# Have you had a gearbox issue?



## barry P. (May 9, 2010)

There is an interesting thread developing on the MLR and it still seems the GTR has a reputation for being somewhat fragile in the transmission department. As a matter of interest I was interested to get an idea of what percentage of owners have had to have replacement or repairs on the gearbox, ignore the bell housing rattles.


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## Enygmauk (Oct 30, 2012)

*Great timing*

Interestingly I've done a lot of searching on this subject with not many results..

I know about the bell housing issues, and have seen clutch wear etc, but I have a my12 currently in at lightcliffe nhpc and after 4 days of diagnostics, Nissan Japan have just authorised a full gearbox swap!

It's only done 6k, fast road use, not modified (and I do have mechanical sympathy, so the car is always allowed to warm up and then driven softly until its ready) - but it's fair to say that all involved are somewhat mystified. They're shipping my old box back to Japan for further investigation.

I'd like to hear from anyone else who's had something similar, specifically to see if feedback was received as to the cause.

Steve


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## Henry 145 (Jul 15, 2009)

2008 cars had a few issues but generally since then cars have been fine...circlips was issue and strain caused by the first launch control which was higher stress than what we got in the UK

I have a 2010 with the circlips upgraded by Iain Litchfield to Dodson as I wanted comfort on higher power - not needed at my stage of tune but wanted extra comfort


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## vxrcymru (Sep 29, 2009)

Good thread and a point of reference for those considering buying.

MY2010 car bought new Oct 2010
Road use only no track driving.
I've been running 600-630bhp and 620 ftlbs for 2years on the car with no gearbox issues at all but I never launched the car. Just gone to 750 bhp and 620ftlbs and decided to do the circlips.
A. For peace of mind.
B. When I sell th car down the line as a stage 5 it will be more saleable.
C. I want to play with LC so I thought would be a good idea given its q stage 5 car.


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## EAndy (Dec 13, 2011)

Mine was replaced last year and off the road for basically July, August and Sept due to it and the crap that followed from Nissan till it was finally resolved.

Not been launched, abused always warmed up. Went to car put it in reverse and 'dead box'. Think a shift fork had snapped, it stripped various parts, solenoid had failed god knows how it all happened considering I was doing around 1mph - 3mph. 

Anyway new box went in and since then (touch wood) not had any issues to date other than then my steering column ECU died when I was about to head to the airport so the car was off the road for December.


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## alloy (Apr 29, 2005)

I'm on my third gearbox....1st was replaced under warranty after 6weeks of ownership (solenoid issue), second was a syncro issue causing whine and not shifting right in 3rd gear...third time lucky and now beefed up with SVM clips and Albins 1st gear kit


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## EAndy (Dec 13, 2011)

5 out of 19 cars so far thats a good start... (7 gearboxes from 19 cars if you count alloy's 3 boxes)

So MLR are probably right at present with 36% having boxes changes if your looking at 7 boxes from 19 cars. 1 in 3 having failure isn't that great. Hopefully these figures will change as more people vote.


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## aki-gtr (Feb 13, 2013)

Only had my car since early Feb, no problems as of yet. '09 car and Nissan records shown that there wasn't any warranty work, apart from a headlamp replacement, under previous ownership. 

Aki


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## Conrad (Jul 29, 2004)

The figures dont bode well at the minute, HarperSCO who started the thread on the MLR has had a nightmare with his car, in the garage 9 times in 7 months, all out of warranty and out of his pocket. It certainly puts me off buying one at the moment


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## Pilot_Project (Mar 8, 2008)

Mine was replaced under warranty in April 2011. UK car, 2009, no mods and not driven (too) hard. At the time I gathered that there were several cars around the country waiting for replacement gearboxes. I don't know what the exact issue was as Nissan wouldn't say. However, it was a recurring problem - you can probably find my posts on the experience if you are interested.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

The thing is, with the right expertise you have to have a catastrophic failure for it to be offputtingly expensive.

