Hey everyone,

Got the crossfire on the road a week ago (04 6 spd with 11k miles). The car drives like new, but the past few mornings its been cold, about 25 degrees and from a stop I basically can't shift the car into 1st. It will go into gear if I really force it, but I hesitate to do that because I don't want to break the linkage. When the car warms up, it seems to slip into gear from a stop normally. Anyone know what might be causing this? I doubt this has anything to do with it, but when I park I leave it in first. Other than this little issue, the car drives like new- I just have to start from 2nd. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Floyd,

I drove a Crossfire in JAN in Atlanta, and first was awful. When I bought the car we have, also in the same cold weather, I thought first was hard. The PO said she noticed first being more difficult in cold weather, on startup.

I initially thought the shifter and linkage were not going to be to great, but I'm getting used to it, and like it as well as any manual I've driven. I have no problem with first, but it still seems different. I would not want to make a fast shift into first - shouldn't need to.

Good luck with yours. I hope you'll get some feedback that will help. I am interested in what folks with more time with the car say about it.

Michael

 

If you go to this thread , https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ollection.html, you will find at the top of the list are the TSB's one of these outlines the problem. It may be partially eased by lubrication of the shifter mechanism. Others have said that a different oil in the gearbox makes it a little better.
I have an '04 and it had none of these mods done to it, but it got easier as it was used more.
There are a lot of useful files in the thread, down load them and save them to your computer. The '04 repair manual is especially useful. You would pay big bucks to get a hard copy.

 

Not uncommon at all for an 04.
If you put the tranny into 2nd. gear before you try getting it into 1st. it usually makes it easier.
These transmissions do seem to shift better after they warm up, and as they get more miles on them too.
Like 180 pointed out, A very good Chrysler Tech. (yes they do exist) changed the ATF that comes in the 6 spd. from the factory to a synthetic motor oil in my car.
I really never could tell for sure if it made much of a difference or not, but his reasoning was that you really can't find anything that's more "slippery", so it made sense to me.
Sure do wish my 04 only had 11k miles like yours.

 

I have the same problem in my '05 coupe, 57,000 miles. After a few minutes, or a couple stop signs, it's better. You're right about feeling like you're going to break the linkage. I hope that never happens!

Dropping it into 2nd, then 1st, does seem to help.

Tom

 

I'm in leaning on a cold tranny with this car as a possble issue.

I noticed on mine, it's with Reverse, when it's cold.

When first slip into Reverse with clutch fully depressed, it feels like it it's positioned correctly, but when I ease up on the clutch, it's not in gear and grinds slightly.

If I hold it in gear with a little pressure and release the clutch, it works as advertized.

It only seems to happen on a cold tranny...???

All other gears work great in any weather.

When I mentioned it to the Xfire Tech at Chrysler, he said my fluid was a little low, and he topped it off, but it still reacts the same way...!!!

Anyone one know if there is a linkage adjustment for Reverse, that might be relevant to a manual tranny...???

Thanx...

 

I'm not sure why this is such an issue. It's fairly common to have a problem engaging first gear in a car when both the transmission and temperature are cold. If it happens all the time, then yes, you may have a problem. If it happens once in a while, it's probably fairly normal. Sure, a different trans fluid might help things, but I probably wouldn't go that route.

Please, please, please, do not force the shifter into gear. I'm sure you don't like being forced to do something and the car doesn't either.

Here's what I've done to help when the shifter is a bit difficult to engage first gear:
A) put the car in neutral and give the car a little throttle
B) put the car in neutral and pump the clutch once or twice
C) engage 2nd gear and then directly into first---using smooth motions, not jerking the shifter into the gears

German transmissions aren't typically the smoothest in the business and that goes doublely true for those used in MB products.

 

Pat if you feel that it works better when you are holding the shift lever in the reverse position, then I would think that some sort of "adjustment" is called for. You shouldn't have to "hold" the lever in any gear in a well adjusted trans.
There is a repair manual on line that should tell you what's involved in adjusting the linkage.
Good Luck

 

fireamx...Thanx...I got the repair manual downloaded, so I'll peak there on my first opportunity.

What I'm seeing in Reverse is not a show stopper, but being a little ****, it does qualify as annoying...lol...

If it did this in First, or any other gear, I'd be flipping out.

If it's something simple to tackle I'm game, if it requires dropping the tranny to adjust, I'm not comfortable with something like that.

The car is still under Warranty, so I can always torture the Dealer where I purchased...

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. Sorry I should have searched this before posting- I kind of freaked this morning when it happened on my commute; especially because the car had been shifting perfectly fine the first week on the road, then yesterday I noticed it was a little tough, and today it wouldn't shift into 1st at all.

It does get a lot better as it warms up, so I guess I'm not too concerned. Probably will just use second a lot more if this continues. I might get it checked out though at some point soon, especially if it continues, because it seems a little weird that it was only about 10 degrees colder this morning and the issue was so bad, and it never happened before.

I'll let you know what comes of it.

Thanks again.

 

Hi,
I have on oh-five and it had exactly the same problem. As the temperatures got near freezing it would hardly go into first. Chrysler tried to fix it and really screwed up the tranny in the process. Luckily I still had 7 days on my powertrain warranty. Two weeks later I finally picked up the car and it had a brand new transmission in it. The new one is only a bit better than the old one, though.

The trick for you will be drop it into second before trying first. Don't engage the clutch.. just slip into second quickly and it will then go into first without too much argument.

Pat.

 

Remember when manual trannys didn't have synchromesh into first gear? You HAD to come to a complete stop. Couldn't be rolling at all.

Tom

 

I drove an 05 Base Roadster last summer with 120,000 on it - smoothest shifting of any Crossfire I've driven!


What these transmissions need is some MILES on them! (And either someone had just put a clutch in the car, or they sure knew how to drive a stick!)

 

Suggestion on 2 nd. gear before first is a great technique. It aligns the the shifting mechanism. I know we should NOT have to do this with a modern transmission but if it works then do it.

Just some other thoughts. It is TIME to have the fluid changed in the tranny for its lifetime fluid change. Since it has so few miles I would use time as my criteria. Once you do this it may be smooth again. Perhaps you are low on fluid. Or the last thing maybe it could be time for a new cluth.

When I put a old car on the road that has not been driven for sometime the first I do is change all fluids, filters, plugs etc. Let us know how you solved the problem.