6-Speed cold shifting

[showoff]

I have a B6 1.8t 6-speed and it seems on cold mornings, right around the freezing mark, the car is very hard to engage 2nd gear. All other gears shift perfectly fine, but 1st to 2nd wants to grind if I don't shift very slowly and almost have to match the syncros myself.

Anyone have a solution or the same issue?

Thanks.

[MikTip]

Let the car warm up more....

Park in heated garage....

Change gearbox oil to Motul Gear 300!

[evilgabbie]

same w/ my B7 6spd.. normal i guess, even the dealer say so

[onceover]

I have a B6 1.8t 6-speed and it seems on cold mornings, right around the freezing mark, the car is very hard to engage 2nd gear. All other gears shift perfectly fine, but 1st to 2nd wants to grind if I don't shift very slowly and almost have to match the syncros myself.

Anyone have a solution or the same issue?

Thanks.

Exact same problem! wtf!

[pOrKcHoP07]

Solution: More warm up time.

I have a 5 speed B6, but 2nd gear is hard to get into when cold as well. Once warm, its like butta!

[A4 Moda]

Yeah give it more time to warm up.

Then before you drive the car, line up the syncros.

Shift while engine on and clutch in:

1,2,3,4,5,6,5,4,3,2,1,2,3,4,5,6,5,4,3,2,1,2,3,4,5, 6,5,4,3,3,2,1....

you get the picture.

That HELPS, but letting your car warm up is the best way.

It only takes 90 seconds of your time to let the car sit for a bit while you shift.


have fun

[haus4]

Wow, you only have a hard time when its cold out?!? I always had a hard time before the tranny fluid warmed up.

Maybe its just Audi's way of saying dont beat on the car until its warmed up.

[Stumanbmx]

My B5 is the same.

[Pothole]

All cars shift better when warm, and the best way to warm up the car is to drive it, screw waiting for it to warm up im already late

[A4 Moda]

In that case, redline in R gear and peel out of your driveway in reverse.

Then redline it in 1st gear and drop the clutch.

Oh, while you're at it, warm up your brakes too. Get to 80mph down your residential neighborhood street, then slam on the brakes and hold until you are at a 5mph roll before you release.

The above should be completed before the SAI pump finishes its startup cycle, hence the haste.

That's the quickest way to warm up.

have fun

All cars shift better when warm, and the best way to warm up the car is to drive it, screw waiting for it to warm up im already late

[absolutegtr]

Thats retarded what A4moda is saying.

Yes lining up the synros is good...no problem. (BTW, I think it is 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-5-6-5-4-5-6...and so on)

But pushing the clutch in and holding it in the first thing in the morning is horrible for the thrust bearing.... Think about it: When the car has sat all night long and its 40degrees out, the last thing you want is the pressure plate exerting all that force on the crankshaft when there is very little oil circulation around the thrust bearing.

Push the clutch in, engage starter, and then depress the clutch, and let it idle in nuetral for maybe 10 seconds.

I am with Pothole, driving the car is the best thing to do. Just, obviously, shift easily in second.

I have the same problem.

Furthermore, there is no point in letting the engine warm up. In the days of the carbeaurator (sp?), yes that was necessary. But now just turn on the engine, let it sit long enough to engage your seatbelt, then drive and take it easy until the car is warmed up. All you are doing by idleing is wasting gas and running super rich, therfore damaging your catalytic converter

[gdawg'05a4]

Leave it in 2nd gear when parked. It makes a BIG difference. I had this "problem" as well but recently started leaving it in 2nd gear when parked during the day (say at work). It shifts very easily into 2nd now after starting to do this.

[onceover]

Leave it in 2nd gear when parked. It makes a BIG difference. I had this "problem" as well but recently started leaving it in 2nd gear when parked during the day (say at work). It shifts very easily into 2nd now after starting to do this.

ill have to try that

[Pete4 1.8t]

That's the way it's always been and has been with most of the Audi sticks, they aren't nearly as annoying as the BMW's I have driven though. Mine warms up very fast though and is easy. The manual says to not let your car warm up and to drive it right away. I follow that most of the time unless I have to wait for the windows to defrost.

