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Gearbox problem

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Basically... Been to Jap North at Haigh Hall yesterday and on the way back stopped via a friends. I set off home and leaving from the lights I cant remember if it was first to second or second to third gear change but I heard a heavy banging noise as if something had hit under the car. I slowed down a little and heard a bit of a rattle, put my windows down to see what it was and noticed the rattle was coming from the gearstick area. With the gear gaitor removed it was much louder but the car seemed to drive fine. It had a sound to it as if there was something rattling round to the extent that I could picture in my head a a mechanism spinning round and a noise as if someone had chucked a stone in and it was rattling round but as if you could just pick it out and the noise would go and everything be fine because it drove okay!

Now whether it's me being paranoid now im concentrating more on it or not I dont know. It seemed to drive as usual and I could engage all six gears but ocassiionally it seeme a tad notchy going into gears but like I say it could just be paranoia. I was a few miles from home and drove back normally, no issues bar this loud rattling noise from beneath the shift area. When I got home I went to put the car in reverse and the only difference to normal was that it juddered when reversing onto my drive so I drove forward again so I could reverse a second time (to make sure I wasn't just being lazy on my clutch pedal and letting it out too quickly the first time) and it still juddered.

When the car is sat on my drive in neutral it makes the rattling noise. If I push my clutch pedal to the floor it goes silent and its fine but the instant I let the clutch out the noise starts again.

My car is a spec R S15 with the standard 6 speed box with a standard cluch as far as I know.

Now a couple of things I have noticed previously if it helps, BEFORE today:

It does have a C's short shifter which ever since buying the car seemed to whine mainly in 2nd, 4th and 6th gear (always done this, not just since the bang earlier today) which to me I figured was potentially a selector fork but after reading up and talking to people I was told this was a characteristic of the C's shifter before I bought the car.

Sometimes the car didn't want to go into reverse and you had to fight with the stick to get it to engage.

Sometimes if you were driving it towards the top end of the gears when changing up to the next gear it was sometimes struggling to go engage, not always.

When hot, small amounts (like really small, barely noticeable) of smoke from the gear gaitor, again I'm told is characteristic of the C's shifter?

When turning the engine off it knocked a couple of times as the engine came to a standstill but if you turned the igntion off with the clutch pressed in, it was silent... (clutch release?)

Couple of questions...

Is it okay to drive as is or will it get worse/could I do more damage?

What do you think the problem is? could it jus tbe cluth release or does it sound like an input shaft?

Here is two short videos I have, the noise as you can see alters with the revs of the car. Removing the shifter and loking in I couldn't see a thing. The video seems to have picked the noise up really well so hopefully it'll help with diagnosis. I really need this fixed as it's my daily driver



 

craig8585

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Normally the clutch release bearing makes noise when the clutch is depressed if its on the way out.
When you depress the clutch in neutral the imput shaft normally still spins, as the clutch drags slightly. If it was me I'd get the box off for a look first of all before buying a new box. How much power/torque are you running out of interest?
 

DeanS15

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that sounds like some serious input shaft/layshaft bearing wear. i have that noise off clutch on tick over but after hearing how loud yours is i'm sorry but i feel a little better. you have to really listen out for mine. its not release bearing related as i had a new clutch and bearing fitted and the noise stayed.....sounds like a new box or rebuild time buddy:(
 
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Not running ridiculous power. Standard turbo with the usual breathing mods so nothing out of the ordinary...

Dean... Admittedly it sounds louder on the video, it seems to have picked the noise up really well whichis good for diagnosis I suppose but at the same time... I'm not saying it's quiet :(
 

LuPix_S15

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Gutted to hear about this mate :(

Can I just clarify for Tilly that AFAIK, one cannot get an S14 gearbox to simply replace the S15 one (even if one's willing to sacrifice having 6th gear) cos the housing is completely different which means S14 clutch/flywheel/propshaft/diff are all required to get that setup working??!!



Keep me posted dude...
 

DeanS15

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s14 requires:

box
prop
clutch
flywheel
starter motor or starter bolts - aparrently the s14 one has different length studs/bolts

i think you could pick up all those for not much more than the cost of a 15 box and clutch, the 15 box is lovely but just so damned weak.....s14 boxes go for as little as 150-00, and though still have their weaknesses are much more readily available and if you do the initial conversion any further replacements would just be the box itself. sixth isnt really that useful until you hit 70-80 plus anyway - very tall. i've considered this myself but arent pushed at the moment as my box is still alive.....for now.....:)
 

Nicely

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S14 boxes break just as often. Its only that people just accept it rather than start urban myths... ;) Just remember that, with the exception of the Aussies and Kiwis, most of our cars are 10 years old, were owned for around 5+ years in a country on the other side of the world before being shipped to this side, and that they came with no service records. So we have fook all idea how they were treated and whether the boxes are weak or just abused.
 

craig8585

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Tilly, have you found out what the problem is with the box?
 

