hill if I put a lot on pressure on the shifter, but if I ease up on the shifter it starts to "thump" through the teeth and rolls down the hill.
 
So I'm thinking it's an internal problem and not the syncros - maybe internal linkage or broken/worn teeth or something? I wonder if the boy dumped the clutch in second gear and ripped something up?! How do I go about replacing this thing? Any ideas about costs for a rebuild or availability of used trannys? Thanks.

your probably gonna wanna just buy another tranny...unless you know how to rebuild it.