[LampyB]

my old BMW ('05 325i) manual recommended driving right away with no idle, and not exceeding 20mph until the car was warm. i think the Audi manuals say the same thing. i let the rpm's drop to normal and then drive very lightly out of boost until the car is warm, then i'll hit boost when necessary.

[A4 Moda]

Interesting...

Leave it in 2nd gear when parked. It makes a BIG difference. I had this "problem" as well but recently started leaving it in 2nd gear when parked during the day (say at work). It shifts very easily into 2nd now after starting to do this.

[a2a2pqk]

Yeah I have that problem.

Actually I've had times where when I stop at a red light. I put the car in neutral and when the light turns green I can't even put it in first gear. It gets stuck and doesn't want to go up to First gear. So solve that problem usually I have to put it in 2nd and then back up to 1st for it to allow me to go to 1st gear. Anyone else have this problem before?

[absolutegtr]

Yeah I have that problem.

Actually I've had times where when I stop at a red light. I put the car in neutral and when the light turns green I can't even put it in first gear. It gets stuck and doesn't want to go up to First gear. So solve that problem usually I have to put it in 2nd and then back up to 1st for it to allow me to go to 1st gear. Anyone else have this problem before?

Possible motor mounts and/or snub and/or tranny mount are shot (most likely motor mounts)....When was the last time you checked you APR snub?

I had this problem too, lol

[A4_Mike]

When the ambient temperature is cold, I can certainly tell that the transmission fluid (Redline MT-90) is more viscous until I drive around for a couple of minutes. The 1-2 up shift is a major pain so I try to shift below 2000 rpm's or double clutch if I am at higher rpm's - both techniques have been working flawlessly.

I have never heard of the recommendation to leave it in second gear when parked, but I will give it a try.

[gdawg'05a4]

Yep, I use to double-clutch as well until I found the leave it in 2nd gear solution.

[MikTip]

But pushing the clutch in and holding it in the first thing in the morning is horrible for the thrust bearing.... Think about it: When the car has sat all night long and its 40degrees out, the last thing you want is the pressure plate exerting all that force on the crankshaft when there is very little oil circulation around the thrust bearing.

Push the clutch in, engage starter, and then depress the clutch, and let it idle in nuetral for maybe 10 seconds.

Furthermore, there is no point in letting the engine warm up. In the days of the carbeaurator (sp?), yes that was necessary. But now just turn on the engine, let it sit long enough to engage your seatbelt, then drive and take it easy until the car is warmed up. All you are doing by idleing is wasting gas and running super rich, therfore damaging your catalytic converter

The catalytic converter does not function properly until it reachs over 600 degrees F...

Pushing in the clutch doesnt bother the thrust bearings...if it did we'd be replacing crank shafts faster than we change clutch's around here!

[jessefrank]

Yeah I have that problem.

Actually I've had times where when I stop at a red light. I put the car in neutral and when the light turns green I can't even put it in first gear. It gets stuck and doesn't want to go up to First gear. So solve that problem usually I have to put it in 2nd and then back up to 1st for it to allow me to go to 1st gear. Anyone else have this problem before?

...same exact thing, except I have the 5-spd. My S4 motor mounts are about 5k miles old and my snub is fine (replaced with stern about 15k ago...and I check it often when under the car). Tranny mount, although stock, is fine as well.
After I changed my bad motor mounts it got a little better, but 1-2 and 2-1 shift when cold is a PITA and has always been the case since i got my car over 3 yrs ago at 32k.

I've had good results with smoother shifting/cold shifting on other cars when switching to different gear oil (plan on switching to Motul Gear 300 soon). I tried the 2nd gear park thing last night and will see if it's is any better when I go drive the car here soon (it's 16 deg outside as of now).

[TyrolSport]

Any results from leaving the car in 2nd gear? I'm going to swap the fluid in mine to see if I can alleviate this issue. Difficult to get into first at a stoplight when cold, and shifting into second even when double clutching results in a "mini-grind".

