Got a 5spd transaxle(Nissan RS5F31A) that made a loud pop. Suddenly won't shift into any gear. Well, the shifter engages, but all I hear are the hamster wheels turning. I pushed the car a bit in neutral, and voila, everything works fine again. No clutch slippage, not popping out of gear, no chipped gear noise. After another few days of driving, it's happened again.

What should I be looking for when I tear this thing apart?

1/15/2009 9:45:33 PM

Sounds like a broken in-line rotary girder. Course, it could be your exhaust bearings too.

1/15/2009 9:59:27 PM

so how many miles on that clutch?

1/15/2009 10:00:40 PM

1 month on clutch, engages and disengages fine when it's working.

I'm thinking that either one of the axles has popped out a bit and is slipping or I've nagasaki'd the differential. I can't explain why pushing it fixed it before but doesn't this time if I just ripped out some teeth in the differential.

1/15/2009 10:17:23 PM

if it is actaully going into gear as you say it is, and you haven't torn up the diff, thren it may be stripped splines on one of the cv shafts, try jcaking the car up in the front, put it in gear and see if the wheels turn, then lightly hit the brakes and see if they stop

it they don't turn then, you have grenaded the spider gears

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 7:17 AM. Reason : are you positive that it is going into gear? could be a shifter linkage problem]

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 7:20 AM. Reason : sounds like you really have a 0-speed problem]

1/16/2009 7:16:41 AM

hmmm...I've been into one of these, about 16 years ago. If one of the shift fork bushing pieces falls out, then it won't go completely into gear, but they can't really do this unless you have taken the damn thing apart. This is the Sentra 5 speed, ain't it?

I'd be willing to bet that the spider gears in the diff are grenaded or the spider gear cross shaft has sheared. If you fucked up one of the snap rings on the CV shafts, they can slip out enough to disengage, but there's enough torque there that it will actually twist that little tit of axle shaft beyond the snap ring, and it will never slide back in. I've actually sheared one off in one of the automatic Nissan transaxles. The little disc wedged itself between the diff and the case and split the whole affair.

1/16/2009 9:21:41 AM

Quote :

"it will actually twist that little tit of axle shaft beyond the snap ring"

I ADMIT, I CHUCKLED

1/16/2009 9:30:02 AM

WHEN IT HAPPENED, I SHITTED

1/16/2009 9:30:51 AM

zxappeal called it dead on.

Snapring #4 popped off and the spider wasn't catching the splines on the half axle.

Many thanks guys, can't believe I didn't notice this earlier. You can't beat a free fix.

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 8:02 PM. Reason : .]

1/16/2009 7:55:51 PM