Stick keeps popping out of second gear

Synchros shot? Weird noises while shifting? Not sure what needs to be replaced?
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DashboardSaint
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Stick keeps popping out of second gear

Post by DashboardSaint »

Hello

I'm having this issue with my 2013 dodge challenger. When I shift from first to second, it seems to pop out of second.

Last night while I was driving home I shifted from first to second and as I applied gas realized the engine was revving and I wasn’t moving. It wasn’t actually in second, so I tried to move it into second and it did the same thing. It took a few tries to successfully get it into second gear.

This morning I shifted into second gear, applied gas and watched the gear box actually spit the stick out of second and into neutral. I was able to put it back into second gear and keep going.

Last week it was at the mechanic’s to have the gearbox fluid changed. I remember something similar happening when I first started driving the car (about two months ago). Also when I first started driving the car, I noticed that it always felt secure going into first, but it felt like a much shorter distance going into second, so I almost wasn’t sure if I had successfully put it in second when I shifted. So is this new problem my imagination? Could it be related to the drop in temperature this week? Or could something else be wrong??

Any ideas are helpful!

Thanks!
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Re: Stick keeps popping out of second gear

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Could it be relqated to cold fluid temperatures...maybe. More likely cold fluid would influence dynamic (rolling) shifts into a gear, since it is more difficult for the fluid to GTFO the way of the synchro ring trying to grab on the coned surface of the speed gear.

That being said, the condition would improve markedly as the vehicle was driven and the trans fluid warmed.

If you could manage shifting into 2nd at a standstill and starting out in second, would it still try to spit you out of gear? Usually, spitting out of gear is the result of not being fully in gear. The clutching teeth on the speed gear need to get "x" mm down into the slots in the synchro sleeve before they reach the back-tapered region of the slot where torque-lock will help hold the gear engaged. What could keep you from getting the synchro sleeve shoved far enough onto the clutching teeth? Worn clutch fork pads. Worn shift linkage bushins, pins, etc....or a system that is misadjusted, bent or loose to the point the shifter stops swiveling rearward before the synchro sleeve is shoved all the way onto the 2nd gear clutching teeth.

There is always that nasty solenoid that tries to make you do a 1 > 4 shift for improved fuel smileage if you are at low rpm and low throttle input when you make the shift. Could it be goofing you up? From others, I've hard that it either blocks going into 2nd and forces you to go into 4th or it allows you to shift into 2nd. Could yours be exhibiting some other partial blocking operation?
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theholycow
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Re: Stick keeps popping out of second gear

Post by theholycow »

A broken engine mount can allow the drivetrain to rotate and push the shifter against the console (if it sprouts directly out of the transmission) or pull on the shift linkage (if it's remote).
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Re: Stick keeps popping out of second gear

Post by Rope-Pusher »

....Or it could be that 2nd gear synchro in the Tremec 6060 that is sensitive to cold trans fluid, sensitive to hard shifting, doesn't like to be talked about behind its back, etc. and can have a tendency to block part-way through a shift...the block may fool you into thinking you got it into gear, but you need to compare/feel for the shift lever position and come to know when it stops part-way in and then pull harder until it goes all the way into gear.
I hear they made some improvements in this synchronizer in later years.
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six
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Re: Stick keeps popping out of second gear

Post by six »

Rope-Pusher wrote:There is always that nasty solenoid that tries to make you do a 1 > 4 shift for improved fuel smileage if you are at low rpm and low throttle input when you make the shift.
I thought that was only a GM thing...
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Re: Stick keeps popping out of second gear

Post by Rope-Pusher »

six wrote:
Rope-Pusher wrote:There is always that nasty solenoid that tries to make you do a 1 > 4 shift for improved fuel smileage if you are at low rpm and low throttle input when you make the shift.
I thought that was only a GM thing...
It's a "Tryin' to not hafta pay the gas guzzler tax" thang.
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