[gullatec]

same thing happens to me, i have to slam it into first then slam down

[MikeWire]

My MKIV Jetta (and many others) have the same issue. I think I have some slop in the cable linkages under the shifter. The second gear grind is pretty common in the 02J/02M tranny's and it doesn't surprise me that the A4 has the same issue. Interesting about the 2nd gear park - I'll try it.

[plug1]

Not normal.

I park my '05 6spd outside overnight and drive it away most mornings at 6am...in Colorado...not more than a month ago I drove it away and the temp gauge read -4 degrees F. I didn't have any issues getting it into 2nd...or any gear for that matter. This did happen on my B5 1.8t 5 speed and it was a synchro going out.

Good Luck.

[MikeWire]

Not normal.

No not normal, but a common issue. You must be lucky!

To the OP - try changing your fluid to MT-90?

[AudiBama]

Solution: More warm up time.

I have a 5 speed B6, but 2nd gear is hard to get into when cold as well. Once warm, its like butta!

x2

[gray6spd]

Yeah I have that problem.

Actually I've had times where when I stop at a red light. I put the car in neutral and when the light turns green I can't even put it in first gear. It gets stuck and doesn't want to go up to First gear. So solve that problem usually I have to put it in 2nd and then back up to 1st for it to allow me to go to 1st gear. Anyone else have this problem before?

if you run thru ur gears while you're slowing down it wont be as bad. dont let out the clutch, just simply go 6, 5,4, 3,2 and neutral. its much easier to get it in 1st at the light. learned the trick from a buddy with a mustang gt.

[eurogruppe]

yea when its really cold i have a hard time getting my car out of gear lol

[vc1492a]

[QUOTE=Maybe its just Audi's way of saying dont beat on the car until its warmed up.[/QUOTE]

[A4Triple Blk]

Yeah I have that problem.

Actually I've had times where when I stop at a red light. I put the car in neutral and when the light turns green I can't even put it in first gear. It gets stuck and doesn't want to go up to First gear. So solve that problem usually I have to put it in 2nd and then back up to 1st for it to allow me to go to 1st gear. Anyone else have this problem before?

Same thing has been happening to me lately here in NY where it has been pretty cold lately and its annoying to have to do the 2-1 thing when there are a thousand cars behind you

absolutegtr : do you knwo that for a fact that it could be the mounts going ?

also i have been parking my car and leaving it in 2nd. getting into 2nd is ok but 1st is the one giving me a problem

[audikid66]

redline MT-90 is a good tranny fluid i hear.... anyone? i wanna change mine.. 3rd gear grinds everyon so often and its a lil notchy

[A4natomical]

i let the rpm's drop to normal and then drive very lightly out of boost until the car is warm, then i'll hit boost when necessary.

same here.

[Boston_USP_327]

redline MT-90 is a good tranny fluid i hear.... anyone? i wanna change mine.. 3rd gear grinds everyon so often and its a lil notchy

X2 2nd and 3rd feel real knotchy and when cold 3rd grinds for a split second when is real cold, no matter how deliberate my shiftin is...

someone mentioned how drive it right away and go 20 til its warmed up... wish i had that luxury. i live on a main road, if i pulled out and did 20 id get rearended by a mack truck

[A4Quattro > all]

happens to me in my 5 spd. a4 too..i park it in a garage, but not heated..plus the WI winters are just brutal.

[SpacemanSpiff]

...until I found the leave it in 2nd gear solution.

I don't know about solution. I only park the car in second gear, always have. Still have the grind into 2.

Also, I've found warming the car up at idle to be pretty much useless. By the time you're getting any substantial heat to the tranny, you've been idling for 5 minutes. I just drive it slow for the first half mile or so and all the problems are gone.

I've recently been experimenting with using a touch of the throttle to 'help' it into 2. So far so good, but I'd hardly say it's 100% cured. Something I've noticed with other drivers is their habit of pushing the car into gear harder than they should. Ok, 'should' is probably the wrong word as it implies there's a proper pressure to use. Try very lightly pulling it back into 2 in the morning and let the car pull itself into gear at it's own pace. Rushing the shift is the only real time I've been able to guarantee a grind.