On any relatively cold morning I have trouble putting my car into gear. The colder the morning the harder it is to get into gear. 2nd and Reverse seem to be the worst, but all gears are tough. I've had this problem for a while but figured when I put the new tri-ax in it would take care of it. It feels as if it grabs and doesn't want me to shift as if the clutch is not depressed, but it is on the floor. Even while driving down the road it can be difficult to shift into gear, especially if I come to a rolling stop and try to put it back into first. Is this a clutch issue or something else in the tranny? My car is still under warranty, but would this be under warranty and if so did my tri-ax install void that warranty?

 

Make sure your fluid is good and up to the proper level. The only thing I can suggest is your shift linkage has a problem. Thats what it sounds like to me.

 

There is a TSB for this.

They will replace your synchro's, take it to the dealership.

 

I have an 02 with a similar problem when the car is cold, especially now in the winter. Shifting from first to second. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like something is blocking the gate and you have to give it a little muscle to get it to second. It does go away when the car warms up. Would this TSB apply to my car?

Thanks,

Jason

 

same here but i dont have warranty on mine would they still fix it free of charge?

 

If it's a Tremec 3650, try draining the factory fill of transmission fluid and replace with 3.2 quarts (3.0L) of Dexron III. That worked wonders on mine. Or take it to a Ford dealer for the TSB fix if you so choose and it's under warranty.

 

They can fix it under an AWA (after warranty adjustment) if they are an exceptionally customer-friendly dealership, but they are under no obligation to do so after your warranty has expired.

 

It is most likely the fluid. The tolerances are very close and the fluid is thicker when colder, as the fluid warms it gets thinner, thus the improvement. There are also some good aftermarket fluids our there that will work.

 

Acutally the cause of the issue has nothing to do with the fluid. Ford attempted to solve it by this method.

The cause is the 1-2 syncro is to soft and wears extremely quick. I had this after 3k miles on the car and at that time there was no TSB out for it. I went 4-5 times complaining about it and I was there the day after the TSB came out and after a bit of arguing they decided they would do it.

The said it would take 2 days to fix.

It took a week. Upon dissassembly of the tranny they found not only the TSB listed issues but that 4 and 5th gear were damaged and the syncro to match.

They apologized for not addressing the concern earlier and gave me a rental for the rest of the week they had my car.

Hit the stealership up and get them to fix it. Make them look the TSB up and make sure you tell them the fix was a syncro change on the 1-2 and a gear set not just a fluid level change, which they attempted to do the 3rd time I complained about it.

 

If there's a TSB for this problem, is there a cost associated with the fix or is it a recall that get done free of charge?