shifter is real tight

phillyMX3mayn · Post by **phillyMX3mayn** » March 11th, 2005, 10:02 am

is any one else's shifter way to hard to move into gears? every 5 speed i drive has a nice, loose, comfortable shifter that just easily glides into gear. so my friend drove my car last night and said damn ur shifter feels so tight. and im like ya know what, ur right. its so annoying. i dont think its the tranny, im on my second 5 speed and they were both tight. is it supposed to be this way?

plusinfinit · Post by **plusinfinit** » March 11th, 2005, 10:37 am

THE SHIFTER ON THE 93 4 CILINDERS (THE ONE I HAVE) is a bit tighter than on other cars i have(corolla) but than again the mx-3 is suposed to feel like a sorts car. But if its to tight than check the lincages from the shifter to tha trany, lube them up. Usualy if a car sits for a long time the shifting will be hard.

phillyMX3mayn · Post by **phillyMX3mayn** » March 11th, 2005, 12:15 pm

i had the linkage lubed already, i mean it helped a little but its still tight. it takes too much muscle to shift

93SOHC · Post by **93SOHC** » March 11th, 2005, 1:31 pm

I have a 93 4cyl, and the shifts are real loose. I would reccomend the srd shifter bushings, maybe your oem ones are worn out...I am going to use them when I put in my short shifter

pedro · Post by **pedro** » March 11th, 2005, 1:35 pm

loosen the bolt that is between the linkage and the bushing...if its too tight it will be difficult to shift, like when we install SRD bushing we need to tighten the bolt 1/4 turn at a time until its stiff enought

I got some SRD bushing, and was having problem shifting after the installation it was too tight , solved everything now and I love them

Grants · Post by **Grants** » March 12th, 2005, 9:14 pm

You could also try some good gear oil like Redline too.

phillyMX3mayn · Post by **phillyMX3mayn** » March 13th, 2005, 11:54 pm

i have to use dextron 3 tranny fluid. anything else will exceed the warranty. altho in my old tranny i used gear oil and it was easier to shift but still alot tighter than others.

freyguy_412 · Post by **freyguy_412** » March 14th, 2005, 1:22 pm

I have a 95 rs and had similar issues when i installed my short shifter. First it was way too loose... every gear felt like neutral (thank you ebay

) so I put in a couple washers where the bottom of the shifter met the linkage. Apparantly I tightened it a little too much because it was too hard to get in and out of gear... barely could get it into fifth.... so I had to back the nut off about 1-2 turns. Still a little loose but in and out of every gear no prob.

(Long story short- check the linkage and ensure non of it is too tight)

Domnknpimp · Post by **Domnknpimp** » March 14th, 2005, 2:03 pm

phillyMX3mayn wrote:i have to use dextron 3 tranny fluid. anything else will exceed the warranty. altho in my old tranny i used gear oil and it was easier to shift but still alot tighter than others.

you use dextron 3 tranny fluid???? I dont know if your aware of this, but Dextron / Mercon III is AUTOMATIC transmission fluid..... might explain why you blew the first tranny..... Only cars i've seen use that on Manual Trannys are BMW's and new SRT-4 's

93-Spec-Edn · Post by **93-Spec-Edn** » March 14th, 2005, 2:48 pm

pedro wrote:loosen the bolt that is between the linkage and the bushing...if its too tight it will be difficult to shift, like when we install SRD bushing we need to tighten the bolt 1/4 turn at a time until its stiff enought

I got some SRD bushing, and was having problem shifting after the installation it was too tight , solved everything now and I love them

yep hes right.. i did the same thing. its nothing to do with the oil. If u like take the bolt off and put heavy duty grease on the linkage and that should make it even smoother, but yeah it sounds like that bolt is way too tight.

phillyMX3mayn · Post by **phillyMX3mayn** » March 14th, 2005, 6:30 pm

Domnknpimp wrote:
phillyMX3mayn wrote:i have to use dextron 3 tranny fluid. anything else will exceed the warranty. altho in my old tranny i used gear oil and it was easier to shift but still alot tighter than others.
you use dextron 3 tranny fluid???? I dont know if your aware of this, but Dextron / Mercon III is AUTOMATIC transmission fluid..... might explain why you blew the first tranny..... Only cars i've seen use that on Manual Trannys are BMW's and new SRT-4 's

yea thats what i have to use in order not to void the warranty on it. I am aware its automatic fluid. I called the company a million times to make sure they were correct. You think I should change to gear oil? If so what kind?

93-Spec-Edn · Post by **93-Spec-Edn** » March 14th, 2005, 7:30 pm

phillyMX3mayn wrote:
Domnknpimp wrote:
phillyMX3mayn wrote:i have to use dextron 3 tranny fluid. anything else will exceed the warranty. altho in my old tranny i used gear oil and it was easier to shift but still alot tighter than others.
you use dextron 3 tranny fluid???? I dont know if your aware of this, but Dextron / Mercon III is AUTOMATIC transmission fluid..... might explain why you blew the first tranny..... Only cars i've seen use that on Manual Trannys are BMW's and new SRT-4 's
yea thats what i have to use in order not to void the warranty on it. I am aware its automatic fluid. I called the company a million times to make sure they were correct. You think I should change to gear oil? If so what kind?

you can use ATF with no probs. In canada in the winter dealers use it in manual mx-3's. U can also use a mix of ATF and gear oil too. I am not sure what the procedure is if u wanna switch from ATF to gear oil.