is this my fault or my MINIs fault

[mini vanilli]

i have been driving manual cars for 15 years. they are second nature to me. of course my MC is manual too. i have had it for 6-7 months. great car. but recenly i have been having a problem. and i cant tell if its me or the car. it just happened again on the way home and its pis%ing me off and it needs to stop. its been happening more and more recently. started happening about a month ago. when i get the car up to and over 4000 rpms and shift into third gear its like i hit a wall of gears and the car goes grrrriiiiiiind. then after a quick pump of the clutch i am able to get in. two questions. why is this happening. is it me. i know how to drive a manual car very well. or is it the car and something is wrong. if so what could it be. the car drives perfect except for this third gear grind every now and then. its very loud and does not sound good at all. my second question is this. are these huge gear grinds destroying my transmission. its happened a bunch of times already. and i dont anticipate it stopping. i take great care of my car and expect it to last. are the transmissions built to take a grind or am i tearing up my car really bad??? help. and what am i supposed to tell the dealer....duh...my car grinds in third gear sometimes....he will tell me to go take a driving course.

[Dutchy]

I got my '91 celica changed from an auto to a manual and the manual that was put in always crunched third gear. I had always driven manuals, so I was sure that it wasn't me. I had it looked at and it was found that the gearbox was stuffed (it was second hand anyway).
I'm not very good when it comes to gearbox internals, but it definitely sounds like there is something wrong with the gearbox. Try to get someone else to drive it and see if they crunch third. If they do it, then take it to the dealer and make them aware that there is a problem with the gear box.

You don't crunch any other gear, do you? So why would it be driver error?

Cheers

Dutchy.

[jshadz]

Same thing happens with my Nissan, when I shift too quickly it grinds, if I shift slowly there is no problem. I do not have an answer to the cause or source of the problem.

Jameson

[abbydog3]

Sounds like its the transmission. My old VW did this in 2nd gear only, the mechanic said it was the syncro gear. Once the transmission was rebuilt the problem went away.

I assume it is under warranty, then I would get on record with the dealership about the problem.

Thanks my 2cents. Later.

[Bilbo Baggins]

mini vanilli,
Do you tend to shift fast, or do you shift more slowly and allow the synchros time to do their job. If you are a fast shifter you might have bent one of the shifting forks inside the transmission.

Of course, you could have a bad transmission. A trip to the dealer is in your cards. Take one of the service writters for a test drive to demonstrate the problem, then have him drive to experience the same problem.

[Tom B]

Do MINIs have hydraulic clutches? If so, the fact that you can shift into third after pumping the clutch, points to moisture / air in the line. A good flush and bleed may do it. But the fact that this only happens in 1 gear would seem to point away from this. But it's easy and cheap to do so I would give it a shot.

The other possibility, based upon only occuring in 1 gear and accompanied by a "grinding" noise, is a failing synchronizer on that gear. Hope it's not this as repair reguires dismatling the gearbox. As a temporary "fix" you could double clutch whenever changing into the offending gear.

Good luck.

Tom

[pocketrocketowner]

Quote: Originally Posted by mini vanilli

i have been driving manual cars for 15 years. they are second nature to me. of course my MC is manual too. i have had it for 6-7 months. great car. but recenly i have been having a problem. and i cant tell if its me or the car. it just happened again on the way home and its pis%ing me off and it needs to stop. its been happening more and more recently. started happening about a month ago. when i get the car up to and over 4000 rpms and shift into third gear its like i hit a wall of gears and the car goes grrrriiiiiiind. then after a quick pump of the clutch i am able to get in. two questions. why is this happening. is it me. i know how to drive a manual car very well. or is it the car and something is wrong. if so what could it be. the car drives perfect except for this third gear grind every now and then. its very loud and does not sound good at all. my second question is this. are these huge gear grinds destroying my transmission. its happened a bunch of times already. and i dont anticipate it stopping. i take great care of my car and expect it to last. are the transmissions built to take a grind or am i tearing up my car really bad??? help. and what am i supposed to tell the dealer....duh...my car grinds in third gear sometimes....he will tell me to go take a driving course.

Your 3rd gear synchro ring (made of brass) is probably trash. The only other thing that it could be is that the cable(s) that actually shift the gearbox are worn. Cables=cheap repair and you should do it, synchro will be BIG money though the part itself costs very little.