GQ manual 2nd gear crunch?

[metaldude_999]

Hi all,

I thought there would be a heap of threads on this issue. I searched and came up with nothing much.

I have a very crunchy entrance to 2nd gear that requires gentle persuasion and patience for it to slot into gear, often if not coaxed in the right way, it will crunch and be very hard to put in gear.

I know someone else that has this exact issue in their GQ, so figured it must be pretty common, can anyone point me in the right direction for this? Its no big drama, but just wondering what the opinion is.

Cheers

[AB]

Hi mate, it could be your syncro's but I would be doing a good quality gear box oil change first up to see if that solves the problem.

Let us know how you go with it too whatever you decide.

[metaldude_999]

Good plan,. Whats a good oil I should be looking for?

[Silver]

no floor mats tucked up under the clutch pedal?

A lot of people put a heavier oil in than recommended - that made Silver a bit of a pig to get into gear in winter - which in Brisvegas is pretty mild. Coincidentally, second gear was the main problem

So I put the recommended stuff in, and it was great all through winter, smooth as the proverbial going into gear. Now the weather has warmed up the synchro sometimes resists selecting a gear for a bit longer than usual, but nowhere near as bad as the problem was before in winter. It was a Castrol oil specifically for gear boxes and I think it was API GL4 75w90 rather than 80w90.

7 more posts metaldude, and you can access the factory manual - the page you want is MA 8 and MA 9

[BearGUST]

Definitely worth changing the oil, I wouldn't be putting anything heavier in - if anything I'd think about a touch thinner.
Get the recommended stuff and try it, if its not any better try draining some out and topping it up with some thinner stuff.
Heavier oil will give you poorer shift quality and heavier fuel consumption.

[metaldude_999]

Thanks for the tips. I will definitely change oil for a nice 75-90. Actually yesterday was fairly hot 34 degrees and with the car in the sun all day when I left work for the day the gearbox seemed to shift a lot slicker so maybe I do have a heavier oil in there. As soon as I get the manual I will proceed cheers

[metaldude_999]

What are the chances that I will strip the drain or fill plugs when changing the oil?

[growler2058]

I wouldn't think you'd strip em but make sure you can get the fill plug out before you drain the oil. Mine were tight as all get out!! I use a electric rattle gun to remove

[Silver]

What are the chances that I will strip the drain or fill plugs when changing the oil?

everyone uses a half inch socket breaker bar to undo them - nearly everyone. One of the bearing crowds - can't remember the name but it starts with K and is Jap - makes a purpose built tool that fits properly Kyoto maybe?. I tried to track one down, and gave up after a while. There are rave reviews for a particular type of electric rattle gun on here to undo the super tight blighters - I think it is commonly marketed for removing wheel nuts.

If you can get the vehicle up a bit so you have room, and give the breaker bar a sharp tug using some body weight you'll have more success than grovelling around with SFA room going slow and steady.

I think they are tapered - so take a bit of care when doing them up - they seem to grow into the housing and become really tight over time. I had a tough time undoing the plugs on my old MQ when I first changed the oils, so took care when doing them up. Because we didn't use it much it was quite a few years before the next change, by which time even the mechanic could not get them undone and was talking about welding a bar into the plug. I gave up and bought a GQ instead, as the old girl had reached her use by date with rust etc :-)

I use that Aviation Add a Gasket stuff on mine - there is probably a better choice, but it is what I had lying around.

[canuck]

The lighter oil will give good shifts. Western Star trucks use a 50W tranny oil. Make sure it is a GL4 oil within 70-90W specs. You will likely find that a high quality synthetic GL4 tranny oil like Redline MTL will help reduce or eliminate your problem.