Has the 2nd gear grind happened to your FL5 yet?

[Fresh]

@Fresh I would chalk that one up to not paying attention to your shifts.

Yeah, my brain probably hit the easy button and forgot to move my foot and only did the hand (half the job). I'm still miffed about it... but it isn't the first time I've done it on a manual... just this car.

First for everything...

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[TypeRD]

Your perfect shift record is now blemished. It’s fine

 

[RacingManiac]

I just switched from FK8 to FL5. I had my FK8 for 72k miles. Definitely have had a few 1-2 grind and all on autoX use, but they are rare but I am keenly aware of others experiences so I probably take it more deliberate and careful most of the time. That car always had some weird feel going into 2nd, feels "gritty" I guess is the best way to put it. Also has occasional 4th gear lock out for me. From new to when I sold it, behavior never changed. Didn't experiment with different brand of oil though.

FL5 so far, feels exactly the same, aside from I have not yet experienced 4th lock out. 2nd still feels gritty on engagement. I think if you blind fold me and drop me in a car I can't tell you which is which...

 

[modern_sports_car]

Old thread, I know. But I’ve had 2nd gear grind three times now—two accelerating with some wheel spin (once pulling out into traffic and didn’t see a car coming and had to hurry) and today with mild wheel spin on a wet road. Shifter buzzed in my hand—scared the crap out of me. I still suspect that it’s driver error but not sure I’ve ever had this happen three times in 5k miles on any car I’ve ever had so I google’d it and here I am.

Obviously this isn’t good and ideally would never happen but wanted thoughts here about any long-term damage that may have already occurred.

I found this when searching: “
Yes, I know that sounds strange, but all the gears in a manual transmission are in constant mesh, and what you do when you change gears is slide dog clutches along shafts that lock the various gear combinations.

A dog clutch is just a series of squarish projections on the side of a disk that mates into squarish holes in the matching disk.

So when you get the grinding sound when you miss a gear, it is the dog clutches hitting, not the gears. Dog clutches are VERY tough, so to break one you would need to be very rough, and do this many times.”

 

[TypeRD]

No 2nd gear grind here (yet) and I’m approaching 3500 miles

 

[Fanatic]

Keeping fingers crossed. No second gear grind on both my Type Rs. They both shift the same.

My prior Mustang GT would grind from 1st to 2nd on rare occasion.

The 1st to 2nd shift on my prior BRZ was smoother than the Type R, believe it or not. Subaru did a good job on the shifting quality.

1st to 2nd shift on my Z feels solid so far.

Grateful.

 

[spectre186]

No grind here, but I can definitely feel that the car does not like to be rushed shifting from 1st to 2nd. Feels like the synchros take a bit longer on that shift.

 

[abracadaniel_]

My 1-2 grind happened during my break in period, I had already been driving for a couple hours like a little road trip and once i got to Dana point i was in a section where i had to come to a complete stop and then step on it, so i got on it a little and quick shifted from 1-2 and it grinded on me! other than that i ve had 0 issues about 10k miles later

 

[Fanatic]

Grinded two separate times going from first to second today. Maybe it was me and I wasn't focused and having a stressful day. Not a good feeling.

 

[modern_sports_car]

My 1-2 grind happened during my break in period, I had already been driving for a couple hours like a little road trip and once i got to Dana point i was in a section where i had to come to a complete stop and then step on it, so i got on it a little and quick shifted from 1-2 and it grinded on me! other than that i ve had 0 issues about 10k miles later

Almost exactly how mine happened.

 

[kobi2002]

2.5k and I grind once and that was my fault.

 

[Pekingduck]

I grind 1-2 when I shift fast. Remind myself to slow down. Just really get into it when you go on those on-ramp

 

[modern_sports_car]

I have a 2007 Civic Si with a garbage transmission and I shift as fast as I want and have never have had a gear grind ever in 8 years of ownership.

 

[GIChoe]

Old thread, I know. But I’ve had 2nd gear grind three times now—two accelerating with some wheel spin (once pulling out into traffic and didn’t see a car coming and had to hurry) and today with mild wheel spin on a wet road. Shifter buzzed in my hand—scared the crap out of me. I still suspect that it’s driver error but not sure I’ve ever had this happen three times in 5k miles on any car I’ve ever had so I google’d it and here I am.

Obviously this isn’t good and ideally would never happen but wanted thoughts here about any long-term damage that may have already occurred.

I found this when searching: “
Yes, I know that sounds strange, but all the gears in a manual transmission are in constant mesh, and what you do when you change gears is slide dog clutches along shafts that lock the various gear combinations.

A dog clutch is just a series of squarish projections on the side of a disk that mates into squarish holes in the matching disk.

So when you get the grinding sound when you miss a gear, it is the dog clutches hitting, not the gears. Dog clutches are VERY tough, so to break one you would need to be very rough, and do this many times.”

I've had mine for about 1200 miles and I got some pretty nasty gear grinding going from 1-2. Happened about three times now, and I'm getting kind of worried. It's juuust rare enough that I know the dealer's never going to be able to reproduce it. There's no pattern behind them either; first one was when I was changing gear mid-corner while I was driving slowly. Second time was when I was at about 4k RPM in mild traffic while going straight, and I can't remember the third time.

For reference, I've owned a 2013 FRS, 2016 GTI, and 2024 Si, and none of these ever had any of these issues. The one outlier was the FRS, which would grind going from 4th to 5th and was reproducible enough that the dealer replaced the transmission under warranty.

 

[modern_sports_car]

Yes, just rare enough they’re not going to be able reproduce it. Also, leaving it with a dealer isn’t something I want.

I am going to keep monitoring and if it continues, something is gonna have to give. I’m not going to pay $44k for a car I’m scared to shift.

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