As the subject states, my clutch pedal felt very spongy and sticky today in the very cold weather. When releasing the pedal, it would stay down for an extra second, then come up on its own. The shifter felt quite stiff as well. Does anyone know why this would happen?

I also noticed that lately in this cold weather that when I start the car, the idle drops for a few seconds around 300rpms. Does anyone know why this would happen?


Sorry for sounding like such a newbie, but this is my first winter with a manual car.

Thanks

 

different clutch feel could just be the fluid reacting to the cold. ever felt this way before? if not, check for leaks, could be air in the hydraulic lines. you could try bleeding them in that case.

idle dropping could be dirty intake (filter) or throttle body. small problems are exaggerated in the extreme cold.

 

My clutch feels spongy too when its cold out, its also really difficult to put the car in reverse in the morning(usually have to shift from N to 1st to R). But it always happens in the winter for me.

 

Same here. Goes away as all the fluids warm up. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

same here. i have a brand new clutch and it does the same for me in the mornings. then it warms up and is fine.

 

We got some frigid weather a few days ago with temps in the -5 to +5 degrees. My clutch was pretty slow to react and it's something I've never experienced before, but this is the first time in quite a few years where the temps were consistently below 10 degrees for more than 48 hours. After 10 minutes of driving the clutch was fine.


Dave

 

it's because of the cold weather like everyone said just warm it up for like 5 minz before driving or until the car is warm and u won't have any problems...

 

Hey,

I just changed my MT oil last week and I noticed that the shifter is a lot stiffer now in cold weather (especially 1-2 shift). I didn't have that problem before. I was wondering if the gear oil I used was the right one or not. I visited my local Nissan dealer and asked them to give me enough gear oil to do a MT oil change. They whipped out only two quarts of Pennzoil SAE 80W90 GL5 and wanted $13 for them. Well, I was skeptical about the price, thinking I could find them cheaper. So I left. I then went to an autopart store down the road and got the two identical qts for $8. Little did I know that I really needed about 5 qts. after draining the oil. It goes to show how much the dealership really knows about their own cars. Anyhow, has anyone noticed the same problem after changing the gear oil?

 

I changed my gear oil recently and used Red Line MT90 as members of the org suggested. It was night and day, I never thought the gear oil would make such a huge difference. After oil change, shifting was smoother, finally can shift into 1st gear crawling to a stop sign without completely stopping. This was the main reason I changed the oil, it was annoying to put the car in 2nd gear b/c I could not shift to 1st at 1 or 2 mph.

 

I would also change to a synthetic gear lube such as Redline or Amsoil (this is what I have). This helps tremendously with the Maxes notchy five speed. The synthetic has a higher viscosity at a lower temp which helps a lot.

Also, remember to use GL-4 gear lube, if you use GL-5 it could start to eat away the softer metals in your tranny. Redline and Amsoil are both fine for our cars.

 

Thanks for the tip...I do have a feeling it is related to a dirty TB or dirty intake filter. Today after keeping the car 9 hours out in the cold at near -50C (with the windchill), it started up then then died. It did this twice. On the third time, right when the idle was about to fall right back down, I tapped the gas lightly so it would stay on. I am wondering when nissan replaced my block if they left anything lose, for any sort of vacume leak. hmm.

 

I also have the same problem in the morning when the car is cold. I actually have an off topic question? I recently changed my clutch, about 5K miles ago to an ATC clutch. The clutch is REALLY soft, I am used to my fathers old ferrari Clutch, where you need 2 feet to press down before you shift gears. Is there anyway to make the clutch harded???? I went to my michanic and he said NO, so I figured I would ask on the org... all responces are greatly appreciated.