DeanS15

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S14 boxes break just as often. Its only that people just accept it rather than start urban myths...
thats a given mate, the idea of converting to s14 5 spd is because a good working box is sub 200-00 instead of over 500-00:nod:
 
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hey, yeah. I've not seen the internals of the box myself but I had i looked at by a transmission specialist and he said on first glance it seemed alright but wouldnt know til he stripped it down. Removed the back casing and picked up metal on his magnet and continued to strip. By the sounds of it he didnt completely pull it in bits because he got so far and called me because it looked to have sheared the reverse gear as a minimum and parts to rebuild would become expensive and he knew it would be cheaper for me to buy a new box than to rebuild my old one so I have a box on the way over at the moment (keeping the six speed to keep it OEM for personal preferences and resale value/driveability) and also, I knew the clutch would have seen better days as it was still a standard clutch and sh*tty dual mass flyweel but with stage 1a tuning.

Everything's due to arrive this week so it's slowly but surely getting sorted.

I must admit its been a bit of a love hate relationship with my SX. I havent really posted much on S15oc because its fairly quiet and the only time i seem to post is when ive had problems LMAO so it makes it look like its been a nightmare but to be fair everything so far was niggling issues like turbo gaskets and exhaust issues cause by the fuelling of the dump valve, now its recirced everything is good and the only real problem ive had is the gearbox but lets face it. These cars are built to be driven. A standard clutch and dual mass flywheel on a car with increased power is never gonna last so that was only a matter of time so changing that doesnt bother me, its just a shame I had the gearbox problem but at least now i know everything is sweet on the car and all problems are rectified I can get back to loving it :D

I should be back on the road on friday and hitting Trax on sunday this week :D wooooo!!!
 

craig8585

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Cool, good to hear its geting sorted. I've never heard of one shearing the reverse gear before. When I changed my clutch a few weeks ago I was suprised as to the condition of the OEM setup. The pressure plate and fly surfaces looked almost new, and the original clutch had loads of meat left on it after 60k.
I keep geting really paranoid whenever I think I can hear strange noises, but as you say, their built to be driven, so if the box ever lets go then I'll worry about it then. Hard to get into that mindset though with a car like these.
 
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+ 1 ive never heard of shearing reverse. hope you make it all right Tilly. Nice to see you here also ( i have been tracking you through EVOT ;) )
 

DeanS15

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i've nearly put it in reverse on the motorway before when i went for 6th, they are quite close together.....
 
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Hi there,

I kick this tread up because i have the same problem on the moment :(

did you know what the problem was? i have a nismo gearbox so it's not so nice for me, hope i cann solve this with new parts

regards
marco
 
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Gearbox went bang I'm afraid, it ripped reverse gear to pieces and I had to fit a new gearbox. I picked up another OE 6 speed box from another 15 and stuck that in and all was fine. If I was to do it again though I think I'd fit a skyline gearbox. You can fit the GTST gearbox, clutch and flywheel with an adapter plate and prop shaft etc for a similar cost and that gets you away from the horrid S15 dual mass flywheel and the box is good for big power in comparison. I hope this helps :)
 
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Hi,

Thnx for your help! all my gears still work.. i hope it is something simple like a bearing...

if i fit a gtst gearbox, cann is still use my s15 clutch? because i have it less than 5000km a new exedy twin plate in it!

regards
marco
 
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As far as I'm aware no you can't retain your exedy with the GTST box but someone else may be able to confirm. I had a lot of trouble messing about with gearbox/clutch research and from what I found the general consensus was S15 clutch and S15 box is the only combo that go together, if you swap to a 14/14a clutch you need the 5 speed box to match and the same with the skyline setup. I'm a bit cloudy on the GTST gearbox details because I never went down that route but I'm sure if you do a bit of a search on here you should be able to find what you need :)

For reference I ended up fitting a brand new Exedy Hyper Single clutch and lightened single mass flywheel kit specifically for the S15 and another OEM spec S15 6 speed gearbox
 
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ross.johnson

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Sounds good mate :thumbs: Can i ask where you got your new gearbox from and how much was it? Is it new or used? :thumbs:
 
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used via the forums, 5 or 6 hundred quid delivered from memory but to be honest if I was to do it again I'd go down the skyline route. The adapter plate is about £200 I think and you can pick up a skyline gearbox, the prop shaft, clutch and flywheel for a few hundred quid so the conversion is a similar cost to just replacing with another six speed but the GTST box is stronger :)
 
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