92 Metro Tranny issues
 

I bought a 92 metro, 3 cyl, 5-speed. When I test drove it I could tell it needed CV shafts, but everything shifted fine. I replaced the CV shafts, topped off the transmission with Pennzoil Synchromesh, and now the car won't shift into 2nd gear when moving. It will go into 2nd while stationary, and all other gears work without a hitch. Even double clutching won't allow it to go into second gear.

Is this tranny toast, or am I missing something simple here? There is a salvage yard 100 miles away that has four of these trannies on the shelf for $85 a piece, and they're labeled as "work good," and all are under 200k miles. I'm not sure what the typical lifespan of this transaxle is, but I'm guessing mine is at 210k (5 digit odometer reads 10,xxx)

Thanks in advance.

It's probably got the weakest/most worn synchro, from the way it's been driven. Just decided to rear it's ugly head after your work.

Check your clutch cable for play and your shift linkage bushings. I suppose you could try some other kind of gear oil, if those are both ok, but that would be a last ditch effort.

Synchros were my first thought, but I would think it should go in if I double clutch even with bad synchros.

The syncro rings actually wear and they kind of bind up and won’t let you shift. I know the oil is expensive but you might try a drain and refill with new pennzoil syncromesh I buy three quarts and have some left over.

It seems weird to me then that it would go into gear while stationary. I'm going to look at all the linkages yet; it makes me think that it's an alignment issue due to the engine twisting under load, so maybe motor/tranny mounts too?

I ran various Metros for 8 years and the problem with 2nd gear was always inside the transmission.

Did you ever see what I'm dealing with here, where it will go in while stationary but not while moving?

Do you think I should just go buy the used one for $85 and be done with it? For what it's worth I found a rebuild kit (new bearings, gaskets, and synchros) for about the same price so if I pull this one to switch it out I'll probably rebuild it as a spare eventually.

What you describe is the standard failure for the Metro transmission. Be aware there are four different ratio transmissions for these cars. There are early and late cars, there are also three cylinder and four cylinder versions of both body styles. The four cylinder cars have higher gears and the poor late four cylinder cars have the lowest 4.4 final. There is a chart on here somewhere on the ratio to crown wheel gear count to determine final drive ratios. The finals are 9% different they range from 3.5, 3.8, 4.1 to 4.4 roughly.
Be aware that you may install a used transmission and have the same problem. These cars are getting pretty used up, they haven’t made them since 2001.

Thanks for the warning. Any idea where this chart is, I did some searching on the site before making this post and no luck. I'm no computer wiz.

http://metroxfi.com/2008/04/metro-tr...o-information/

From that:

3.52:1 1.3L SOHC Swift up to mid year ’95
3.79:1 98-01 4 cylinder Metro
3.85:1 XFi Metro
3.95:1 mid year ’95 up 1.3L SOHC Swift
4.10:1 Swift GT, GTi, 95 and earlier Metro (3 cylinder)
4.39:1 Metro Convertible, 96+ Metro

Close enough to how I remember it.