Has anyone checked over on any of the PT Cruiser forums and seen if any of the GT Cruiser HO cars have the same problems?
I doubt they would... for whatever reason, the manual trans in the PT Cruiser GT is a totally different trans, made by Getrag (thanks for that info dj4monie!). I have a feeling it's a better trans since no one seems to hear any complaints about them, but then, who knows if it can support the kind of power the SRT trans does.
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2007 Mazdaspeed 3 GT, red. Only mods: MS CAI, Cobb AccessPORT Stage 1+ MS CAI map v102 (MSF custom map), and a scraped up rear bumper, 250 whp/281 ft lbs BEFORE the AccessPORT tune.
SRT-4 interiors are teh slow , but man I do miss my Neon!
Just thought I'd chime in on this discussion as well...
My 3rd gear - as of recently - is starting to grind. I have a 04 with 24k miles using the Mopar short-throw shifter. I have had the shifter in for at least 10k miles so that isn't the problem, and I don't drive my car that hard at all. I am going to be taking it into the dealer soon and they better fix it or they can buy my car and give me a new one.
i sometimes get agrind upshifting and down shifting into third. but it only really seems to be happening when its cold out(like about 30 deg or lower.) but once it warms up it acts fine.
the shift selector is a part ON the transmission right? or is it a part on the shifter inside the car?
How hard is it to get to? How hard to replace?
Sorry for the delayed reply.... The Shift Selector is on the top of the tranny just under you battery tray. It is easily removed and can be used as a pre cursor to see just what might be happening inside the transmission.
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I HAVE THE CHUCK MOD, AUTHORIZED BY THE CARE BEARS, WITH DETAILED INFO BY RAINBOW BRITE!!!!!!!!
Sorry for the delayed reply.... The Shift Selector is on the top of the tranny just under you battery tray. It is easily removed and can be used as a pre cursor to see just what might be happening inside the transmission.
so if I break it I should be able to easily replace it myself with common hand tools? Rough estimate how long this would take? I'm pretty sure I damaged mine at least a little bit the first time I tried to WOT shift right after getting S1... I missed the 3rd gear gate and pushed up HARD and felt a sort of bend/crunch... I've little doubt I damaged it. Though I don't even TRY to WOT shift anymore so I don't know if I'm still at risk for breaking it.
By the way I just recently bought a Mopar STS and it has helped immensely with the feel of the shifting and I seem to have that crunchiness on going into 3rd even less often now. The combination of the STS and relocating the brake light wire out from behind the clutch pedal really seems to have helped the entire situation overall.
For the guy who said he is having problems downshifting into 2nd from 3rd w/o revving higher... um YEAH of course you NEED to be blipping the throttle before doing ANY downshifting if you don't want to abuse your transmission! I find I get the best results if I blip the throttle enough that the rpm actually goes HIGHER than it will be after the downshift, then as the rpm starts to drop I just put a very small amount of pressure on the shifter to push it into gear and when the rpm hits the spot where it would be after the shift the gear just slips in easily.
But yeah... downshifting into 2nd and especially 1st even with rev matching, does take more force than 3rd or 4th for sure. The increased effort required by the short throw shifter actually makes this seem even worse for 1st gear... I knew that was going to happen.
Anyways... I can't recommend the short throw highly enough and also relocating that brake light wiring... Oh also I feel like after I added the STS I don't 'over' push the shifter any more... like when I shift hard/fast... with the stock shifter I could tell I'd push the stick a little too far some times, but now with the STS I can feel when it is in gear so accurately that I don't feel myself pushing any further than need be... I'm betting this will also contribute to a longer lived shift selector.
My 05 has 9k as of today, and i drive it both easy and hard depending on the weather and the person next to me, i havent had ANY problems with my tranny, i have the mopar STS and everything works fine no complaints....
i sometimes get agrind upshifting and down shifting into third. but it only really seems to be happening when its cold out(like about 30 deg or lower.) but once it warms up it acts fine.
Same here but its just occasional... Plus its 18 degrees here in michigan.. burrr!!!
Has anybody tried alternate fluids to help with shift effort and feel? I'm thinking specifically about the new Amsoil Synchromesh fluid that meets the Chrysler MS9417 spec. Of course the Amsoil fluid is a group 4 full synthetic, unlike the Mopar T350 fluid. I understand that the Mopar T350 fluid (although expensive through some dealers) provides better feel and lower effort than the ATF+4 factory fill fluid.
I'm getting to the point where I want to sell the car because of this. Because I feel like... with the few symptoms my trans is already showing, I feel like it's just a matter of time before it fails completely, and I feel like my chances of the dealership covering it under warranty are 50/50 at best.
It's really f'd because I love the car in every regards except this issue... I bought this car with the intention to keep it for at least as long as I was paying it off (~4-5 years)... now 6 mos later I'm terrified it will leave me stranded or I'll be screwed when it breaks and they expect thousands to fix it while I'm still sitting here paying for the car itself.
