[JDM88]

Righto, searching this subject brings up a variety of possible solutions and problems so I've gone ahead and done some of the tests and hopefully this can narrow down what I need to do.

My symptons are that while the tranmission is cold, it's a complete ***** to get in reverse, as in genuinely difficult and I have to put a lot of force into getting it in gear. The same applies with first gear too. But once I get the car in motion for a little bit and the tranny/driveline parts get some heat in them, the problem disappears.

Now I've had slave/master cylinder issues on other cars and they never seemed to go away with a little bit of driving, rather they were alleviated with a lot of pedal pumping before eventually replacing the components.

With that said, I just tried shifting the gears with the car turned off and it wasn't a problem whatsoever. So that points towards hydraulic failure right? And on top of all that, the shifter has only recently found itself leaning towards fifth on the odd occassion.

So what should I look at working on next? The car has 150k on the clock but has been exceptionally maintained throughout its livelihood although I do not see any record of either cylinder being replaced at any point.

Thoughts?

Thanks guys

[JDM88]

And here's a little festive cheer for gratitude

[JPoland]

Is it that getting the shifter over to reverse is a PITA or getting it over is fine but getting it into the gear itself is a PITA?

[JDM88]

Getting it into gear. Moving it over to the left before you push it into reverse is no problem.

[JPoland]

Could be clutch related. When was the last time new fluid was put in?
When it is cold and the car is running, can you easily put it into other gears first?

[runindawg]

Sounds like the clutch isn't fully releasing if it goes into gear fine when engine isn't running. How many miles on the clutch?
Would also be worth bleeding the clutch slave to get rid of any possible air and looking for fluid leaks around the slave and master(as well as checking reservoir level, of course).
The 5th gear lean thing is a different issue and requires pulling trany to fix. Several good DIY on that here and on BF's.

[JPoland]

Originally Posted by runindawg

The 5th gear lean thing is a different issue and requires pulling trany to fix. Several good DIY on that here and on BF's.

You could also pay someone local to do it for you nice and cheap

[JDM88]

The fifth gear lean I'm not so worried about but if I could pay you to help out then I'd be more than willing to do that. If anything it would be good to meet another local e36 owner I could learn from.

I changed the fluids for the diff and tranny about 4 months ago or so with mobil one synthetics.

The clutch responds completely fine when the car gets a little warmth into it. No signs of slippage or anything like that.

And when the car is cold and running it's still a real pain to get it into any gear. Although once I get the car moving it immediately becomes easier to get it into gears.

[JPoland]

It may be the lower temps not working well with the trans fluid or it could be that the clutch is not disengaging all the way.
If the clutch was disengaging then you would typically know it and its not something that would go away once the car gets going so I'm leaning towards trans oil.
We can take a look at it sometime if you want. For now, it doesn't sound like its anything that is going to prevent you from driving the car.
Worst case, just back into the parking spot at night and leave the car in first gear. Then in the morning you can just start the car and get moving without having to change gears first.

[cracky]

what fluid are you running?

i wouldnt be surprised its the cause(as it is a lot of the times in cold situations) when cars dont shift well cold but get better once warm.

i just put some mobil 1 atf in my car and its been doing great in the cold. a tiny bit more effort when cold (as with anything) but no issues.

redline d4atf is also a good all yr fluid.


I had 80w90 in the sti and it was horrid in winter(last winter). trouble with 1,2 and reverse when cold(i knew it was the wrong thickness...but used it in a pinch)...put the proper 75w90 in it and its gold / night and day difference in the cold.

Fluids like redline mtl apparently dont like being cold in ours trans.