Gear Clash

[CamiLFX]

Any idea as to what might cause gear clash at low speeds only? Shifting on the highway is smooth, but when I hit traffic or when i'm driving in residential areas I get a real nasty crunch noise. It's more of a crunch than a grind. This applies to gears 1-4. I had my clutch and slave cylinder replaced today for this reason and it didn't do very much for me, clearly. Please help before I light both my car and myself on fire.

Update: It happens most frequently at or below 8 mph. I also tried shifting with the car off. It shifts fine all the way through, but it will randomly get caught on any of the 6 gears (normal operation?). I'm guessing it's a trans fluid, linkage, synchro, or hydraulic problem. Is there any way I can start ruling any of these problems out?

[metrogdor22]

Originally Posted by CamiLFX

Any idea as to what might cause gear clash at low speeds only? Shifting on the highway is smooth, but when I hit traffic or when i'm driving in residential areas I get a real nasty crunch noise. It's more of a crunch than a grind. This applies to gears 1-4. I had my clutch and slave cylinder replaced today for this reason and it didn't do very much for me, clearly. Please help before I light both my car and myself on fire.

Update: It happens most frequently at or below 8 mph. I also tried shifting with the car off. It shifts fine all the way through, but it will randomly get caught on any of the 6 gears (normal operation?). I'm guessing it's a trans fluid, linkage, synchro, or hydraulic problem. Is there any way I can start ruling any of these problems out?

Are you sure it's not clutch/drivetrain rattle? It's common for these cars to hear a short rattle when quickly pressing the clutch at low speeds (1-2 shift usually, hearing it up through 4th may be another problem). AFAIK it doesn't cause any problems; it's just a side effect of 400+ ft-lbs of torque connected to a clunky drivetrain.

[acammer]

Originally Posted by metrogdor22

Are you sure it's not clutch/drivetrain rattle? It's common for these cars to hear a short rattle when quickly pressing the clutch at low speeds (1-2 shift usually, hearing it up through 4th may be another problem). AFAIK it doesn't cause any problems; it's just a side effect of 400+ ft-lbs of torque connected to a clunky drivetrain.

FYI it looks like this is a V6 car, so probably not in the 400+ ft/lbs range.

Does the car struggle to go into gear from a stop with the clutch depressed? It sounds like potentially it could be the clutch dragging. Usually that's a hydraulic issue - improperly bleed, parts failure, etc.

[ChibiBlackSheep]

I usually have an issue with the syncros getting into first sometimes, and then I just take off in 2nd.

Swapping out the fluid helped for a while, but these AY6 transmissions are pretty terrible.

As for the drivetrain clunking if you press the clutch out too fast, I've noticed if you stay slightly on the throttle when clutching in (much like you do when clutching out), that whole rattle never happens.