If that really concerns you there's always the litchfield warranty.

The vast majority of gearbox issues are solved by software, next up is the almost insignificant solenoid issue. The reason is it perceived as so much worse is because

a) capable aftermarket repairers are few and far between.
b) nissan don't have a clue and so replace the whole box leading to scare stories of £20k bills.

You can remove all this fear with a £1200/year Litchfield warranty, which will cover the rest of the car too!


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## mickv (May 27, 2009)

No issues for me in almost 4 years of ownership (touch wood) with Litchfield Stage 2.

HarperSCO on the MLR appears to have bought a doggy car (just unlucky) but then possibly had the problems compounded by persevering with Nobles HPC. Most HPCs are clueless when it comes to dealing with very techncial faults - why should they be any good when Nissan's approach is if it breaks swap it for a new one? 

The Nissan/HPC approach to dealing with issues is the biggest problem where perceptions of the GTR are concerned. Talk of 12k bills for gearboxes are irrelevant, because I suspect that very very few people have ever had to settle them, as most issues are dealt with under warranty. And if you've got a problem on an out of warranty car, you shouldn't be going anywhere near and HPC to get it fixed, because their hands are tied - they're not trained to fix issues at component part level.


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## KAT (Apr 7, 2011)

The real question that will never be answered is how many of these cars have actually needed a replacement box ? 
J


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## ChuckUK (Jan 1, 2009)

For people like me, who have a standard gearbox and no issues, what is the cost to bulletproof parts that will most likely fail ?


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## Grimblin Gibbon (Jul 16, 2009)

On my first GTR the box went into limp mode after reversing into a parking space! 

3000 miles - 2 months old 59 plate no mods! Complete box replaced by Motorline. Off the road 3 Weeks.

This one have had no problems, uprated circlips and running Litchfield stage 4.5!


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## saucyboy (Nov 1, 2009)

Adamantium said:


> The thing is, with the right expertise you have to have a catastrophic failure for it to be offputtingly expensive.
> 
> If that really concerns you there's always the litchfield warranty.
> 
> ...


I agree with the above  I don't think the have been many total failures, more solenoid issues that can sometimes just be cleaned out. But obviously Nissan never fixed anything they just replaced.

Anyways, I voted no issues. Have I gone and jinxed myself lol. 59 plate, remap and been running her for just over a year. Spirited drives and no issues


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

you just don't need to bullet proof them.

The hardware is already very very strong.

If launching - using the "launch control" - a modded car on very high grip surfaces and rubber in the heat and you have a very early car, you might consider circlips at the very most.

The solenoid issues do not require major work to fix so you need only sort them if they go wrong. The set up is just electronic resetting - again fix if it goes wrong.

Worst case scenario your gearbox is internally destroyed, you fix it with the bullet proof parts then. Chances are you won't ever need to do it, and given it's self contained and doesn't grenade other parts like an engine failure can, it's more sensible to pay to fix it IF it breaks, rather than in advance.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

I've had four gtrs and no issues btw, do I get four votes?


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## perrin21 (Aug 10, 2012)

ChuckUK said:


> For people like me, who have a standard gearbox and no issues, what is the cost to bulletproof parts that will most likely fail ?


+1 but im also of the opinion of if it aint broke????


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## ChuckUK (Jan 1, 2009)

Adamantium said:


> Worst case scenario your gearbox is internally destroyed, you fix it with the bullet proof parts then


Yes, but this must be way more expensive than preventing in the first place.


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## johnhanton57 (May 2, 2009)

If you run High Power above say 1000 bhp then you will strip either third or forth gear sooner or later even without launch. 

