TWM vs. cold

[Gambino]

Does anyone else have an incredibly difficult time shifting with your TWM sts when your car is cold? I have always thought it was a little tougher but never thought anything of it. Tonight when I left work at 7:30 it was horrible. Probably 25 degrees outside is all and I was fighting so hard to get the thing into first and second gear.

 

[rx7mazda]

Maybe not incredibly hard, but I do notice that when the weather is cooler outside it is harder to put in the gears. Although, here in FL it really doesn't get too cold.

 

[mazda3zoom]

well for those of us not lucky enough to live in florida......yea mines tough to get into gear too. I dont know if its the sts thought, i dont see what kinda difference that would make. i think its just when the trans is cold.

 

[tsunami]

interesting... subbin for more info...

 

[dread]

my mazdaspeed sport shifter is harder to get into first and second when its cold, but it is usually easy to shift so its not to bad when its cold. I was thinking of putting some more lube on it. You can never have too much lube. Or can you? Haha

 

[Gambino]

I dont know if its the sts thought, i dont see what kinda difference that would make. i think its just when the trans is cold.

See, I thought the same thing at first, but then I realized that I bought my car in December of last year and never had any trouble with shifting last winter.

 

[tsunami]

its friggin cold now and i have no problems shifting, nor did i last winter either...stock shifter...

 

[ZoomVT]

me neither. i also have stock shifter.
subbing for more info

 

[goldwing2000]

I have a stock shifter and noticed a little stiffness this morning when it was an ass-biting 10 degrees out.

It makes sense that you folks with a shorty would have problems because you have less leverage on the cables. When the grease and oil get cold and the viscosity skyrockets, it's going to be more difficult to shift.

 

[payne]

Dude...I live in Canada..Its fucken cold here. This morning with the wind chill it was -35 C. My stock shifter is really hard to shift in the moring unless the car has been pre heated. Also when its that cold the dials in my car are hard to move as well. haha

 

[thefatman]

/sarc So which vendor is going to offer a aftermarket "cheater bar", for the MZ3 owners that bought shortshifters and live where the weather turns you into a eunuch /sarcoff

j/k

 

[mazda3zoom]

Dude...I live in Canada..Its fucken cold here. This morning with the wind chill it was -35 C. My stock shifter is really hard to shift in the moring unless the car has been pre heated. Also when its that cold the dials in my car are hard to move as well. haha

i dont know what the conversion from celcius to farenheit is but this mornin the windchill was -3F outside. And i noticed what your talkin about with the guages kinda jumping around rather then moving smoothly.

 

[goldwing2000]

-35C = -31F

-3F = -19.5C

In case anybody was interested, both scales are equal at -40.

 

[Gambino]

In case anybody was interested, both scales are equal at -40.

interesting, didnt know that

 

[goldwing2000]

I'm just a fount of useless information.

 

[JOS3]

i have the twm and im not having that hard of a time shifting when its cold. its a little stiff, but im not 'fighting' with the shifter to put in in gear. maybe you guys are just wusses

btw, tuesday morning was -5 F (-12 F wind chill); yesterday morning was -1 (-10 windchill)

 

[payne]

Im really impressed by how well my car runs in the winter, and how fast it heats up! They should have offered better tires tho, these ones suck for snow.

 

[JOS3]

these tires are horrible. all-season my ass.

 

[MazdaAxela]

When its really cold here like -10 range it is a little tougher to shift, but I think it has to do with the grease on the joints more than the shifter itself.

 

[marineaulu]

Cold Shifting

Just for your information, wind chill has no effect on your car. It has to do with the rate at which temperature transfer is done, such as the human warm skin being cooled by biting cold wind. Also, like blowing on your soup to cool it down faster.

Also, from my experience (one winter with a stock shifter, and this winter with the TWM short shifter), I found no difference at all in cold weather shifting. Both are kinda stiff when below -5C (23F). It get stiffer as the temperature drops. Has to do with the gear oil.

Within the next couple days, I will replace the stock tranny oil by Royal Purple synt oil. I was told that the synth gear oil will warm up faster.

I kind of beleive this, as since I switched my engine oil to Royal Purple Synth, the engine does warm up much faster in the winter.