shifting into 2nd
 

This is my first manual car so don't have much experience with shifting, but it seems difficult to shift the knob into second gear from first. It doesn't feel smooth and I kinda have to force it in there. Anyone else experience this? Is this normal?

How many miles are on your car? It will get easier in time. My gearbox was very tight for the first few hundred miles or so.

I'm experiencing something similar, almost like its not as smooth as the other gears.

Yeah it's definitely tight for the first few hundred miles or so. I do feel some tightness when the car is cold, but once everything warms up, it feels fine

i hear ya! had a 2010 camaro, and the (m.t.6-speed) sucked for better than 20,000
miles before it started smoothing out,but what can ya expect from the general's crap?..ironically, the tranny in the camaro was an "aisin" japanese built!..go figure!

What car are you coming from? It's definitely a direct mechanical shift, but it's not going to be as 'easy' to shift as a 10 year old Mazda Miata.

This shifts are more difficult when the car is cold, but once it warms up it shifts nicely.

Just be patient with the shifts and don't force it, it'll get easier as you drive it more.

depends on what you are coming from, the solid shift feel is one thing I like about this car, nothing like a buttery trans from a ten year old POS.

Only issue I have had is a resistant first gear shift once, so I just shifted down into second and immediately back up to first. Fixed it without issue.

Find another frs to test drive. Mine is much different than the six others that I have driven now. First and second are nit easy to get into. My clutch is much harder to push than all the others even after clutch pedal adjustment.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

1st-2nd shift is always going to be a little harder since they have the greatest difference in gear ratio and a greater rpm drop for the synchros to match. It happens on a lot of cars.

start the car and let it idle in neutral for a few minutes, it warms the transmission up because it is in neutral and it spins the main gear shaft that is connected to the clutch and that starts to warm up and lube the transmission, test it out and see if that helps cold shifting :D

There are a couple other threads on upgrading the fluid which makes a difference. I'm gonna have Toyota look at mine again because it's not right.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

mine is the same. 2nd is hard to engage when cold and even when warm it's a hit & miss affair. i will change gearbox oil and install Perrin shift bush and Cusco gearbox collar. hopefully it will get better.

also,more "inertia" to overcome in the lower gears!

When I think about it I'd say it happens to varying degrees on just about every MT car I've ever driven. If it doesn't want to go into gear sometimes you just need to ease it a bit and if it really doesn't want to, make sure you're out of gear, release the clutch and start over so the rotating parts can align better. As others have said it's worst after a cold start until things warm up.

Either your shifter/syncro is messed up (which shouldnt happen at this stage) or there is nothing wrong and personally I cant tell if its hard to go in because hard to go in is my M3... it feels like it is grinding gears every time... worst shifter ever..

I haven't had any issues with 1-2, but jumping over to the gate from 4th to 5th seems more rough than any of the other transitions.

How fast are you shifting from 1st to 2nd? As others have mentioned the ratios are the farthest apart, so it takes the syncros a tiny bit longer. Try slowing the shift down a bit and it should smooth out.

This is a pretty short throw transmission, it leave the synchro less time to do their jobs than a normal manual transmission. Try to shift just a bit slower when it's cold.

You could try other fluid also, I used to have very bad grinding in a celica, and some GM Synchromesh completely got rid of it..for over 100 000 km!

Thanks guys, will try shifting slower and playing around with it more. Maybe I am shifting too quickly, since sometimes it'll be smooth shifting into second, just not all the time. But I feel like I'm going too slow if I shift slowly from 1-2 at a red light.

Ah, now I get it. Exactly this scenario happens to me sometimes in one of my cars, which does have a somewhat finicky 2nd gear (possibly "thanks" to a previous owner who mashed it :mad0260:). First thing to do is remain calm and not let yourself feel pressured by other drivers. Second, try practicing the "start over" method I described earlier - if the shifter balks going into second, take it out, waggle it side-to-side a couple times so your brain knows it's out for sure, clutch out, clutch back in, shifter back into 2nd nice and easy. With practice this goes very quickly and other drivers won't even notice. You might want to find a quiet street to practice before trying it at a light.

thanks will try that. Is the syncro misalignment also the reason why it's hard to shift into first gear if you are going too fast?

This happens because the intermediate shaft have to spin up at a high speed, and get there real fast to synch with the other gears.

Not synchro misalignment, it's because of the ratio between the gears. The synchro has to account for a larger rpm difference between the gears.

