About 2,000 miles ago i put in redline synthetic and my car was shifting great. still a bit a hesitation down shifting to second gear and when it was cold, but all in all it was very smooth. 1,000 miles ago i took it in for the 30k mile maintenance at the dealership and told them that i did not want them to change the tranny fluid because i already did it. they did some other work and the next day i started my 850 mile drive from wisconsin to DC.

after leaving the dealership the shifter was a little notchier, but barely noticeable. after about 200 miles into the trip the shifter got notchier. After half way the shifter was a lot notchier and 1st and 2nd gear started to squeak. Once I got home, right before christmas, the problem got worse:

-1st and 2nd gear are hard to get in to. it squeaks and takes more effort. it feels like there is a good deal of friction. The car is still shifting though, it's not like the tranny doesn't want to shift. it just takes a lot more effort.
-3rd and 4th are acting normal
-5th is just like 1st and 2nd.
-Reverse is ok, kinda hesitating

Yesterday I changed the tranny fluid again with redline on the suspicion the dealership changed my fluid back to OEM by accident. This had no effect. Today I took apart the shifter assembly and regreased everything, including the two bolts, shifter, and pivots. This has no effect.

I do have a BM shortshifter and kartboy linkage bushings. I have never greased my linkage, which i'm sure is responsible for some friction. But i really want to know why this started happening after it went in for maintenance. The clutch is not slipping, and the car was perfect 1,000 miles ago. I cannot just take it back to the dealership, they are too far away. i guess i could go to the one here in maryland, but i would prefer to not, and i suspect they will automatically blame me for the issue. I have had my bushings and shortshifter for a year so there is no reason to believe they caused the recent friction.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for taking the time to try to help me out

 

This is a long shot, but I also had the kartboy shifter bushings. When I did my install I forgot to put on the metal washers. Over time this led to the bushings wearing out.

I first noticed that the car was hard to put into gear and thought, as you did, that it was the shifter assembly, so I greased it and it did not improve. Long story short: One day before work I put the car in reverse and when I went to put it into first the car wouldn't move out of reverse even though the shifter was moving. I freaked and thought it was the transmisison.

The guy at the garage told me that the underhood linkage bushing was all tore up and that the washer wasn't on there, as it should have been. I felt really stupid but perhaps you should check the linkage anyway just to make sure.

Fox

 

believe it or not. I think Redline is not thick enough for that tranny. Try BG synchoshift. We use it and sometimes it works like a miracle on notchy shifting trannies

ROAD/RACE

 

Thanks a ton for the help Rock and Shingen. I have heard good things about the BG, but I'm not going to do that yet because i found the problem! I feel like such a noob because i searched and multiple people said that ungreased kartboy linkage bushings will lead to the problem i was having. I figured that wasn't it cause i've had them on for a year and it's never been a problem. I pulled them out and greased them with the stuff that came with my BM and the problem is totally gone!

The only reason i started a thread was due to the fact that the problem only started after the car was at the dealership. I guess it may have been a coincidence that it started happening then. or it is simply hiding another problem that may come out later. oh well, it shifts great now so no worries.

This just goes out as a warning to everyone using the linkage bushings, grease them!

 

i would check the fluid to see if they did it by mistake cause i have no prob with mine sinec i changed syncro mess

 

^^syncro mess, or BG synchroshift? Difference? I'm doing my TC and Tranny fluid change this coming up weekend.