Gear grinding

[TruckeeTaurus]

Yo folks. I’m a little over 8k miles and my gears are really sticky going from 1st to 2nd before the car gets warmed up. Just curious if anyone else is having an issue like that.

I don’t want to have to bring it in to the dealership if I can help it, but sometimes its really hard getting into 2nd, and it seems to be getting worse as time goes on.

 

[Super Saloon]

My car has always been a little more difficult to get into 2nd when it’s colder outside and the car isn’t warmed up. I think it’s a common characteristic of the Tremec. Is it getting colder where you live? If not, it might be something else.

 

[TruckeeTaurus]

My car has always been a little more difficult to get into 2nd when it’s colder outside and the car isn’t warmed up. I think it’s a common characteristic of the Tremec. Is it getting colder where you live? If not, it might be something else.

That must be it then. It is definitely getting colder up here in the mountains.

How do you handle it? I don’t feel great about feeling like I’m forcing it. Does idling for a minute and doing some shifting in place help?

 

[rubberduck]

Does it actually grind? Never had that happen even at 20F parked outside overnight. Sure it can take some force, but it’s a big boy car. I’ve had 2nd be difficult after a long highway run when 115F out and transmission got very hot.

 

[TruckeeTaurus]

Does it actually grind? Never had that happen even at 20F parked outside overnight. Sure it can take some force, but it’s a big boy car. I’ve had 2nd be difficult after a long highway run when 115F out and transmission got very hot.

No it doesn’t grind per se. But definitely takes force. All of the other gears never require that kind of force. I’ve googled it and I guess it’s pretty common, so I’ll stop worrying unless it actually becomes a problem.

 

[Super Saloon]

That must be it then. It is definitely getting colder up here in the mountains.

How do you handle it? I don’t feel great about feeling like I’m forcing it. Does idling for a minute and doing some shifting in place help?

I just drive it and use more force going into 2nd when cold. I would say use about twice the force you normally would going into second until the car/trans fluid is warmed up. In my experience the transmission seems to like it better when you use more force. I think it’s when you don’t use enough force where it grinds or pops out of gear you are going to cause more issues. The car can handle the occasional hard shift into 2nd. There is an entire thread on this somewhere in these forums.

 

[dizz81]

When it got it cold in the mornings and I would drive the car to work. I would just skip 2nd until I made it a couple of miles down the road and got some heat in the transmission. Usually took 5 min of driving and the car has enough power that it didn't really annoy me.

Never had an issue in the summer months. Just when it got below 60's

 

[Z28]

Glad you made this thread. My prior ‘25 5BW and new ‘26 both do this. Had the fluid changed on the ‘25 very early on (along with rear diff) just for preventive maintenance and it didn’t seem to make any difference. All other gears are normal. I figured it’s normal and seems like this was a thing with other cars with T56s I have had in the past as well. 2nd gear just feels more notchy most of the time.

One thing I have noticed is that when shifting into second I try to just pull the shifter downward without applying any pressure to the left. In my experience, 2nd is straight down but maybe slightly to the right of first so it feels like the shift drags more if you’re pulling it over to the left when shifting. If that makes sense. More force helps too but hate the need to when all the other gears cooperate so much better.

 

[FLYARMY]

Glad I have an automatic.

 

[Super Saloon]

Glad I have an automatic.

It’s a minor, occasional inconvenience on what is arguably the best manual transmission car I have ever driven. I would still take this gearbox with its occasional flaw over something that doesn’t have any issues but the shift feel is rubbery and vague. Certainly not a reason to choose the automatic over the manual, but you were probably never in the market for a manual anyways.

 

[piranha971]

Normal behavior of this transmission, as others have said. Some are better than others. My ATS-V was horrifically bad. Fluid change and a clutch bleed improved things quite a bit, but was still notchy and required a lot of effort. My 4bw 1st to 2nd shift is wonderful with just a hint of notchiness.