2011 GSR gear slow to engage ?
 

Yo,

Ever since I got my car (2011 GSR) I have this problem of slow 1-2 shift. Basically, after pushing the clutch in, when pulling the shifter from 1st to 2nd , I feel a slight resistance/hesitance before being able to fully shift into 2nd. It almost feels like there's a gate that won't open until I pause a second or so. In my old 07 STI, I used to be able to clutch in, then pull the shifter from 1 to 2 in one fast action.

If I shift at a higher RPM (5-6k) sometimes it's easier. Also if it's warm outside it behaves better. If I double clutch I don't see the issue. I have about 2k miles on the car now.

Any idea ? Is it normal ?

Thanks

Ya, it's not exactly normal in my opinion.. but it's very common.

Mine does exactly what you described, plus it's also hard to engage reverse after a cold start. Dealership told me this was perfectly normal, lol.

Anywho, here's 700+ posts discussing the issue..

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...on-thread.html

This happens to me when I try to go to reverse. But today while driving home from work I was going to 2nd gear at about 4K RPM and it started to grind so I quickly popped it into Neutral then went back into 2nd and it went perfect. My shifts are still notchy from 1-3 and back to 1. Seems like a common problem with most X's. I'm also smooth shifting while in higher RPM's.

Edit: AFD got it spot on.

Remove the plastic clutch restrictor pill in the slave cylinder; this will make your pedal action and clutch engagement more quick & precise.

Cool.. thanks for all the replies, I will read through that long thread and look into removing the restrictor pill --- any known side effects ?

Think I read somewhere that the pill is there as a protective measure for the drivetrain.. but removing it will lower the engagement point on your clutch pedal.

I totally don't see how removing it will have any effect on your shifter going into gear any faster (since you can have your clutch already to the floor and still have a pause before you can completely get the shifter back into gear).

But along with other tweaks (weighted shift knob, bushings, fluid change), it should make for an overall quicker gear change.

Agreed. The issue is really the large difference between the first and second gear ratios coupled with less-than-optimal synchros. To be clear: the reason this problem only shows up during the 1-2 shift is that first and second have the largest difference in ratios, which means the synchros are working the hardest during this shift.