That's expensive


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## WingedBeast1968 (Sep 18, 2009)

September 2009, almost 20k miles, no actual failure. However, since trying a Cobb Stage 1 and LC5 on the TCM, the whole thing is a bag of spanners compared to how smooth and drama free the original was. I wish I'd never bothered with Cobb. Talking to Iain about getting an EcuTek map and tranny to sort it out. Nissan don't give a monkeys.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

ChuckUK said:


> Yes, but this must be way more expensive than preventing in the first place.


No, not really.


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## saucyboy (Nov 1, 2009)

Adamantium said:


> I've had four gtrs and no issues btw, do I get four votes?


I think so matey. After all you ave run 4 separate motors ; )


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## barry P. (May 9, 2010)

Bumping this up to the top again so everyone sees it and votes.


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## EA74GTR (Sep 13, 2010)

2009 - Stage 1 - Gearbox limp mode - particles found in the sump - hence full replacement 

Mine was at the same time as Andy's

No issues since then - although the car does drop into 1st where it wouldn't previously


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## e6ext (Sep 6, 2011)

i guess you hear all about the failures and more likely to vote if you have had some experience with it as emotion is attached.so poll percentages are probably not accurate probably way less than the 25% its shows

mines 09 16k on clock and driven not too harshly but had litchfield satge 1 and box software update. Iain also told me my bell housing is still great with no noise..


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## New Reg (Jul 22, 2011)

Just to add another aspect to the thread, I wonder how many of the cars that have had issues have been MY09 cars as opposed to 10, 11, 12 etc. From what I have seen the majority have been MY09 - is this because there are more of them about, improved software after the MY09 or is it because the actual gearbox was improved at some stage? I know that the common consensus is that all gearboxes are the same but is it possible some slight improvements were made after Nissan had had a period during which they were able to learn from any weak points?

Just a theory....


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## barry P. (May 9, 2010)

Brought to the top, statistics don't look very good currently!


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## Takamo (Oct 18, 2005)

Enygmauk said:


> Interestingly I've done a lot of searching on this subject with not many results..
> 
> I know about the bell housing issues, and have seen clutch wear etc, but I have a my12 currently in at lightcliffe nhpc and after 4 days of diagnostics, Nissan Japan have just authorised a full gearbox swap!
> 
> ...


Hi fella can i ask what you're cars fault symptoms were because I feel there's an issue with my MY11 gearbox as I find its very rattly compared to my previous MY09 and also when powered in second gear it 100% wines and sounds like a formula one car whichssounds nice but I'm certain its not meant to sound like that and also its happened twice now but I started the car and it made a horrible crunchy rattling sound from the box and revs dropped rite down below 500rpm and it sounded like the car gunna blow up then all of a sudden the sound disappeared and the revs shot upto 1500rpm and then came back down to normal, this all happened within about 5-7 seconds. Then I turned it off and repeatedly started several times and it was okay so I don't know what the heck that was but I've got it booked in at my local nhpc to have it investigated in a couple of weeks time


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## wmd_gtr (Jan 15, 2013)

I got a transmission error thing on the drivers display... MY12 - I was launching in manual and when I shifted into second the warning popped up so I took my foot off the accelerator and it went away... Car was warmed up and road surface was fine for a launch. Anyone know what this is?


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## wmd_gtr (Jan 15, 2013)

Should also mention I didn't get time to read the thing because it went away as soon as I took my foot off the pedal (which was the second i noticed the message)


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## Nedzilla (Feb 10, 2012)

Maybe just clutch overheat warning.


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## TABZ (Apr 30, 2003)

My 2009/09 had a replacement gearbox last year under warranty. 

Add that to stats. 

I've actually had a a potential buyer put off by that fact, personally a plus point for me, as it seems to be a common occurrence on the 09 models.


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## wmd_gtr (Jan 15, 2013)

Nedzilla said:


> Maybe just clutch overheat warning.


From a second launch after driving soft for around half a mile after the first launch? Its kinda scared me off doing it again :/. It should be alright though eh?


