Writing this from my iphone so sorry for any spelling mistakes.

I have been having issues with shifting when the car is cold. I live in Canada and it's winter now so when I say cold I mean negative celcius even by just a fee degrees. Not sure if anyone else has had this problem. It's especially promenent shifting from first into second. Once the car warms up the issue seems to disappear. Now I know I could just wait for the car to warm up but I shouldn't have to and I am also worried this could be the start of a more serious issue.

Anyone know what might be wrong here or if anyone has had a similar problem?

Thanks in advance

 

How many miles are on your car and when was the last time you changed the transmission fluid? I simple replacement of tranny fluid could be the fix

 

Sounds like tranny fluid. If your car has 40K miles or more I would bet that is what the problem is.

 

The car has 45,000kms and I had it in 2 weeks Ago to check the fluid and was told it looked perfect. Of course Mazda couldn't reproduce the problem at the time but when I picked it up I experienced it again on the drive home.

 

Do you have an engine warmer?

 

You're fine buddy. I'm in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned the car for 2.5 years.. now at 58,000 km. This is the third winter. Purchased brand new.

Your transmission is fine.. it's like that when cold.

 

I would have your transmission fluid changed. Just because the service tech checked your fluid and said it looked good and the fluid level was good does not mean its still good. I bet if you replace your tranny fluid the problem will go away.

 

Make it a practice to blip your throttle a few times in neutral before driving your car. This will splash lubricate the tranny.

 

I find the same thing. Just wait a minute or two longer while idling.

 

Get one of these so you don't have to wait as long to blip the throttle and get the tranny going a bit. (don't rev the engine when it isn't somewhat warm, bad for the apex seals)

 

Mazda suggested a fluid change as well even though again he says it looks perfect. He suggested swapping the stock 80w90 to a 75w90 synthetic. Any problems with switching to sythetic for these cars ??

Thanks

 

Apparently what the mazda dealership here was going to use was Lucas full synthetic transmission fluid. Which I'm pretty sure is not recommended to use in these Cars.

 

I still don't understand how this could be linked to the fluid if it's only giving me problems shifting from 1st into 2nd.

 

^Now why is synthetic tranny fluid not supposed to be used? Never heard that one before. It may be a fluid issue, it could be a sychro issue also. But since you say it only happens when it's extremely cold...I'm gonna lean toward a fluid issue.

 

I live in cali and even when its 40 degrees F in the mornings when i leave for work i still let it idle and rev it a little until the engine has atleast gotten to the bottom line of cold so i atleast see it warming up.

Just give yourself 5 extra minutes before u leave and just let it idle

 

Seems to be happening more now when it's warm but not at full running temp. Same thing tho shifting into 2nd only.

 

I have found that in the past two winters my transmission consistently grinds on the 1-2 shift on cold starts. When getting started, shifting from first into neutral, letting it sit there for no more than a couple seconds, and then shifting into second seems to consistently prevent the grind for me. As of this winter, I only have to do that the first time, then all subsequent regular 1-2 shifts work fine. Frozen synchro, maybe?

 

This issue has grown worse. It will catch going onto second on most shifts, especially from 1st into 2nd. As mentioned above if I shift from first into neutral and let it sit there for a second then shift to second this seems to help. It doesn't grind but seems like it could come to that. I am trying to track down 75w90 gl4 here in town with no luck to try and change the tranny fluid. Even Mazda wants to put gl5 in which I have read nothing but horror stories about. Also should I swap the differential fluid as well?

 

I have been using Mobil 1 SHC GL5 fluid, it hasn't cause any problem at all. But if you wanna use GL4, you could probably get it from nissan dealership.

 

what do mean by blip your throttle do you mean to like rev it up and that should help?