Actually I can't get the slider thingy up on the shifter when the car is cold. The only way I can get out of the garage lately (as it's been around freezing when I leave for work) is to let the car roll backwards in neutral. Is there anything I can lube up that'll help me out?

I did a search but couldn't find anything here or, well, anywhere online.

Some quick background on the car's history: We purchased it used in 2007 with 34,000 miles. I think it was a care leased by a sales person with that many miles that quick. It was my wife's car as I just got a BMW M roadster (that was supposed to be hers but... well... it scared her. Darn!). She drove it until this spring when we traded in the BMW for a mini cooper countryman (kids... ). Anyway had the clutch changed at 40k under warranty. It was going out.

Since I'm driving it now I've done a few minor things: changed the plugs, fixed the recirc door, etc. Now I'm on this shifter business. The car has 145,000 miles on it but it still looks and drives like it has 30k. We keep our cars up. I've used full synthetic oil every 3,500 miles since the day we bought it. I, however, haven't change the transmission fluid yet. I've been waiting for the clutch to fail and figured I'd do it all at once.

....I've been waiting 20k miles for it to go...

Could it be the transmission fluid itself or is there some linkage that I need to lube up?

 

Don't kno much about it but it sure sounds frustrating. GL with your problem man.

 

Welcome to CL: sounds like a linkage problem

145K miles you should change the transmission fluid anyway: that might help....

do you have the F sport quick shifter installed as well?

good luck and keep us posted

 

Oil, grease and pure synthetic gear oil should help!

 

No sport shifter. Just boring stock...

First 100% stock car I've owned in years.

 

When you cannot access reverse can you access any other gears? Most standard transmissions do not have a synchro for the reverse gear...so accessing it at times can be fun. Usually just letting the car roll a little in neutral, access another gear first before reverse, or pull forward a little bit and then throw it into reverse.

 

highly recommended

 

No idea about the manual transmission but why in the world are you changing your synthetic oil every 3,500 miles? Lexus recommends changing non-synthetic oil every 5,000 miles. You can safely double that if you're using synthetic.

On to the clutch. Don't expect it to go out any time soon. Considering you put about 25,000 miles a year on your car, I'm assuming you do a lot of highway driving. Very little wear and tear on your clutch. I drove a VW Passat 220,000 miles and never replaced the original clutch. You could very well be waiting another 2 or 3 years at this rate.

 

Not a syncro problem: on the MT you have to pull up on part of the shifter to get it in reverse. When its cold that part doesn't want to move. It feels like its sticking right at the shift ****.

 

Oh, so its the outer sleeve on the stick itself that doesn't want to move. Hmmmm, never dealt with those before...but Sewell only sells the entire shifter, and not just the sleeve separately. WD-40? Lol

 

maybe an overly-tighten shift **** ????