Ok, I hope someone has experienced this before. Like the title reads my car has started grinding when shifting into second gear when above 5000 rpm. Seems to do it more after the car is hot. Also grinds if I downshift while the rpm's are still high. I have a Tri-Ax shifter and 410 gears. Have had the shifter in for about 3 months with no problems until recently. Should I change the fluid? Will this help? Also still under warranty for another 12,000 miles or so. If I take it in for warranty work do I need to remove the Tri-Ax and put the stocker back in??? Sorry this is so long. Thanks for not replying with "you should have gotten a hurst" "You should have gone with the MGW", "you whould have gotten an auto" Etc.etc....Just looking for good advice here.

Thanks

 

Absolutley take the shifter off. They will say the shifter contributed to the failure, and will not cover it under warranty.

I had a 96 Cobra with the fragile T-45 transmission. Broke 2nd, 5th, and Reverse out of it one night shifting into 2nd gear. Was locked in 1st gear. I had a Steeda Tri-Ax as well. Tri-Ax was not the culprit. The day I picked it and shifted into 2nd, it ground really bad, and I was like, "....ooooh...oh no. I got a bad one." 4,000 miles later, SNAP.

When I took it in to get rebuilt, the dealership monkey said the shifter caused it , and that he had seen quite a few with shifters on them that caused them to fail .

You have a syncronizer that's failing. Get it fixed under warranty while you still can.

 

I figured that it was a syncro going bad. Shouldn't go out at 20,000 miles IMO. Must be faulty. I wonder if it has metal shavings in the fluid if they will just replace the thing with a new one?

 

I wouldn't rule out the clutch or atleast the slave cylinder.

 

Could be?? Although I don't have any issues with any other gear. Just second. I guess they would check this too at the dealer if I ask when I take it in.

 

Assume you are mashing the clutch pedal all the way to the floor for each shift to get a clean disengagement. Still running the Mercon trans fluid? You should. All that aside it sounds like the blocker ring for 2nd is not spooling up or down the input shaft ... which leads to grinding. How hard do you drive it? If you take it in for warranty service and they agree to pull it apart, all of the blocker rings should be inspected and possibly replaced. The slider should be examined for excessive wear on the lead into the spline, likewise same inspection for the input shaft and the idlers for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th where the slider engages.

 

Oh just second.... I was thinking you had it worse in second but with most gears overall. Better check the tranny.

 

i am having the same problem with second it grinds when i try to shift fast,but does not when i go into it slowley.it is the second gear syncro and shift fork that is the problem.no matter it is getting dropped off today and i'm getting a new tranny covered under warranty.not bad considering all the mods i have.it pays to know people at the dealership.

 

This is just a guess but does your shifter have stops? If it does and they are not set up correctly they could be preventing the trans from fully engaging the gears. This WILL damage the trans and very well could cause your grinding problem. The 3650 has internal stops so you don't need them anyways.

 

The stock shifter does not have stops. That is all handled internally. Excessively hard shifting (slamming it to the stops) can cause some premature wear and tear to forks and the mechanisum.

 

I'm on my second crappy 3650 and it's grinding in second again. I hate this transmission. I had the first one replaced under warranty and we drove the crap out of it, wasn't suprised second gear went out. But since I've had the new tranny in I haven't even driven it hard really and it's started to grind when going into second at high rpm's. Dealership told me to bring it in and they'd try and get it worked out, but I'm afraid of them asking me to take the blower off before they touch it.

 

Seems most of the people having problems here have aftermarket shifters. Has anyone had this problem with the stock shifter?

 

I have tried everycombination of shifting this thing possible. Clutch all the way to the floor, letting the rpm's fall, power shift, it just dosen't like 2nd anymore.

I don't drive it too horribly hard. Occasional spirited driving on the street with a few outings to the track is really all.

Thanks for the trans info. I will take it in this week for service.

 

Thankfully I also know some people at a local dealership. They are a corporate sponsor for our local mustang club. Pretty mod friendly. Although I havent had to use them for any warranty work yet so I guess we'll see how friendly they stay on a big ticket item like the trans.

 

Shifter that I use is the Steeda Tri-Ax and the stops are adjusted correctly. This dosen't seem to be the issue. I think they just went cheap somewhere with these transmissions. I have had Tremec's in the past that were tough as nails. They could take whatever you could throw at them. I hope these new ones in these cars aren't as bad as the old T-5 pieces of junk.??

 

I don't even powershift mine and it's going out again.

 

Yep, I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.