Stiff 2nd Gear actuation when cold on manual 6 Speed of FRS/BRZ? There's a reason!

[wired]

Hey,

850 miles on my 2015 FR-S - and first post here
I've also encountered the stiff 2nd gear.

It happens when the car is cold, especially in the morning. Goes away after a few minutes.

I've also noticed that REVing a bit higher before switching to 2nd - ~4k RPM - makes the change much smoother.

Still breaking in the engine, it'll be interesting to see if this changes after I start driving "normally".

[billyk]

Originally Posted by wired

Hey,

850 miles on my 2015 FR-S - and first post here
I've also encountered the stiff 2nd gear.

It happens when the car is cold, especially in the morning. Goes away after a few minutes.

I've also noticed that REVing a bit higher before switching to 2nd - ~4k RPM - makes the change much smoother.

Still breaking in the engine, it'll be interesting to see if this changes after I start driving "normally".

This has been noodled-through already. Either look at my previous post in this thread, or read the post cut/copied below. No mystery here.

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Originally Posted by billyk
I was part of the "my FRS won't go into 2nd when cold" camp. This led me to investigating changing tranny oil to fix the problem. It seems that some folks that change tranny oil experience shifting nirvana, and others say that it really didn't do much. In some cases, people report that some oil choices make getting into 2nd when cold actually worse.

I'll apologize in advance if you've already tried the technique of just remaining in 1st gear for a longer period of time to spin up the syncro when cold, but it works almost every time for me.

My previous experience was that when I leave for work in the AM in Winter weather, it's not that 2nd gear is "tough", it's actually impossible. It's like 2nd gear is totally locked-out. Dont' even mention double-clutching - that just doesn't work. I've got to skip to 3rd and try to avoid the lug. Once the tranny is warm, 2nd is great.

But I found that instead of zipping up my street in the AM spending maybe 1-2 seconds in 1st gear then struggling with 2nd, I intentionally go up the street slower, remaining in 1st, slowly accelerating without shifting and then holding it at 3k or so for a couple of seconds prior to shifting to 2nd. This seems to allow that cold syncro to spin-up, which it doesn't want to do at all when cold. With temps in the single digits, with the stock gear oil, that ice cold shift into 2nd is almost always perfect - smooth as silk. As I improve my technique, my success is increasing to nearly 100%.

Discovering this has made it so I have a lot less interest in changing my gear oil asap.
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Update:
I'd say I've got my technique up to 100% now. For those first couple of shifts from 1st on a Winter morning...
Accelerate slowly and stay in 1st for 4-5 seconds.
For me, works every single time. Getting into 2nd is like butta. Stock gear oil.

[pepelocuas]

I already explain how to adjust 2nd gear on the BRZ/FRS, so I'll do it again.
The way the shift mecha outside the gearbox was design, makes the 2nd gear the most critical for adjustment. all 6 gears adjustment are related to 2nd gear.
This is how to do it:
1 - Remove console
2 - Remove the rectangular foam by removing 2 white plastic locks
3 - Remove 4 bolts to remove the metal bracket and the boot after that.
Now you see at the bottom of the stick 4 more bolts holding a U shape plate(this U shape plate is very critical for the adjustment)
4 - Loosen up all 4 bolts till the U shape plate can be slide L to R or R to L.
5 - Put you shift into 2nd gear, let it rest.
6 - Move slowly Left to Right the U shape plate until it barely touches the stick. Tight any 2 screws and set the gearbox to neutral and shift into 2nd several time to see if it goes smooth with no force.
Note: If it is not going on 2nd smooth repeat STEP 6
7 - After testing that goes very smooth, tight all 4 screws.
8 - Re-assemble everything back

Hope this help

[Tekno Virus]

With Motul 300, once the fluid is sufficiently warm enough, 2nd gear is butter smooth.