Hello all,
I'm a newb, but I have had my 2003 since I bought it new. Still love it today.

My problem is I have noticed sometimes when I press the clutch and shift into reverse, SOMETIMES it grinds the gears. It doesn't happen a lot just sometimes. Is there something I should adjust? It's not slipping so I don't think it's the clutch and it only happens when I try to shift into reverse occassionaly. Most times it acts normal.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

are you completely stopped when u put it in reverse?

edit: sorry if that's uber offending.

 

Try going into another gear first like 3rd then shift into reverse. Other than that change the tranny fluid if you haven't done it in awhile my magnet was covered in metal at 28k miles and it shifted much better after the change.

 

A common thing with almost any standard trans is that after a while, gears like first and reverse will have a tendency to not want to go in even with the clutch pushed all the way in. The next thing that will start happening is that reverse won't want to go in at all and first will start grinding. If you hold the she shifter back and try to put it into reverse, but don't force it, and ease off the clutch just a hair, it will slide right in once the trans turns a bit. Once again, a common thing. Just a sign that it could use to be serviced.

 

No offense taken, appreciate the help...

I see what you mean though, I get lazy sometimes and I'll shift while I'm still rolling so I can just drag the clutch and be off... The mystery is that it's unpredictable and only happens sparingly, whether i'm rolling or standing still. Sometimes i'm parked and when I go to shift grind.

However I did notice that it didn't happen when I had the OEM gear oil, or manual transmission oil. It has only occurred after I changed the oil with Amsoil manual tranny oil. I also changed the rear diff at the same time and my magnet had a ton of metal flakes. no probs with the rear diff as far as I know.

Should I contemplate changing the gear oil again? I have some redline oil I was planning on putting into a project car sitting on my driveway. Or should I look for mopar stuff?

Well it's not a huge problem now so I'm kind of undecided. Again some opinions would be Greatly appreciated.

On a side note whats the dealio with the cheap rubber plug on the rear diff? I was a bit surprised to find that one stinky rubber plug was the only thing holding water and road grime from entering my diff. WTF? Of course I just plugged the stupid thing back in and did nothing to remedy the potential hazard.

Thanks again guys.

 

That plug does it's job and is cheap and easy to replace so don't worry about it. How did the drain plug look when you changed your tranny fluid? Check your glove box to see if you have the anti-slip (lsd) rear which is prone to problems due to broken c-clips, it should also have your axle ratio on there. You can also check the tag on the rear axle itself or get a build sheet from your local dealer. I think if you had a problem w/ the rear you would notice more than just when going into reverse. Amsoil is supposed to be good gear oil and it's actually cheaper than the mopar crap so I don't think that's to blame.

 

you may need to replace the fluid in the clutch master cylinder... it uses brake fluid and over time it will alow water into it and the clutch will not release fully

Chuck