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## pulsarboby (Nov 3, 2012)

my 09 had circlips done prior to me purchasing it plus has forge oil cooler fitted.
however ive had niggly probs having to wait between going from reverse into first for a few secs (especially from cold)

was at slys yesterday having new set of boots plus 4 year service done and he suggested gearbox relearn so did this.
car was fine this morning from cold so seems problem solved.

sly was telling me that as things get slight wear the solenoid needs to compensate for wear and re-adjust the selectors which as a result if you think about it will then make sure the gearsets are meshing correctly and selectors are precise in operation.

so the answer (obviously not to all g'box probs) but to some, maybe just to carry out gearbox relearn a little more frequently, if you leave it then it could possibly result in increased wear due to meshing and alignment issues

worked for mine anyways


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## saucyboy (Nov 1, 2009)

wmd_gtr said:


> From a second launch after driving soft for around half a mile after the first launch? Its kinda scared me off doing it again :/. It should be alright though eh?


I wouldn't worry mate, many of us had the same on the runway day. If it went out that quickly it obviously wasn't too bad at all. I think it's something to do with he sensors picking up on a sharp high increase in temp so it goes into safe mode. I know what you mean though mate, as you don't expect a car like this to throw a warning so easily :chairshot

I agree with PulsarBoy. Good idea to do regular re learns. Saves wear on the clutch too ; )


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## wmd_gtr (Jan 15, 2013)

Thanks for the help and advice guys


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## jeffsquiz (Feb 21, 2008)

Have my09 from new currently running stage 4 with 30k and a lot of hard driving but no launches:thumbsup:


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## gtrEDD (Mar 14, 2006)

My car car a box replaced under warranty just before I bought it last year, electrical fault causing gears to jump irratically, invoice showing £16.5k for a box!


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## barry P. (May 9, 2010)

Bumping this back up to the top in case we have missed anybody who has not voted.


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## David.Yu (Jun 28, 2001)

Mine was a launch day car, April 09, has done over 30k miles and been tuned for all but 2k of those.

Numerous track days, a few launches and not a single issue of any mechanical sort despite completely standard engine and gearbox internals.

Toughest GT-R ever made, by a massive margin.


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## jon(m600bhp) (May 28, 2004)

My old GTR had a gearbox problem (RWD only) service agent was talking of new replacement box, ended up giving car back to dealer for full refund

Got to say this episode absolutley put me off the GTR, only now am i thinking of getting another:chuckle:


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## Nedzilla (Feb 10, 2012)

Recently had a set of gearbox piston clips fitted at litchfield as the car was sometimes slow selecting first and reverse (flashing display) and getting very clonky on the auto downshift.
All is fine now and it was only a £600 job but still shouldnt be happening on a high end car only 4yrs (MY09) old with 20k on the clock which has had a very easy life and been serviced 8 times!!!


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## WingedBeast1968 (Sep 18, 2009)

Nedzilla said:


> Recently had a set of gearbox piston clips fitted at litchfield as the car was sometimes slow selecting first and reverse (flashing display) and getting very clonky on the auto downshift.
> All is fine now and it was only a £600 job but still shouldnt be happening on a high end car only 4yrs (MY09) old with 20k on the clock which has had a very easy life and been serviced 8 times!!!


Tell me more about your clunky down shift problem? I've had this issue for 10k miles now. It only clunks on auto downshifts, but not in manual mode. Is this what you were experiencing? How did Iain :bowdown1: fix it?

Thanks


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## Nedzilla (Feb 10, 2012)

WingedBeast1968 said:


> Tell me more about your clunky down shift problem? I've had this issue for 10k miles now. It only clunks on auto downshifts, but not in manual mode. Is this what you were experiencing? How did Iain :bowdown1: fix it?
> 
> Thanks


In the last few k miles or so going from 3rd-2nd and 2nd-1st when slowing down became very clunky and jerky. Also some times when selecting 1st or reverse it would hesitate for a second or two and the gear position display would flash.
I told Iain about this and he said it was a common fault caused by the selector forks not engaging properly with the pistons.
Im not 100% sure if this was the cause of the clonky downshift (though pretty sure it was) or just the selection problems because i also had the latest gearbox software update and the down shifts now are almost un-noticeable!