Never downshift into first unless you're at a crawl or stopped. And when shifting into reverse, click it into first (no need to let the clutch up) and then into reverse.

^^^What they said. Actually I find if I'm moving *at* *all* it just works better to use second instead of trying to get into first (in any MT car I've driven; I don't own an 86 yet).

I'm curious about this... Why put it into first before reverse? I usually park in first, so I guess I do this anyway...

Because the ratios are almost identical. Traditionally the reverse gear didn't have a synchro, so by shifting into first the trans speed would then be matched when you went into reverse.

It's not necessary nowadays, but it's a good habit.

Parking in first (or reverse) is important because those gears require the most effort to move the vehicle. Say you were parked on a slight hill, in first the incline may not be enough to make the car roll, but in 3rd or higher it takes much less for the vehicle to begin rolling on it's own. This is assuming parking without the e-brake, or in the event of an e-brake failure.

If its not going into gear, generally it means your still going too fast or the engine is still cold which makes it abit harder to slot it into gear

You would need to slow down more before popping into second, alternatively you can rev match it into 2nd (double clutch downshift or heel-toe) if your still going abit quick and this way it will allow you to shift to 2nd smoothly without jerking the car.

Help this helps :)

This only pertains to when you're slowing down correct? My issue was upshifting to second.

That's correct :) But this advice will come in handy if you have troubles with downshifting once you've mastered upshifting. What part of CA are you in? If you're close to me, if you like we can meet up and I'll help you with the upshifting.

I've been driving manual 5-speed for more than 12 years, so I am no newbie around the gear shift... but I feel the same way about the 1-2 shift, it definitely feels rougher than the other shifts. 2-3, 3-4, 4-5 and 5-6 all feel fine. The 1-2 shift just seems to grind more when you don't shift slowly and the car isn't warmed up, whereas all the other gears are fine at all times. I'm still in the break-in period though, so hopefully it will soften up over time.

Double clutching is totally unnecessary on any modern car. It will only waste your time.

#fastandfuriousftl

Double clutching helps for large skips and keeps your synchros more healthy. eg. Downshifting from 6-3, 5-2 or some such can either take longer or put a lot of work on the synchros, but if you double clutch it will slide right in.

It's also a good thing to have in the tool belt in case you have a synchro fail. It's not necessary, but it still has its uses.

There has been a few times where I couldn't shift it into first as I came to a full stop at an intersection. I don't think the problem has gone away. I'm not sure if it's normal. I had a Civic Si which did the same thing.

I'm almost at 3K miles.. the 1-2 shift isn't getting any easier. When it's cold, sometimes its almost impossible to put it into 2nd gear. And reverse too for that matter.

In normal driving, what actually helps (for me anyway) is keeping the REVS up around 1800-2000, it makes shifting from 1st to 2nd a little smoother.. sometimes even buttery smooth, once the car's warmed up.

I have about 2K miles on my BRZ, and I am still having shift problems from 1st to 2nd. Definitely a bigger problem when cold. To be honest, this is my biggest issue with my BRZ! I will try to change to a synthetic trans oil or I will see what Subaru service can recommend. I much preferred the manual trans (Getrag), in my MINI Cooper S (albeit longer throws). I am not a big fan of this transmission (so far), and you hear all the reviewers rave about it.

it's an "aisin" same company that builds for mazda!
aisin is in the "miata",AND the "chevy camaro 6"

Unfortunately,second gear shifts on these cars are more suited to Peterbuilts than sportscars. I believe the smooth shiters are the exception rather than the norm. Dobt much can be done except that it gets fixed for the next model year.

This is at the top of my list of why the car is a GOOD car, but not a GREAT car like the Miata was when launched23 years ago.

I imagine trying to get into second on a course is going to suck!

I had a RX-7 a long time ago that had a similar issue shifting from first to second now that I think about it. At the time, I had the trans fluid swtiched to a synthetic, Amsoil. Amsoil helped a lot, but the issue was still there somewhat. What is strange this morning is I had no issues first to second driving to work. Temps here in the SF Bay Area this morning are high 50's, which may have been a factor.

don't know to a certainty,but the synthetic should help,that
and getting miles on the "box"

It's an Aisin, yes. However, it's an Aisin that's been heavily modified. There was a quote floating around somewhere saying that about 80% of the design had been modified from the original unit, if not more.