I have noticed that whenever the temperature decreases, my transmission is somewhat/noticeably harder to get into first gear and reverse, but seems to clear up upon use and or warmer outside temperatures, or at least I never notice it....

Is this a transmission problem or is this a treatable symptom on this transmission?

Are there any things that can be changed to minimize and hopefully stop this from happening?

The simple solution is to never have the car in the cold weather, but really this is not always possible, as well as I get the feeling something can be done about this issue....

Any advice from experience?

TIA

 

Do you have good synthetic gear lube in your transmission? I had problems like that back in the day on stock gear oil in my old FC. Switch to Redline gear oil, problem solved.

Dale

 

IIRC its Valvoline synth tech 75w90.

edit:
[Valvoline SYN Power full synthetic 75w-90]

One synthetic is fairly equivalent to another IMO, and this was readily available to me at a moments notice.

I have read on here that redline is a favorite here and elsewhere,but have never been a proponent of intangible evidence.

Though I do believe in good character, so coming from you Dale, I would definitely look into it for more detail, if you feel this might be a cause of the issue.

I dont seem to have any other noticeable transmission anomalies, so I am making the assumption it is maybe just a slight incompatibility with the gear set?

The oil is fairly new, maybe 1-2 years and low millage on the fluid.

Would changing to a slightly different weight have any negative or positive benefits, or would changing brands be the recommended prescription?

 

A lot of performance cars have slight difficulties with their transmissions until their oil is warmed up. With my E46 M3, if it's below 40 degrees, 2nd gear just ain't going to happen until the oil is warm. That being said, I haven't had as much of an issue with the RX7 in the cold weather. Granted, I don't really drive it in the cold any longer, but when I did it wasn't that bad.

I would start with a good gear oil. Contrary to your statement of basically an oil is an oil, there are differences between the brands even at the same viscosity ratings:

http://www.valvoline.com/pdf/High_Pe...e_Gear_Oil.pdf

http://www.royalpurple.com/prod-pdfs/synchromax-ps.pdf

 

I would change your fluid in general.

I have driven my FD alot actually this past winter and only difficulty i had was 2nd gear. I remember trying to heel-toe (low rpm H/T) into 2nd and i guess i didnt use enough muscle to put it in 2nd and heel toed in neutral lol. It was pretty embarassing lol.

1st and reverse were perfect. But i changed my fluid about 2-3 years ago (about 4k miles ago) and i have a short shifter so it might be a bit different scenario for me.

 

I am not trying to make the mistake that I think their is no difference between different oils, just that if you talk to 5 different “informed” people you will get 5 different answers based on their biases. Yet almost no one will ever show a physical tangible difference that one is the the only oil to use because of X reasons.

I am making the assumption you are inferring that the viscosity @ temperature factor is what I should be looking at based on the links?

So what weight oil is this royal purple that you have linked to, so as to be able to make a direct comparison of the viscosity's at different temperatures?

I am having trouble finding any information on this products weight throughout RPs site.

Why specifically do you personally recommend this over any other oil? Have you found other brands to be as acceptable of an alternative as Royal Purple?

 

Running a “original” B&M SS here also, (but mostly due to peer pressure) as I find no advantage other than aesthetics with the shifter.

I only experience this when the car has been parked overnight usually, and it seems to clear up fairly fast, but I have squashed almost all bugs in my car, and this is one of the few I can think of that I would like fixed presently.

It is a chronic problem, so it rears its head almost every time (when it is “cold”) and it is on my list of things I wanted to try and take care of.

 

Personally, I HATE short shifters. I think they make the FD far notchier and harder to shift. The stock shifter with new shift bushings is such a joy. Had 2 guys drive my car this weekend who were used to an FD with the B&M, they immediately commented on how sweet the car shifted.

I've run Redline in my cars originally due to it being "THE" thing to run. Mind you this is before Royal Purple came out . Now I've been running it due to easy availability (Jimmy at Fighters Garage stocks it) and it's just always worked for me. I run the Redline MT90 in the transmission, 3 quarts worth. I never can remember what goes in the diff, it's 2 quarts worth though.

It's definitely worth a shot. And, I have noticed a difference in past cars I've worked on between the name brand synths and the parts store gear oils and synth oils.

Dale

 

I use Royal Purple in my M3 and RX7. In the RX7, I run their Max-Gear 75W90 (in the diff as well). Typically, you can pick it up from a local NAPA. Redline is also a good oil to use which you should be able to find locally, but make sure you use MT90 and not MTL. MTL is 70W80. Another good oil is:

http://www.idemitsu-usa.com/page_216.htm

 

I noticed this problem. I wouldn't say its hard to shift but it is harder.

 

Around 5 years ago (around 50K miles) I changed my FD trans lube from the original OE lube to the Valvoline 75w-90 Synth (I use this with excellent results in my dog-ring racecar transaxle - see my avatar, and I already had some of it), and in the FD, shifting cold got noticeably worse (more notchy, especially from 1st to 2nd). I then went to NEO in the FD, and shifting cold was slightly better than the OE lube and MUCH better than the Valvoline. I did not notice much, if any, difference between the 3 types of lube shifting into reverse. All 3 worked well warm.

 

There was a similar thread about tranny fluid a few years ago. After much discussion, there was a consensus that "Neo" worked really well, perhaps better than all of the others.

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/redline-vs-neo-tranny-fluid-my-experience-371203/

 

how much temp we are talking here?

 

Yup - and that thread was what convinced me to go to NEO, after the Valvoline didn't work as I wanted.

Dave

 

For me, it was noticeable, starting out from cold, anywhere below 70F ambient, and VERY noticeable below 50F.

Dave

 

Shifting at higher rpm from 1st to 2nd when it's cold helps a little IMO. Stop and go that's not always possible, but..........