Cold Weather Gearbox/Tranny Issues

plush

Member
My MS3 lives with me up here in the north (Alberta, Canada). I've noticed recently that on cold days -5 degrees celsius or lower (when the car has been sitting over night or all day) before the engine warms up, shifting into 2nd (no other gears are a problem) grear makes a litlle grind sound, and I can definitely feel some feedback on the shifter knob.

I'm not sure if it might be something the the gearbox or the tranny. I'm pretty sure that it has to do with the oil/fluid somwhere not being warm enough, because once the engine is up to a decent temperature (and the oil is running better I presume) the shifting into all of gears is like butter.

Can anyone shed some light on this issue. I'm guessing that it has somethng to do with the viscosity of oil that I am running in some part of my drive-train. The MS3 has about 5000 kilometers on it and everything is stock. I'm not experiencing any other issues with the drive-train.

Help me please!
 
Tonight just dropped to -27C (after wind chill) in calgary, after work I also noticed that 2nd gear was crunchy until the car fully warmed up. In my old 626 putting synthetic in the tranny made a huge difference during winter, it would probably help on the ms3, too.
 
Synthetic vs. conventional probably won't change the feel all that much, but switching to a different weight oil definitely will. Just make sure it's a GL4 and somewhat close to the stock specification. And since Mazda does list 75W-90 for ALL temperatures in our transmissions, you are essentially going out of spec by putting anything else in - so it might not hurt to run it past your local dealer's service department first, just to make sure they won't try to screw you down the road if anything goes wrong.

Oh, of course the alternative is to just take it really easy for the first few miles. Double-clutch any downshifts, and try to nail the rev matching dead-on. What you are hearing/feeling is the teeth on the synchros chattering as they try to engage, since the cold, thick oil is causing extra drag on the moving parts inside the tranny in between shifts. Getting everything spinning the same speeds before putting it into a specific gear will definitely help reduce the problem.
 
I live in Edmonton and have the same problem with second gear. I've been shifting from 1st to 3rd gear for the first few minutes-until it warms up. Since everyone posting here lives in the cold- has anyone noticed your springs creaking VERY loudly for the first few minutes in the cold?
 
I live in Edmonton and have the same problem with second gear. I've been shifting from 1st to 3rd gear for the first few minutes-until it warms up. Since everyone posting here lives in the cold- has anyone noticed your springs creaking VERY loudly for the first few minutes in the cold?


I live in Ohio and have some second gear crunch when it's cold out. Blipping the throttle between gears and gentle pull into second helps out until the car is warm. No spring noises on my MS3, but my wifes 5 sounds like a whale in mating season while going over speed bumps in cold weather.
 
Yep, I thought that I was imagining things when I first heard the spring squeak the other day. it has been -10 celcius for the last few days in Lethbridge, and I have definitely noticed that going over any larg'ish bumps when the car is cold will make a bit of a sqeak.

On another note....is there any news about a special block-heater type add-on that I've heard rumors about. I'm not worried about my car not being able to start in minus 20 degree weather (I wish I had a garage!), but I imagine that it's not great for the engine.
 
I put an oil pan heater in this fall. It seems to work well. The manufacturer claims it will heat oil from -40 to +20 in 2 hours. While I think that is optimistic, it does keep the oil warmer, and thus flowing better in the cold. The car warms up much quicker. I bought mine from canadian tire ($120.00). It is a 3.5x5(approx) pad that has an adhesive side that sticks to the bottom of the oil pan, then you silicone the edges of the pad to weather proof it. Coming out of the pad is a electrical cord that you run to the front of the car. I found it easy to do with zipties.
Brand name was canadian polar pad.
Model CP512
Size:
3.5 in x 5.125 in x .075 in
250 watts nominal, 120V

I got the idea from a guy at Jarman Mazda. He said they put oil pan heaters in all their mazdaspeeds. I don't know what brand they use, as they were on back order-otherwise I would have had them install one.
 
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