Thread: which year tranny?

sup guys my car has had the 5th gear popout for a while now and im looking for a replacement tranny? So anyway i found a few trannys but i wanna know which 5speed sr20 tranny does not have the 5th gear problem or popout watsoever. And what year make n model. I know the 2002 g20 tranny is the best but i cant locate one. And when they do pop up they cost alot $$$...any help will be appreciated. Thanks

Thee Only trannies that do not suffer from pop-out are the B15/P11 transmissions.

See the threads listed in this post below for an in-depth discussion and WHY the B15 transmission is so much stronger.

http://www.sr20-forum.com/general-sr20/17360-tranny-blew-up-2.html#post227495

Nissan designed a sh*tty, weak-sauce, underengineered POS transmission in the B13's. They issued a "Nissan Fix" in late '93 or '94. They upgraded two (2) bullsh*t parts inside the B13 tranny to make it a "New Better Transmission." The "Two Parts Fix" did NOT fix the transmission. They were a piss-poor attempt to band-aid the issues.

B14 transmissions can still develop 5th gear pop-out. Although, they are probably a better bet than the B13 tranny to not explode.

B15 tranmission are a whole new animal, starting with the exterior case.


It is the 2000-2002 year B15/P11 LSD transmission that you want. NA go with the B15, if you are going turbo the P11 would have the preferred gear ratios.

I just bought one this week for $850.00 from Greg V at GSpec. He has two (2) more available. They will go quickly.

There is a B14 LSD tranny right now in the Classifieds for $450.00 OBO, plus shipping. They usually go for between $350.00 and $400.00, hence there is perhaps a little bit of bargain room ("OBO") on that price.

You can buy a pre-owned working B13 LSD tranny for as low as $250.00 or so.

Those are your financially sound choices. The B13 is cheap, but will probably have more miles on it, and may or may not have had the "Nissan Fix" installed in it. The B14 LSD transmission should have lower miles, and will certainly have the (half-assed) "Nissan Fix" in it. It may or may not develop 5th gear popout.

For me to spend an extra $400.00, buy the B15 LSD and not have to deal with transmission issues ever again, is a freakin' bargain. F*ck those bullsh*t, flimsy, B13 and B14 transmissions. I've officially fixed my POS B13 transmission for the final time, by throwing it in the metal recycle pile at Mikes shop.

Whatever transmission you decide to purchase, buy an Andreas Miko Tranny Saver Bracket. There are links in that thread posted above. It's inexpensive, and comes highly regarded. If Andreas endorses it, that is good enough for me. It will bolt to any cable actuated transmission you purchase. Consider it super inexpensive insurance on your tranny, engineered by a dude that knows as much about these trannies and motors as probably anyone on Planet Earth.

Best of luck.

thanks shawn .....ur right this is the 3rd time and second se-r that the 5th gear popout has happened to me. And like you the 1st time i spent BIG bucks(preforum) rebuilding it only to have the f*cking thing popout right after the warranty expired. I was so heated that i traded the car in the following week. Now i regret it. But i moved on and got myself a 93 se-r and now this one has developed it too. Now the reason i asked about the year is cuz i have found myself a few 99-01 trannies some non-lsd some lsd and i just wanted to be sure about which is the right one to get. I dont wanna spend money and have the 5th gear popout again cuz i will get really upset. Anyway thanks shawn and i love ur se-r, i wish i can do the same to mine but that won't happen.

You sir, have had the same sh*tty luck with your B13 transmission as myself.


Good thing you asked. According to the mechanically-smart folks on our forum, they did not upgrade the entire transmission until the year 2000.

My game-plan is the following.

1) Pre-owned B15 LSD transmission (correct years...) from Greg V.

2) Andreas Miko Tranny Saver Bracket.

3) New high-quality clutch from Greg V.

4) Prothane motor/tranny mounts all the way around (previously done).

5) Proper tranny fluid. Either Redline Heavy Shockproof (previous fluid), or something equally bad-ass. I am going to ask Greg V, and do some reSearching on the topic. I want to make sure the tranny fluid is copasetic with, and offers the best protection, for my new transmission.

Outside of normal, expected, wear and tear on the clutch, that should do it and be about as bullet-proof as I can make it.


You're welcome, and appreciate your compliment on my Classic.

While I would not wish it upon anyone, for some reason there is a bit of consolation in knowing I am not the only one that wants to throw his B13 transmission off the top of a tall building while simultaneously bitch-slapping the Nissan engineering team that designed it.

I stand by my claim that the redesigned 5th gear from Nissan solves the problem. Has anyone had a transmission that they know for sure got the redesigned gear (not some spare part their dealership had in the back for a couple years), and kept good motor mounts, that has had 5th gear pop out again?

The original 5th gear tends to last 150k miles. After seeing the redesigned part I would assume, at worst, you'd get a real 300k miles out of the redesigned part before (if ever) you got 5th gear pop-out again.

No Ben, it does not solve the problem.

There are plenty of folks with a B14 transmission that have developed 5th gear pop-out. Do a Search on the old forum, and there are multiple threads, with multiple respondents, that owned/repaired B14 trannies with pop-out.

SO, my 5TH GEAR finally went out... - SR20 Forum

5th gearpop 0ut - SR20 Forum

5th gear pop out... - SR20 Forum

Help my 5th gear is gone - SR20 Forum

This one is priceless. Too bad we cannot see the Archives and the Poll.

5th gear popout in my b14?!?!? - SR20 Forum

Documented cases of B14 tranny 5th gear popout. It's in the SER Mailing List Archives. For some reason I cannot access the Poll Results themselves.

5Th gear pop-out - SR20 Forum

That sir, was one (1) exceedingly simple 10-minute Search. "B14+tranny+popout", anywhere in the post, Main Forums only. I would conservatively guess that I could come up with another couple dozen threads with folks that have 94+, or B14 trannies that developed 5th gear popout.

The original 5th gear lasts 150K?!? 300K on a B14 tranny? What have you been smoking? Have you gotten ahold of some of my cookies?

Do and think what you want Ben, I've read every thread on the subject. Twice. I will never agree with your assessment, and think you are niavely optimistic, relatively ignorant on the topic and way off-base.

When did I ever say the B14s transmissions were immune, or had the redesigned 5th gear installed in them? I've specifically said elsewhere that the redesigned gear didn't make it into the B14 transmissions with any sort of regularity. The fact that you've found a bazillion B14 transmissions with 5th gear pop-out doesn't surprise me, and shows me nothing.

Show me a transmission with the redesigned gear inside that got 5th gear pop-out. Then I'll shut up.

Also, the 150k miles comment comes from an old list I saw a long time ago with 40+ people weighing in on the topic. It showed the year of their car, and the mileage they developed 5th gear pop-out. Almost everyone's failed around 130-160k miles.

says who? my popout started at 44K

Says who? Did you really just ask that?

I just told you who in my last post... Some 40+ contributors to http://www.se-r.net if I remember correctly. I just looked for the list but I can't find it. It was on a website somewhere. Tons and tons of entries of people's transmission and what mileage they developed 5th gear pop-out. Your 44k miles is way, way, way out of the norm.

I have seen the 5th gear pop out on a b15. My friend actually had it happen to him on a stock 01 b15. Its very rare though. I have both the stock 94 and 92 trannies and have not a single issue. I also have upgraded motor mounts.