6 Spd: What Am I Doing Wrong?

Thanks for viewing, sorry for the long post, but I promise every detail is as concise as possible.

2012 GT, 3.73, brembo, otherwise stockish:

Ever since I got the car (now at 15k miles, 1 year later) I've had issues with the transmission not being as "smooth" as my previous '05 WRX 5spd. Main issues are: occaisionally very hard to get into 1st gear (1 out of 10/15 times), very hard to shift into 2nd (same frequency), and just overall jolts, thumps, and other random noises it makes (not all the time) that I haven't experienced before in a MT. I press the clutch all the way, sometimes it makes a harsh sound (let's say I'm pulling into a parking spot on the left, 1st gear, then I clutch, it makes a metal-metal sound). Things of this nature.

All the problems I've explained, however, only occur during 'normal' driving, such as through the city or work commute. If I ever try to drive it like I stole it (high-ish rpm quicker shifts) the transmission seems like it's working fine.

After a LOT of asking around, I concluded the possibility of one of the following scenarios:

-the skip shift is hampering the operation of a 'normal' manual transmission
-the transmission is not normal/is defective
-this is simply how 6spds, or this specific transmission, is designed
-I'm doing something wrong

The manual stated that by turning traction off, the skip shift will be disabled. This worked for a while...but then I started noticing that skip shift was present even though traction was off and I was experiencing the same issues.

Next, I removed the skip-shift solenoid. Again, good for a while, back to original issues.

I took the car in to the dealership and finally was able to replicate the various issues I would experience every so often. Things such as not going into 1st gear, 2nd gear being very very hard to get into, random noises, etc. The first two times I got turned away, the third and different dealership they replaced my 2nd gear, and 1st and 3rd synchros. The transmission seemed to be working ok...then the problems started again.

I've tried everything...shift fast, shift slow, clutch in all the way, clutch not in all the way, hold the clutch in a second, clutch while slightly on the gas, everything. There are days it's ok (bearable), days it's not.

My last option is to install the ~$400 ECU tuner from Ford which should 'legitly' remove the skip shift from the car and hope that everything goes ok after that.

Any thoughts on this? Is my transmission defective? Is it the skip shift? Thanks for your help, and I truly mean that.

Thank you everyone for your posts.

I've concluded after reading them that the dealer may have not correctly installed my 2nd gear and/or 1-2-3 syncros, so once I have time I will be asking them for a new transmission unit under warranty.

TT5.0ca, thanks for the input. I've actually been tinkering with some unique driving habits like that and have been seeing results. My issue is that I don't want to be forced to drive a certain way just because the transmission is funky. It's sad but I have opted the option of selling this car and getting a '13 in auto, or just an auto in general.

Believe me, I would never be happy with that decision,

But this transmission drives me insane.

I know I'm not paying 100,0000,0000 dollars for a flawless hand-built-by-God design, but I expect a 2012 car with a transmission whose roots were originally designed decades ago to operate better than the 2005 and 1997 semi-predecessors.

The more I Drive with this trans the more I want to break it...

chris28912 said:

Don't think any issues had to deal with the gears you dropped in?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure, as the problem got worse gradually after they did the repair. I think I'll pay a visit to the dealership tomorrow. I just hate being turned away because they feel as if there is no problem, or the problem doesn't replicate itself there.

You have the same car as me...hows your trans?

I'm going to take it to the dealer this coming Monday and request a new transmission. Tired of this .

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

I had also read somewhere that a user had replaced the clutch of his 2011 GT with a GT500 clutch and that helped him out quite a bit. A friend of mine said that perhaps the clutch cylinder is weak and that explains why switching to a stronger clutch helped that guy out.

What do you guys think?