5spd Wont Go Into 1st When Cold

Great explanation. It amazes me every time i drive my wifes Fit how easy the shifts are.

I also cannot get my Taco into 1st while moving unless I double clutch with a very slight rev while in neutral. Using Redline MT90 on 40,000 mile change intervals. 2nd gear almost always clunks too, but the rest are fairly smooth. It hasnt gotten any worse in the 50,000 miles ive driven the truck, and theres no metal in the trans fluid that would indicate extreme wear.

 

Mine was like that the first two years, and has gradually loosened up over the years. At 66K it just about non issue. It will slowly wear in, then at 7 to 8 years you won't have a sloppy gearbox.

 

Same here. If done right, I can get it into first well above 20km/h. Is this hurting the transmission as someone said above? Because if so I guess I can't drive in stop-and-go traffic anymore.

 

If you re-read the post . reversing out of the driveway and selecting forward before the truck comes to a complete stop can damage the trans . Nothing was mentioned about selecting first gear while slowing down in forward motion

 

I find that if you put into 2nd and then into 1st it's much easier. This has been true for most manuals I have driven.

 

My trans is terrible. It is hard to get into every gear except 5th. 1st I have to be totally stopped and its still kinda hard to pop in. Sometimes it will go in butter smooth but the majority of the time it feels like total shit. Like I'm pulling the stick through a box of tightly packed marbles and its catching on them. Can't figure out what's going on. Got synthetic redline fluid in there but it doesn't matter. When it's cold I pretty much lose 2nd too.

 

With MT-90? Those symptoms sound like what GL5 oil can do. The MT-90 will shear a little bit so shifting performance will improve over time.

Now that it's getting colder my gearbox is starting to give fun shifting in the morning. The first time I shift into 2nd gear I have to double clutch it, otherwise it locks me out. After that one shift it's fine. Not really sure why it does that.

 

Yup, GL-4, MT90. Had it in for about 10k miles, no improvement.

 

That's the pits. Only other thing I can think of is maybe the clutch isn't releasing quite all the way, making you fight it through the synchros. Perhaps try consciously pushing your clutch pedal completely to the floor when you shift, just to see if its behaviour changes?

 

Tacoma4, I agree with Iroh about it not releasing all the way.

I would have that clutch checked for proper adjustment.

A $100 evauation is much cheaper than a new transmission.

Are you still under warranty?

 

Not under warranty anymore. Had toyota look at it when I was and they said it's "normal" and tried to charge me 90 bucks since they found nothing wrong. I didn't pay that, but I'm not gonna take it back again for the same thing. I've tried bleeding the master/slave cylinders and adjusting the clutch to make it push more, but it doesn't help. I always slam it to the floor to shift. Put in a centerforce clutch to see if the pressure plate was weak or something but that didn't do it either. Seems like maybe the shift forks or shafts in the tranny aren't lined up right and theres some slop, so sometimes it's smooth, and most of the time it's not...sucks.

 

try using pennzoil full synthetic...worked wonders on mine

 

Is synchomesh what you used? I dont see a synthetic gl4 on their website

 

Synchromesh is far too thin for our trannies. The lightest I would even consider trying is Redline MT-85, which is basically the 'magic mix' of 50/50 MTL+MT90 that works so well for some other vehicles.

Transmission should fall under the 5 yr / 60k mile warranty, just in case.

Wow, that really really sucks, t4. That's a safety hazard in my opinion. You shouldn't have to drive a pickup truck like some unsynchronized semi tractor to make it go down the road.

 

So it seems like I might be fixed now. I noticed a few weeks ago when I had the bed loaded with a tree we took down that it shifted pretty well. It was loaded enough to be just off the bump stops, so it looked level. I put 5100s on this weekend at 1.75 to level it and it's shifting much better. I wonder if there was something binding up when it had the rake? Idk but I'm pretty happy with it now, it's not perfect but it's been down to 10 degrees and doesn;t lock me out of 2nd which it always used to do in the cold.

 

I have seen this problem on other "modern" manual transmissions. The newer transmissions seem to be more delicate that the older one a decade or so ago.

We fixed a few with Royal Purple synthetic gear lube. The last was a Mitsubishi Eclipse; as it shifted hard when cold, since new. Owner had the dealer replace all the synchronizers; and it seemed somewhat better, but not perfect. We Changed the trans lube to Royal Purple and it was amazing.

I fixed my own BMW motorcycle, which acted like your truck, when cold; by replacing the lube to Royal Purple synthetic

$30 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75W-90. I think that is the same weight of lube for your Tacoma; but not sure, check it.

We used this in Sprint Cars, with great results, in the final drive. Sprint cars have an in-out box that takes the place of a transmission. But in the rear differential, it works great. I don't sell this stuff; but we like it. It is not cheap.

oldracer

 

Had to put a new manual transmission in my 07 about 5 months ago. Same thing. Old tranny felt pretty easy to shift into 1st. New one is pretty stiff, though it has gotten better as I've added miles. I think this is just a ''''feature'''' until things break in a bit.

 

Synthetic Gear Lube and try the Liqui Moly MOS2 additive. It coats everything with Moly so when it is cold and dry it is still slippery.

Short of undercutting the gears and profiling the edges it isn't going to get super smooth. If it is moving, it will pull 2nd gear no problem unless you are heavily loaded or towing up hill.

 

Can i ask what happened to the old transmission?

 

I have difficulty shifting into reverse every now and then. It doesn't seem to be temperature related except it is usually in the mornings (independent of season). If I shift into other gears (1st, 2nd, etc), then I can usually shift into reverse. After that, no issues.

I have a '99, 2.4L with just over 200k miles. Drives great otherwise.

Should I be looking at something specific? (like change gear oil, have the clutch examined, etc?)