I just keep hoping and praying that a) with more miles the trans smooths out a bit, and b) that switching to a synth fluid, will be enough to resolve the issue of shift feel and that I am lucky enough to not have it fail. I won't EVER WOT shift again, that's for sure... I hope that's enough.
I'm getting to the point where I want to sell the car because of this. Because I feel like... with the few symptoms my trans is already showing, I feel like it's just a matter of time before it fails completely, and I feel like my chances of the dealership covering it under warranty are 50/50 at best.
I know the feeling. I work at the dealership where I bought my car and I've had it in here and at two other dealers trying to get something done and they all blow me off and tell me that they "can't duplicate the problem." I am not worried about it failing completely, since I really don't run my car all that hard, but I feel that I paid for a new car and not one with a screwed up trans. The very fact that my problem is intermittent proves that the transmission can shift like it's supposed to. Now I just have to get someone to realize that there is something wrong making it shift weird other times. 6000 miles is way to soon to have a problem like this. I'm about 2 heartbeats away from calling the arbitration board and lemon law'ing this damn thing.
Quote: Originally Posted by bast525
I just keep hoping and praying that a) with more miles the trans smooths out a bit, and b) that switching to a synth fluid, will be enough to resolve the issue of shift feel and that I am lucky enough to not have it fail. I won't EVER WOT shift again, that's for sure... I hope that's enough.
Personally, I wouldn't put any other fluid in it than what Mopar recommends. If you do take your car in for transmission service and they find some other type of fluid in there, it's a very easy and obvious excuse to void your warranty for not using the correct fluid. Keep everything just like Mopar wants it, so that way if you do ever get a chance to get something done, they can't say it was all your fault right off the bat.
Right now I am working with the factory service rep to see what can be done. So far most of the Techs are leaning more to a problem with the shifter assembly and/or the shift mechanism on top of the trans as being the problem. They state that the synchros are working fine but the stiffness and "blocked feeling" to third gear must come from the shifter or mechanism. They may be on to something.
From what I have read, the Mopar Short Shifter assembly improves the feel of the shifts for some with 3rd gear problem. I am also under the impression that the Boogar Bushings in the linkage will help. This sort of leads me to think that maybe there are just too many loose tolerances between the shift knob in my hand, and the actual movement of the gear in the trans. Perhaps every so often all this looseness comes together to make 3rd gear shifting a pain in the azz. The rest of the time it works pretty smoothly. It's a thought, comments?
I would give the AMSOIL MTF a shot. Here is a little history of my ACR and why I would try the AMSOIL.
I bought mine back on 10/18/05. I had all of 1800 miles on it when the car was scheduled to have the trans looked at. I decided to wait and see if the thing would work better with some time on it and a fluid change. I'm not a huge fan of a hydraulic fluid in a manual transaxle. I am an avid user of Red Line's products. I changed the fluid (Red Line MTL) and immediately noted a better shift quality in all gears, not just third. Over the next 3 months I put a total of 17,000 miles on the car. The shift quality degraded to the point where the dealer duplicated the conditions I experienced and they proceeded to put new synchro assemblies for 1-2 & 3-4 in the transaxle. I now have over 26,000 on the car and the trans was acting the same way. I went for a drive with the Service Manager to show him the issue. I also have a case open with Chrysler as to the issues. My old synchros are getting looked at by one of the training school instructors to see what they can see. Due to the trans guy going to school and having the old parts looked at, the Service Manager and myself have an agreenment to wait and see what they and STAR come up with.
I decided to try AMSOIL MTF just for grins. I am not a fan of "Magic in a Bottle". I changed the fluid out two days ago. The first day driving it around I noted a huge change in the temperament of the trans. Today I only had 3 instances where the trans acted as it did before the fluid change. I drive the car for a living. I make hundreds of gear changes a day. This was a blessing for sure. I have no idea what will happen on a long term basis, but the trans shifts better now than it ever did with the Red Line in it or when I got it back from the rebuild with the factory fill in it.
Hopefully the issues with the transaxle will get sorted out by Mopar & NVG.
Steve M.
Quote: Originally Posted by ACR MAN
Has anybody tried alternate fluids to help with shift effort and feel? I'm thinking specifically about the new Amsoil Synchromesh fluid that meets the Chrysler MS9417 spec. Of course the Amsoil fluid is a group 4 full synthetic, unlike the Mopar T350 fluid. I understand that the Mopar T350 fluid (although expensive through some dealers) provides better feel and lower effort than the ATF+4 factory fill fluid.
, but man I do miss my Neon!
.... The Shift Selector is on the top of the tranny just under you battery tray. It is easily removed and can be used as a pre cursor to see just what might be happening inside the transmission.
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