Question about how YOUR R154 feels....

[swapinthedark]

Is this the right place for this?

My R154 is not in a MKIII anymore, but I'm pretty sure that is where she came from.

I come from the world of nissan transmissions where even when sloppy as poo, they still go in the gears easily...till the gears go boom atleast.

This R-154 feels really notchy, and I'm ok with this, but does anyone have experience with a R-154 not EVER being able to be shifted from 3rd to 2nd???

I drift, so the 3-2 is my most important shift yet this particular trans will not do it EVER... I have to pull on the stick and realease 4 or 5 times to get it to go.

It does not grind EVER, it just denies me the shift like the gate does not exist over and over.

The shift from 1 to 2 is fine and dandy, a bit notchy as mentioned, but I can snatch it back into it like a man or just pull all normal like and expect it to go 99% of the time...not so much with 3-2.

My trans has the Marlin crawler plastic ring and the plastic ball btw, and is not at all what I would call "sloppy"...not perfect, but not sloppy at all.

Anyone else have this problem!!!???? Any suggestions?????

Out of curiosity, what do yall usually run for gear oil?

 

[Nomad707]

all my r-154's felt notchy, like you feel whats going on.

I had this issue on my last turbo 5spd but mine was 2-1.. never found out why though. prolly syncro's . (does it whine?)

 

[tbcmorris]

R 154's are definetly a notchy tranny. You sound like you have a problem though. I run redline mt90. My tranny was rebuit 5000 miles ago and I had that problema couple times. The rebuild took care of it.

 

[Vector89T]

+1 for notchy R154. Mine was always that way. Never had any issues from 3-2 or 2-1, just getting into R sometimes was difficult. Always had to do 4-R.

You may want to try running Redline MT90. When I switched to Redline many years ago (I'm actually running lightweight shockproof, not MT90, but that's a whole other discussion), the transmission shifts were easier. I was probably draining out never-changed-by-previous-owner gear oil, but it did make a huge difference.

If not, you may want to consider a rebuild or lower mileage transmission. It definitely sounds like you've got a synchro problem, not a my-transmission-is-about-to-explode one, but one that is definitely hindering performance.

 

[Nomad707]

amen on reverse too.. i could never get into reverse unless i was rolling backwards already or rocked the car with my 145 lb body which seemed retarded.

 

[jdub]

Out of curiosity, what do yall usually run for gear oil?

Red Line MT-90 is what you want to use.

 

[1-2clutch-u]

w58 ftw!!!

 

[swapinthedark]

Arrrrrr.

Yeah, I guess I will start looking for a cheap R-154 around here and swap when I put another clutch in. (I will be honest if I seel it here ofcourse).

I'm using the "oil from the heavens" gear oil that comes in bulk out of tanks at toyota dealerships. My room mate works there and just gets whatever that is for us for free. I will try MT-90, we use it in nissan stuff but I have heard some weird bad stuff about shockproof, so despite it working for some, I will just go with MT-90.




I did not mention that I have a shifter box extension because I did not want that to cloud your responses, but it may also be part of the problem. I just personally feel like it is unlikely. I even took it off and cleaned some of the welds on the inside up around where the arm might could contact it but with no affect. It really feels like the problem is in the tranny.

^ shifter box extension is because it is in a weird chassis ^



Thanks for the quick replies!!!!

 

[lagged]

they are notchy but you should be able to go from 3 - 2 no problem.

 

[GrimJack]

Redline MT90 will be much better than the stock Toyota stuff, well worth the investment. Might even fix your problem - sure helped on my 1-2 shifts.

I'm assuming that your extension does away with the stock rubber bushing inside the shifter, this does a really good job of making a rough tranny feel smooth.

For the reverse issue, folks, it says in the owners manual - if you have problems getting it into reverse, let off the clutch with the tranny in neutral, then depress the clutch and try again. This has worked without fail on mine.

 

[Big Wang Bandit]

Reverse for me is usually a go into 1 and then 2 then go reverse never have a problem with any of my toyotas.

Also, MT90 is gods oil

 

[ForcedTorque]

For those of you with reverse problems, try holding it like you want it to go in, and release the clutch slowly about halfway. Mine drops in every time.

 

[WhtMa71]

Mine feels notch like normal. I run redline mt90 and have no problems going into any gear. As for reverse I push the clutch in and try again, if that doesn't work, going from 4th to reverse usually does the trick.

So the only problem you have is going from 3-2 not 2-3? Could be syncros..Like already stated, I'd give the mt90 a shot and see if that helps at all. I know with drifting you do a lot of hard, fast shifts so it could be a bent shift fork but I don't know if that could even be the problem.

 

[87M-GTE]

W58s are smoother trannys, If the thread starter is interested in buying one pm me, I've got one FS:naughty:

 

[Poodles]

I think he'd destroy a W58 with drifting abuse personally...

 

[88mkIIIproject]

For the reverse issue, folks, it says in the owners manual - if you have problems getting it into reverse, let off the clutch with the tranny in neutral, then depress the clutch and try again. This has worked without fail on mine.

For those of you with reverse problems, try holding it like you want it to go in, and release the clutch slowly about halfway. Mine drops in every time.

Both of these tricks work every time for me. It is hard to get into reverse (without grinding at least), without doing these tricks.

 

[Poodles]

Grinding in reverse is a different problem then not being able to get in.

If it grinds, it's because the gears are still spinning and you didn't wait long enough to try for reverse (2-3 seconds for me). If it doesn't go in, reset it (let clutch out in neutral) and try again.

Also, I've personally run normal gear oil, Royal Purple Max Gear, Royal Purple Syncromax, and Red Line MT-90 in my tranny. Had a bit of a grind going into second, the Royal Purple Max Gear made it a bit better, but not for long, the Syncromax was absolute shit (grind, crunch, bang, it's just not thick enough), and the Red Line ROCKS.

Grind is nearly gone (unless I'm being an asshole when I downshift to second at speed without rev matching and break the rears loose), and it's overall a much easier tranny to live with. Highly recommend the MT-90 to anybody, it's worth it's weight in gold to me.

 

[Nick M]

^^^

Yes. Reverse is not synchronized. Putting it in another gear while stopped will help. It forces the gears to slow to stop.

 

[swapinthedark]

I will try MT-90 before I give in and swap tranns. I still think this one is kaputskies though.

Thanks again all.

 

[TurboFreak]

Having driven the car I think something in the trans has definitely broken. It WILL NOT go from 3-2... lol.

Kiely, I'm not even sure it's worth the money to put Redline into it...
I'll keep a lookout for R-154's on here.

Hmmm maybe we can buy a supra for parts?? Or I buy a supra and sell you the transmission fo cheeeapp? Get at me.