Stiff gear stick in cold weather

Ush1

Very hard to get the car in gear in the morning. I have a Ford Focus 04. Have to literally force it with 2 hands into reverse. Once the car warms up its fine. Is this normal?

voxpop

Instead of forcing it into gear with 2 hands, try letting the clutch out and back in again and then try the gear.

peasant

Gearbox oil as well as the grease around the gear linkage do go stiff(er) in colder temperatures, so it is kinda "normal"

Except, around here it hardly ever gets really cold for that to have the drastic effect that you describe ...this isn't Siberia.

My guess is that you have moisture/water in the gear linkage and that freezes solid during cold nights.

A good clean, drying and re-greasing sounds in order. Dunno how easy or difficult that would be on a Focus.

Ush1

peasant wrote: »

Gearbox oil as well as the grease around the gear linkage do go stiff(er) in colder temperatures, so it is kinda "normal"

Except, around here it hardly ever gets really cold for that to have the drastic effect that you describe ...this isn't Siberia.

My guess is that you have moisture/water in the gear linkage and that freezes solid during cold nights.

A good clean, drying and re-greasing sounds in order. Dunno how easy or difficult that would be on a Focus.

Where would the gear linkage usually be? Under the gear stick?

peasant

Yepp, under the gearstick and again at the gearbox

Henry Ford III

Ush1 wrote: »

Where would the gear linkage usually be? Under the gear stick?

Yes, between there and the gearbox itself.

Ush1

Cheers lads. I'll give it a few days and if its still as bad I'll go rooting armed with my haynes manual. Car is still under warranty but I've been back and forth so fecking much I've got a pain in me face. Thanks again.

Ush1

Didn't get a chance to check it myself but I brought it to a mechanics. He said there's nothing he could do unless I could demonstrate it to him and of course the car had warmed up and gears were moving okay by that time. It didn't freeze last night so the weather obviously has to drop to freezing for it to happen. The gears in my car are hydraulic I think so there is no linkeage?

Hal1

If its 1.4 - 1.8 than its an IB5 gearbox you have. I took a pic of mine as I taught it was the cause of the stiff gear changes. On closer inspection I noticed the drive shaft seal was leaking. Here is the pic anyway.



Haynes covers the proceedure but I woudn't attempt if your not sure about it as you could fook it up.

Ush1

One mechanic I was on to reckons it's common on these fords that the clutch and gearbox mechanism, the grease ends up turning into sticky paste and that causes it. He said it would be a gearbox replacement to get rid of it and no guarantee it wouldn't happen again.

Hal1

I'm on another forum and there's a guy that had the same problem stiff gear changes on a focus. It turned out he needed a new slave cylinder for his gearbox at a cost of £400 (sterling) :eek:. Luckily he had joined the AA the previous month so they paid the bill.

Ush1

Hal1 wrote: »

I'm on another forum and there's a guy that had the same problem stiff gear changes on a focus. It turned out he needed a new slave cylinder for his gearbox at a cost of £400 (sterling) :eek:. Luckily he had joined the AA the previous month so they paid the bill.

Jesus! Was that all the time or just in cold weather though? Cause mine is fine once the weather doesn't go below freezing.

Hal1

He doesn't say, but was only posted yesterday and had his car parked up so probably was cold. Although he does mention his clutch was knackered as it was contaminated by oil so that would have contributed to the problem. If he goes over 2k revs the wheels just spin. Ebay are selling the clutch kits with slave cylinders for €80 and gauranteed for 12 months. There for 1.4's don't know what you have though, can't find a brand name on them just says there OE.

Ush1

Hal1 wrote: »

If its 1.4 - 1.8 than its an IB5 gearbox you have. I took a pic of mine as I taught it was the cause of the stiff gear changes. On closer inspection I noticed the drive shaft seal was leaking. Here is the pic anyway.



Haynes covers the proceedure but I woudn't attempt if your not sure about it as you could fook it up.

In the Haynes manual it says you need to remove 1 or both of the driveshafts to get in at it, is that tricky?

Hal1

Reading the manual it seems straight forward and speaking to others about it on a ford forum. If you haven't done anything like this I would hold back until you are familiar with what needs to be done. A haynes would be a good start.

Overature

Its cause the oil in the gear box is partly frozen

Ush1

Hey Hal, just abit more info. I can change gear fine with the engine not on. Would that be a drive shaft seal leak?

zilog_jones

I had a similar problem in my Fiesta - it was hard getting it into first or second when cold, especially in the winter. I got the gearbox oil changed (was at about 70k miles at the time) and the problem was gone. Same IB5 gearbox AFAIK.

tuxy

Overature wrote: »

Its cause the oil in the gear box is partly frozen

I would have serious doubts about that statement. I'd say it's more likely that the oil in the gear box is more dense in the cold.

Hal1

Ush1 wrote: »

Hey Hal, just abit more info. I can change gear fine with the engine not on. Would that be a drive shaft seal leak?

It could be a combination of things. The only way to check is to get down on the hands and knee's and do a visual check of where the drive shaft enters the gearbox. Mines leaking but cold is also an impact. Gear changes improve once it gets warmed up.

Ush1

Checked it in with the mechanics, told them to change the gear oil with 75w90(recommended in the Haynes manual) and also check the drive seals for any leaks, here's hoping.:)

Ush1

Right, it froze over last night and my da was trying to move my car while I was in bed this morning. He bursts in saying the car is a piece of rubbish and won't go into gear. I tell him if he just wants to move it, turn off the engine, move into gear then move and the engine back off if he wants to change again(he's just moving the car out of the driveway). I came down a while after and the smell of burning off my car was over powering! Jesus I don't know what he did, he was there for 20 minutes gunning it. Is there any long term damage he could have done? The smell seems to be coming from beneath the engine and goes through the cabin when the fans are on. Gearbox oil, gears themselves, clutch??

EPM

Sounds like it's the clutch you're smelling

Ush1

EPM wrote: »

Sounds like it's the clutch you're smelling

Just would have wore it like do ya reckon? Seems okay now, apart from the smell clinging.:o

EPM

Ush1 wrote: »

Just would have wore it like do ya reckon? Seems okay now, apart from the smell clinging.:o

Yup, wore it a bit so thats why you get the burning smell. My old Mk1 Focus had a heavy enough gearshift but if it's taking that long to go into gear I'd be dropping it back to where I bought it.

Ush1

EPM wrote: »

Yup, wore it a bit so thats why you get the burning smell. My old Mk1 Focus had a heavy enough gearshift but if it's taking that long to go into gear I'd be dropping it back to where I bought it.

It's out of warranty I think. It's only when the weather drops below freezing though, apart from that it's fine like. Must be moisture getting in somewhere...