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

[billyk]

My FRS has been at the dealer for a few days to deal with a finish issue so I haven't had the opportunity to check out the ideas posted in this thread to make 2nd gear a smoother transition until yesterday.

Driving it yesterday and today, I can say that shifting into 2nd gear is not helped at all by double-clutching, or by putting it in neutral and pausing there for a moment. If my FRS is cold, 2nd gear can be totally disagreeable, period. When warmed-up, it's better, but dicey. I need to put some miles on it (only have 600 miles now) to really determine if there's an issue, or if it's just a temperamental FRS tranny.

[billyk]

Getting to know my FR-S better, I'd say it's totally a cold tranny issue. Once warmed-up, it's virtually flawless in all gears, including 2nd.

When cold it can shift perfectly from 1st to 2nd as I pull away in the AM, and the second time I try 1-2nd 30 seconds later at the end of my street it simply won't go into 2nd. So I skip into 3rd. Again, double-clutching, pausing in neutral, rev-matching - nothing works. If it doesn't want to go into 2nd when cold, it doesn't go into 2nd!

[Lateral G]

Try double-clutching between 1 and 2 when fluid is cold. It helps, learned this from MK1 GTI back in the day. That was another performance oriented car with a wonderful gearbox. It nothing to be concerned about, just work around it until warm, have mechanical sympathy!

[billyk]

Originally Posted by Lateral G

Try double-clutching between 1 and 2 when fluid is cold. It helps, learned this from MK1 GTI back in the day. That was another performance oriented car with a wonderful gearbox. It nothing to be concerned about, just work around it until warm, have mechanical sympathy!

Lateral G:
Double-clutching does not have any affect, for me, at least. In fact, nothing other than getting a warmer gearbox helps.

Weird thing is, sometimes, on the coldest of AM's, it'll work perfectly the first time I shift from 1st to 2nd. Then, the very next time, 30 seconds later, will not work.

[billyk]

Here are my responses in another, related thread. I've copied the content over here as a PSA in the event it might help others.

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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.

[canadaRS1.0]

i think you guys might be double clutching wrong :P lol

my 2nd gear hates the cold, especially when its cold cold.. like -20C and such.

but double clutching it works fine, no matter how cold it is.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by canadaRS1.0

i think you guys might be double clutching wrong :P lol

my 2nd gear hates the cold, especially when its cold cold.. like -20C and such.

but double clutching it works fine, no matter how cold it is.

It will grow out of it anyway.
Minus 20 or plus 30 mine shifts as easy as can be now with no double required.

[billyk]

Originally Posted by canadaRS1.0

i think you guys might be double clutching wrong :P lol

Got that covered.

If it works for you, you are golden!

Doesn't work for everyone though.

[billyk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

It will grow out of it anyway.
Minus 20 or plus 30 mine shifts as easy as can be now with no double required.

How many miles do you have?
I'll look forward to this!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by billyk

How many miles do you have?
I'll look forward to this!

Just under 24K. I have not had to fight it once since the temperature dropped.

[Loetke]

I'm in the "new gear oil made it worse" camp. I actually didn't notice any problems with the stock oil, it just didn't shift very smoothly. I replaced it with royal purple and now 1st/2nd are terrible until it warms up. I'm about to switch the purple out for motul 300. I'll update with my findings if anyone's interested.

[Nigelr32]

I am soon going to be rebuilding my tranny after having all the gears and synchro hubs superfinished. I'll let you all know if this mod makes things better??

[Loetke]

Alright, the switch to motul 300 has been made. I haven't done a lot of driving yet but the difference is night and day. The motul shifts much more smoothly than the royal purple. I waited until driving it on a cold morning (as cold as we can expect in Georgia) to post to make sure there actually is a difference, and there definitely is. Even from a cold start I was able to shift into 2nd without trouble. It was a little stiff, but it went right into gear. No more forcing it in, and more importantly, no more of my wife glaring at me for spending $30k on a car that won't shift like it's supposed to!

[86Tony]

Mines a 2015 my second gear is super smooth when cold goin from 1st to 2nd. When fully warmed up I get a clunk noise when going from 1st to 2nd is this normal?. I have just about 5000km I get zero noise when down shifting to second what so ever. I will change out my tranny oil at my next oil change at 10,000km to see if that's help. Also I'm from Canada and it's really cold out here so don't know if weather has anything to do with it.