If it is the same issue the tell tale sign will be the gear indicator flashing when selecting 1st or reverse.


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## WingedBeast1968 (Sep 18, 2009)

Thanks for that. I've not had any selection issues. Yet. Though I don't drive auto to protect the selection from clunking. I'll talk to Iain about it. Thanks again. 

Maybe we should claim the repair costs from Nissan?


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## Nedzilla (Feb 10, 2012)

Which MY is your car? If its a 09 or 10 the software update will probably smooth things out considerably although if it never used to be that clunky,as mine didn't i might be more inclined to believe it has developed the selector fork issue that mine had.

Still only a minor fix though and nothing to be too concerned about.


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## WingedBeast1968 (Sep 18, 2009)

It's a September 2009 black. It was silky smooth until I Cobb'd it and changed the TCM software. It's running an off the shelf Cobb stage 1 ECU map, and the latest LC5 TCM. I had GTC etune me a map, which was very harsh in my opinion, so I dropped it to off the shelf stage 1. Too late by then. :chuckle:


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## barry P. (May 9, 2010)

There seems to be quite a few threads recently about gearbox reliability so perhaps it would be a good time to resurrect this poll.


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## OldBob (Oct 18, 2010)

Might be worth recreating the poll with MY year to see if any correlation?
Or do those that know believe it be mileage related..or both 

Edit, reading a few now it doesn't look exclusive to early cars or miles from the small sample set.
So maybe better to ask if anyone has had any problems after they have made any attention measures to their gbox - ie clips etc


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## Satan (Mar 8, 2012)

*Non forum users*

I can only say how worried I am for owners of R35s that don't use this forum and don't know about the services available from the Indies!

Imagine turning up at your local NHPC and saying "I've just lost the odd or even gears"!

No problem Sir, dig real deep and we'll just drop a new box in. £20k please!

Pants down, Vaseline out and right royally rodger'd!!

Poor saps. 

This forum has given me untold peace of mind during ownership. 

Thanks to all that contribute so much. 

Edit: 59 plate, 23k miles. Stage 2, Never launched. No issues, but Dodson magnets and piston clips fitted for safety / prevention. 

Satan


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## harryturbo (Jan 24, 2004)

yer 
i second that mate ,its great to talk to other owners ,and get help and try to help others :bowdown1: gtroc


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## goRt (May 17, 2011)

Satan said:


> I can only say how worried I am for owners of R35s that don't use this forum and don't know about the services available from the Indies!
> 
> Imagine turning up at your local NHPC and saying "I've just lost the odd or even gears"!
> 
> ...


I don't think you get Vaseline in the 20k price ;-)


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## Satan (Mar 8, 2012)

goRt said:


> I don't think you get Vaseline in the 20k price ;-)


Possibly, but lets be fair, how much more can it hurt lol :chuckle::chuckle::chuckle:


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## goRt (May 17, 2011)

Satan said:


> Possibly, but lets be fair, how much more can it hurt lol :chuckle::chuckle::chuckle:


You thinking of conducting some tests???


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## Satan (Mar 8, 2012)

goRt said:


> You thinking of conducting some tests???


At £20k I'll stick with the current box I think. :chuckle:

Satan


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## stixGTR (Sep 24, 2013)

MY09 (59 plate) bought her 18 months ago with 16000 on the clock. Previous owner had the Bell housing sorted under warranty. Car now has 38k on the clock, driven well (if you know what I mean) tracked and launched...... no gearbox mods and NO PROBLEMS :bowdown1::bowdown1:



Now finding lots of wood to touch as I've probably just kama'd my ass :flame:


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