Poor Cold Shifts Manual 5 Speed

[bikes1]

Greetings. I drive an '05 Base Vibe, 138,000 km. Live in Ontario, Canada. I bought it in November so have only driven it in cold weather and it shifts like a 50 year old truck. Clunks as you move the shifter, requires more effort than I think it should and I have to double clutch to get into first when it's rolling.

Is this normal? My last manual was a '97 Mazda Protege and it was like butter through the gears. Hot or cold, no diff and it had almost 300,000 on it.

I had a new GM clutch installed right after I bought it, they replaced about 3l of tranny fluid that leaked out during the install, so there's a fair bit of fresh fluid in the tranny.

Come the warmer weather I will drain and refill the transmission with approved fluid anyway, just to be on top of fluids.

I also want to disconnect the cable at the transmission, again when it's warmer, and make sure the cable isn't hanging up.

Any thoughts?

Peter Haynes
Dashwood, ON

[triz]

Depending on what type of fluid your are using and how cold it is it happens. For instance I used to run Red line MT90 and that would happen so I switched to the Amsoil GL4. It was much improved. I can't promise the same results but it's probably the most ordered item for manual transmissions.

[bikes1]

The factory recommends synthetic GL5, I assume that's what's in there but it will be what's in there when it warms up.

[triz]

You can actually use the Amsoil GL4. The GM no. Is 12346190.

[star_deceiver]

Don't use a GL5 fluid. You will only see worse shifting.

I tried a GL5 fluid when I had the Vibe... Within 10 minutes I couldn't shift into second or third without double-clutching. That got drained out right quick. Went with Redline MT90 and never again had any issues even down past -40C!

Buy a good GL4!

[bikes1]

The research I did last night online, says that GL4 does not have the same lubrication qualities as GL5. The GL5 is better for extreme conditions. The downside of GL5 is that it's harder on brass synchro rings but that info seems to be a few years old and there is some confusion if that is still valid with the newer GL5's.

GM recommends a synthetic GL5. Did you use a synthetic GL5, star deceiver?

[star_deceiver]

The Vibes transmission is not the correct application for a GL5 lubricant. Your transmission does not have the sliding friction that would necessitate the use of EP additives or any of the other friction modifiers inherent in a GL5 gear oil.

If you do enough research you will soon find the various threads on this site (and others) that reference actual real-world benefits of using a GL4... You will also be able to find the many errors in the Vibes owners manual. Do some more research.

http://matrixowners.com/index.php?/topi ... -question/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
viewtopic.php?t=23439" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=39229" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And I use good synthetics in every vehicle I own in all parts of the drivetrain.

[bikes1]

I'm a big believer in synthetics. Been using it for about 15 years in everything I own. Cars, motorcycles, lawn tractors, lawnmowers, snow blowers, anything and everything. It's proved to me that it's definitely worthwhile.

I haven't found any real proof that GL4 is better than GL5 in transmissions nor have I found anything on the numerous errors in the Vibe manual. I will go see what I can find though.

[bikes1]

Well, couldn't find any posts about numerous errors in the manual for fluid, did a reverse kinda search and found the specs for the recommended fluid. Looks like a poorly worded manual recommendation to me.

The owner's manual calls for, in Canada, Part Number 10953477 or GL-5 which I read as them being equivalents.

10953477 is a synthetic GL-4 though, not the same thing. Weird.

A buddy just now checked the GM service manual at work and the recommended fluid is listed as GL-4 or GL-5.

Anyhoo, now that I know that their recommended fluid by part number is a GL-4 synthetic, that's where I will be going, if it ever warms up here. -2C today. Ugh.

[sideshowalan]

Another vote for Redline MT-90.
Used it during the 80K miles and 5 years that I had my 2003.
2 Quarts is all you need for the 2003-2008 5-speeds.