hard shifting

slepr01 · 09-20-2002, 01:45 AM

i have a manual 2001 sl2. my question is, can someone tell me why i have a hard time shifting from neutral to first after i have driven my car for about 20 minutes in a stop and go traffic?shifting to the other gears is no problem.

**Ssicarman** · 09-20-2002, 03:52 AM

If you have higher mileage on the car it may be worth while changing the trans fluid. Cheap to try and it won't hurt anything. Does the clutch pedal eel any different when it's doing this?

slepr01 · 09-21-2002, 03:58 AM

no, it feels the same. i have a lilttle over 22,ooo miles.

jsppty · 09-28-2002, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slepr01

i have a manual 2001 sl2. my question is, can someone tell me why i have a hard time shifting from neutral to first after i have driven my car for about 20 minutes in a stop and go traffic?shifting to the other gears is no problem.

Hey man,

I've had this same problem for about a year. What I have found out so far is this:

1-Saturn won't do **** for you. They say it's normal. Pss

2-As you come to a stop, shift your car into 1st gear, let the car come to a complete rest and then engage it into neutral. If you still have a hard time getting into gear, rev the engine a little. This usually works for me.

3-Do NOT replace/flush your manual transmission fluid! Flush it after the first 6,000 miles but anything after that, in my experience, will cause the shifting problems to get worse.

4-I find that "soft" shifting helps engaging it into first from neutral. By this I mean no engine-braking, high-rev down/up shifting. I noticed that when I keep the shifting range in the 22-25 range it helps with the problem. I know this sucks, no acceleration but it helps the problem.

Let me know if this works.

G

jsppty · 09-28-2002, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ssicarman

If you have higher mileage on the car it may be worth while changing the trans fluid. Cheap to try and it won't hurt anything. Does the clutch pedal eel any different when it's doing this?

I personally wouldn't recommend changing the fluid. It will make the problem worse, in my experience. Try to find another way to work on this problem and use the flushing of the fluids as a last resort. Just my experience.

G

**Ssicarman** · 09-28-2002, 05:15 PM

Since the 2000 MY Saturn has not been reccomending the initial manual trans fluid change at 10,000 km (6,000 mile). Ever since then we have seen some very black dirty fluid coming out of these transmissions when we do any work on them or just regular fluid changes. I think that leaving the fluid in for to long with out changing it just leaves to much garbage in it. Like engine oil the trans fluid needs to be changed to keep it up to spec and get rid of any crap in it. Changing the fluid will not hurt any part of the trans. If changing the fluid causes the trans to work worse than before then there is likely an issue that goes beyond the fluid.