Sterlingx2011

Hey everyone,

I ran into a weird little issue this morning on my drive into work. As I was driving through the neighborhood to get to the main road I had some trouble getting my car to get into second gear. It wasn't major I just had to let off the clutch a bit and push it back in and it went along as normal after. Aside from that one time I didn't have any other trouble for the remainder of my 45 minute drive. But now I'm starting to fret.

So the car has been a California/Arizona car for it's entire life. The previous owner kept it garaged and I keep it in a covered parking area. Well this morning it was just above freezing so the car was very cold. I let the engine warm up a bit while I fiddled with the CD player but only enough to get the temp gauge to move off the peg.

So should I be concerned about my Master/slave cylinder or clutch or was this just a fluke of the cold weather?

f1rocks

Likely, if you had trouble going into gear, it was in the transmission, not in the clutch/slave or master cylinder.

I will many times have trouble with 2nd gear "snicking" a little on the first session of the day. After the gear oil heats up never a noise again. Which is why you probably didn't experience it again. Just get in the practice of double clutching on a cold morning for 2nd gear and I'm betting you'll be fine.

Sterlingx2011

Well that's a relief. I was getting all geared up to do a clutch replacement this weekend.

Van

A tranny fluid change might help. In my 996, it was hard to shift when below freezing. Changing the fluid (and perhaps the quality) fixed it!

f1rocks

Make sure to take the fill plug out first before draining just to make sure it will come out

Sterlingx2011

haha. I was just reading about that when I saw your post.

adrian_jaye

This is quite normal, mine did this, after about 10 gear changes, and or 10 minutes of driving it went.

I did a gearoil change, made very little improvement.

my 2c's dont put additives into the box, just use WHAT IT IS RECOMMENDED

dont overfill, just up to the oil in socket.
You can try draining and refilling.

Mine did thsi for 10years, no issues, BTW, my clutch went, changed it, DINT make a blind bit of differance to the 2nd gear shift issue

Dougs951S

It's rare to find a 944 that will go into 2nd well on cold mornings when the gear oil is cold, unless its a really low mileage tranny. My 951 never has an issue, but both my N/A cars would "snick" going into 2nd until the gear oil warmed up on cold days. It's not really an issue.

william_b_noble

there is a bracket on the top of the transmission that is part of the shift linkage. I had this part fail from stress fatigue on one 944 - the design was modified to eliminate the stress point - I believe it was changed from a stamping to a casting - I don't remember now - the symptom was that the gearshift was floppy side to side, so I couldn't shift.

Sterlingx2011

Mine does tend to be floppy in 5th. I just figured it was because the linkage was loose. Aside from cold morning I don't have any trouble shifting.

Sterlingx2011

Hey so I have a follow up question.

On my drive home from work yesterday I started to notice a noise coming from from the transmission in 2nd and 3rd gear.

It's not really a grinding noise but sounds more like a persistent light scraping. The things it still shifted into gear smooth and aside from the noise it didn't seem like there were any problems.

Any ideas?

konakat

I'd say to just change the fluid and see what happens rather than driving yourself crazy trying to get a specific diagnosis. It sounds like a lot of people have success with that.

Sterlingx2011

I was going to change the the fluids this weekend anyway. I guess it's just the nerves of a 944 newbie getting to me.

bonus12

I have this same issue and I have 3 qts of redline mt90 waiting. I'm hoping it helps.

use2windsurf

I changed my transmission oil about a month ago and have noticed a lot less gear whine. I do notice a little stiffer shift in 1st and 2nd when the car is cold ( sub 40F) but it is smooth once the car warms up. seems to be common but not a big deal.

1987 Red 944 N/A *** NOTE- I probably posted from my iPad, please excuse any typos, bad punctuation or odd grammar, if it is unreadable, it probably was posted from my iPhone.