I have a 2002 Maxima with the 6 speed. I HAVE 46K miles and it is difficult to shift from 1st to 2nd whenever the temp drops. I took it in earlier this year and the dealer changed the trans oil to a lighter weight. Unfortuantely, it was around April and it never got cold enough again to have the same problem. Anyways, after the car gets warmed up, I do not have problems shifting. Any ideas or is this common? Thanks in advance. Ed.

 

the oil is very thick when cold, upon warming it becomes thinner, less shifting resistance, less harshness, smoother clutch engagement, there's really nothing you can do, except let it warm up nicely, and be easy the first few shifts in the morning.

 

Thanks for your information.

 

MIne does the same thing. My last Max-I changed the oil to MTL and it was easier to shift in the cold. May do that again in the spring. Too cold to drain it now....

 

Thanks for your reply. I was wondering if I was the only one experiencing this.

 

My 6 speed does the same thing. I've found that if you just run thru all the gears a few times while the car is warming up it helps.

 

yeah i do that with my 5 speed

 

Synthetic gear oil has helped cold weather shifting in every car I've had for the last 25 years, my Max was no exception.

 

You can mitigate the problem by switching to Red Line MT-90 or it's Amsoil equivalent. You should see better shifting properties with synthetic fluid, not to mention, better protection. I don't believe the problem will completely vanish, but should be reduced.

 

I did go to the Nissan dealer earlier this year and had them change from the 90w to 85w oil(I believe). If you think the Red Line MT-90 would help out some, I could give it a try. I had to work this morning and I keep my car in the garage. My garage is attached to my house, but I still could not shift from 1st to 2nd until about five minutes of driving so I started out in 2nd to avoid the hard shifts when I was at stop lights. It was about five degrees out this morning at 7:30am. I used to own a 200SX back in 1982, new, and I can't recall having this issue, but then again, that was a long time ago and my memory recall is not the same. I can look on the bright side, if this is the only draw back of manual, I can live with it. Thanks, Ed.

 

If you can't shift to 2nd, there is a bigger problem than oil temps......perhaps damaged synchros, or worse........It should have resisitance, but not enough you'd start in 2nd....that's intolerable, especially from a luxury performance sedan

 

Question: If the synchos are bad, would I still be able to shift from 1st to 2nd as normal when the oil temp gets high and loosens up?

 

Somebody keep me straight, but I think the synchros are mainly for downshifting. If you are having that much trouble upshifting then you may have a damaged throw bearing or pressure plate. Someone with more tranny experience will surely jump in and straighten this out.

Synthetic fluid is still a must though.

 

Your wish is my command: synchros are for EVERYTHING.....if you did not have synchros you would have to double-clutch on upshifts as well as downshifts.

The lack of (or failed) synchros is more obvious on downshifts because downshifts require that you speed up the gearset being shifted into -which is counter to what gears that are not connected/engaged do, which is slow down

Agree on the fluid type -I changed my fluid to synthetic & that markedly improved shifting in really cold weather. Still, go easy until well warmed up

 

[QUOTE=Galo]Your wish is my command: synchros are for EVERYTHING.....if you did not have synchros you would have to double-clutch on upshifts as well as downshifts.

The lack of (or failed) synchros is more obvious on downshifts because downshifts require that you speed up the gearset being shifted into -which is counter to what gears that are not connected/engaged do, which is slow down

Galo,

Thanks for the correction. Tell me, I thought that up to a certain point in time, say the 1950's, folks couldn't downshift when a car was in motion because they did not have synchros. If you need synchros for upshifting then why wouldn't antique cars have synchros for downshifting? Have I been told faulty info?