Stiff Shifter Side to Side
 

Hey Everybody,

I'm fairly new to cars and I been having an issue with my shifter. The car is still drivable, but the shifter feel is very weird. If I push the shifter to the either side it shifts with ease, except when I try to shift into gears on the opposite side. For example if I start and move through gears 1-4, the shifter gives resistance when going into 5-6. If I am in gears 3-6, and I try to downshift to 1-2, the shifter gives resistance. I know that the shifter and linkage most likely needs to be lubricated, but I'm not sure of how to do that. Does anyone have any thoughts?
Thanks!

The car itself comes with a particularly tight/stiff shifter. Try to compare to anyone’s nearby, yours is more than likely fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for your response!

I have checked against another 86 and my shifter definitely gives more resistance.

Do you have a brz or frs? My frs compared stock to stock to a brz is way tighter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have an FR-S. This may play a role in the tighter shifter, but I don't think that that the difficulty to go into a gear should change as I drive. If I am in 6th gear and come to a stop. It is harder to put into 1st gear. If I am shifting into 5th after going 1-4, it is also harder for some reason.

What climate are you in?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm up in the Midwest, so the car does sit during the winters.

Hmmm I only get that hardness going into 1st and reverse when it’s cold and the trans oil hasn’t warmed up yet


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, I also get that as well. But the stiffness that I'm referring to occurs at all times when I drive the car.

Hmmm sorry can’t help ya. Have you done any work to the transmission?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nope. Thanks for your input though. Hopefully someone else can give me some advice on how to lubricate the shifter.

Is your shift linkage sticky moving fore and aft? Not being centered that way in neutral can cause the resistance you feel side to side. If it's not that, then the problem is likely internal to the transmission.

In many of MT twins when gearbox/oil is cold, it's 2nd that is hard to engage until one warms it up in eg. 5min driving. Wouldn't worry on this.
Also, from not to worry things would be when driving at >5kmh, "hard to downshift from 2nd to 1st". IIRC it's by design, to prevent "money shifts". If one needs to downshift to first from second, while still going relatively fast (20-50kmh), better do throttle blip on downshift, for rev-match.

vladniko86: If it's 1st or 2nd, that hard to get in, my bet is that it's not that "common trait", but rather something else, most probably - slight clutch drag.
I'd check, if there isn't done some clutch pedal travel adjustment mod, and maybe revert it a bit, so that there is at least 1-2cm of "dead travel" before bite point.

as for OP, romendiratta: if you have it much harder to engage in compared to other twins, and it still seems too much resistance, i'd first try also if it's not clutch drag at fault, as it's relatively simple to adjust clutch pedal, and if not, maybe oil change. Regarding oil change, shifting feel might be made worse both by overfilling and underfilling, so worth ensuring car is level, when changing gearbox oil, as IIRC level is decided by filling hole (OEM: 2.2lr API GL-3 SAE 75W-90 | Toyota Genuine MG Gear Oil special II. I'm using Redline MTL GL4 70W80). How old is your car? If new enough and there is warranty, i'd also try to take it to dealership. If it's hard to get in gear, usually is because synchros not doing for whatever reason their job well. If it's old car you bought used and clutch drag is not at fault, i wonder if maybe synchros are worn?

Hey guys, thanks for the input.

So there is no resistance when shifting forward or aft. The car is a 2013, but it only has 38k miles on it. I would assume that the synchros are still in good shape. Also I don't ever downshift into 1st. I'm not sure that I described the problem well enough. So I'll link you to this video to hopefully show you in more detail.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oW1...ew?usp=sharing