my 280 grinds going into 2nd and sometimes reverse, when i can find it espically when downshifting. i was told maybe new bushings. can anyone tell me? also does any one have a link somewhere so i can check my vin number? i dont want to know if anything has ever happened to it just want to know what trans i have. thanks

 

I've owned two 280Zx's so far and both of them had a hard time going into 2nd and reverse. You have to get a feel for the tranny. Trying to fly through the gears just by pulling on the shifter doesn't work with this car. Once you find the motion it likes, it shifts like a hot knife through butter.

Rod.

 

What year is your car?? Turbo or N/A?? More than likely your syncros are going out..

 

Could just be a worn out slave cylinder &/or master cylinder. Or deteriorating fluid hose flexing. Could be the pedal just needs adjusting. Any of this starts going sour in pretty much any car usually means the grinding of reverse. Second could be a worn synchro too though. First thing I would check though is pedal travel and then start looking for any signs of fluid leakage at the slave cyliner or or clutch master cylinder and all hose connections. Try pumping the pedal and see if that helps at all. If it does then it's most likely a hydraulic problem. If it doesn't get any better at all then its probably not related to the hydraulics and could be internal.

 

i have roughly the same problem
upon deaccleration in 1st and second it grinds. Also when reversing, as i let out the clutch it makes the same grinding noise. To me it sounds like worn out main bearings. The clutch feels like its gonna need to be replaced within a few months that also could be a problem.
I have read that this is a common problem, at least i hear about it alot.

-josh

 

My 2nd gear had that little grind shifting into it when I bought it at 132K miles.
That transmission lasted through all my abuse right up to 218K miles. Its a common problem but doesn't nessisarily mean your tranny is going to die this month.
Once 3rd gear started doing it bad, then it would pop out of 2nd gear, then wouldn't hold 1st. By that time I got rid of it. You've probably got a while to go.

 

Mine used to grind all the time when I would reverse. I found that if you pop it into 1st and then put it in reverse it wont grind. Just a little tip that works for me.

 

Yeah, I have noticed that also. Good advice Drew.

Rod.

 

I have this same problem, a friend of mine told me to check for air in the hydraulic system, drain fluid from tranny and use royal purple

 

Royal Purple may be a bit much, but using a good synthetic gear oil specifically designed for manual transmissions can make a noticeable difference.

I prefer RedLine 75w90NS:

http://www.redlineoil.com/products_g...60&subcatID=20

It's moderately priced and has great performance. Don't get me wrong, Royal Purple is great stuff, but it's usually significantly more expensive than RedLine.

 

its a 86, n/a it all happened after i was in a parking lot showing someone that them pulling the ebrake on there fwd was not drifting and all was going good and then short of a loud pop and it pop out of gear and ever since then it has had this problem grinding. if i have the rpms down real low its fine just when i get up to normal rpms for shifing.

 

My friends '84 ZXT grinds everytime between 1st and 2nd when you get on the gas. I think its something you're just gonna have to get used to.

 

DoTheDrew, definitely sounds like a synchro problem with your friend. Drfter, I'd say change the fluid as mentioned above. If that doesn't help your situation then it's time to either rebuild or find a different one eventually. Sounds like you're probably losing a bearing (or two) or a synchro. I say synchro cause it's possible that the two aren't related (second and reverse). But definately change the fluid before you do anything else.