'03 Jetta-very stiff shifter in cold weather(below 20 degrees)-02J transmission...

[tdidieselbobny]

Hey folks, ran into this problem the past month or so. The shifter is very difficult to move when first getting into car in morning. I mean, can barely move it to take it out of gear, then to shift once I want to go. Wasn't like this last year, been almost 2 years(20k or so) since I changed the oil with Pennzoil Syncromesh. Does get better once you get driving, and after 10 miles or so it's back to normal. Wasn't sure if oil is done for after only 2 years or something else funky going on with linkages/tower....

 

[KrashDH]

Hey folks, ran into this problem the past month or so. The shifter is very difficult to move when first getting into car in morning. I mean, can barely move it to take it out of gear, then to shift once I want to go. Wasn't like this last year, been almost 2 years(20k or so) since I changed the oil with Pennzoil Syncromesh. Does get better once you get driving, and after 10 miles or so it's back to normal. Wasn't sure if oil is done for after only 2 years or something else funky going on with linkages/tower....

Going to watch this thread as well. I did a transmission oil change when I put my clutch in (maybe last summer ish?) so under a year. The last cold snap I noticed that it was more stiff as well, but not as bad as yours sounds. After driving for a bit, goes back to normal. I usually am pretty in tune with my vehicles and I don't recall this being normal, but it rarely gets below 20F here, but this winter we've had 2x cold snaps below that temp and I've noticed it both times. I've got the Sigma 5 shifter in my car as well, checked over it and everything is good. No shifting issues (slides into gear) which means the gear oil is ok.

 

[Tdijarhead]

I’m running Penzoil synchromesh in my golf and my daughter has it in her Jetta. We’ve both had it in longer than 2 years and my car has probably 70-80k miles on this oil change and I have no stiffness except for the 2 mornings when it was -17F and that went away within a couple of miles. She reported no problems shifting with her Jetta.

I think I would look and see if you have some kind of grease on some of the linkage that gets stiff/hard in the cold.

 

[TPW]

I agree, the plastic busing that sits horizontal near the golf club on transmission sometimes gets corroded. I've had to clean up two of them. I needed and air hammer to remove them. Once cleaned up and greased the transmission shifts way easier. There is a Youtube video on this but a can't find it now.

 

[TPW]

This video shows the part that I used an air hammer on to remove.

 

[tdidieselbobny]

Still stiff on cold mornings after fluid change. It does have Dieselgeek short shifter on it. Guess I'll just spray some Kroil on bushings and connectors...

 

[snakeye]

Still stiff on cold mornings after fluid change. It does have Dieselgeek short shifter on it. Guess I'll just spray some Kroil on bushings and connectors...

If you want to actually fix the problem you need to take the linkage apart and see what's sticking. Did you check what TPW mentioned? A general mist of lubricant on the surface of said component that's causing your problem usually isn't the right solution. Could be the shift tower roller sleeve that has some old grease that stiffens up in the cold...