Okay, imagine my surprise one morning when I went out to drive the kids to school and . . . the shifter wouldn't move at all. (Manual tranny.) Rock solid. Couldn't budge it at all. I'm pretty strong, and I was afraid of bending the stick at one point. Every cold night (25 or below) this would happen. The only way to get it to work would be to let the car warm up for ten or fifteen minutes, and then the shifter would move into first, but it would be all goopy-moving into the gears, and I would have to shift into each one a couple times for it to clear up. After a bit of running around, everything was absolutely fine. Nice and fluid.
On warm days, no troubles at all. Definitely related to the cold.
Thinking back, I remember driving some pretty deep water (between one and two feet deep) and so I just thought I had sucked some water in through the breather holes, and now it was mixing with the gear oil and freezing up.
Well, I have no garage or driveway, and oh yeah, it's pretty fawking cold right now, so I had a shop switch out the gear oil. Well, they just called and said that the gear oil looked fine. WTF?
I'm waiting to see what tonights cold weather will do to the car, but if it's not the gear oil, WTF is it?
Anyone have any ideas?
Tranny freezes up on cold nights
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Petros
- Highest Ranking Member
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- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
- My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
- Location: Arlington WA USA
this one is easy, and it has been discussed before on this list. The shifter goes into a separate chamber above and behind the tranny that houses the linkage, it is protected by a rubber boot where the lever enter the linkage compartment. The boot sometimes cracks or wearsout. This allows moisture into this linkage compartment, and when it freezes on extra cold days. Hence, you can not move the linkage. This compartment is isolated from the transmission so there would not be any effect on the trans or the oil in it.
The fix can be done from the top, inside the car. Remove the console (philips screws) and intirior rubber boot (4-10mm bolts). This should expose the transmision boot (or what is left of it), remove it and then you can remove the large circlip that allows you to remove the shift lever that exposes the comparment through the shift lever hole. Use a heat gun or hair dryer to melt out the ice in the linkage compartament and suck (or blow) it out. I would wash out the grit and rust from the compartment with solvent and then put some grease on the parts, and then fill the comparment about half way with trans oil. This will keep it lubed, and keep it from rusting, and helps keep moisture out of it.
You need to replace the boot. Some people have fabricated a boot from vinal or sheet rubber and wired or clamped it on. There also might be a generic boot available from an autoparts store that can be trimmed to fit. Not having the boot weather tight is generally not a problem unless you regularly drive or splash through deep water, because it is so high up on the trans. But as you found out, it takes the combination of enough water in the compartment and freezing weather to cause a problem. Over the long term dirt, grit and moisture will cause rust and wear on the linkage parts. So you should fix it right away. But it is easy to correct, even in freezing weather.
You only need a philips screw driver, a 10 mm socket or open end wrench and either circlip pliers or needle nose plier (I have also remove this circlip with two screw drivers).
Good luck,
Peter
The fix can be done from the top, inside the car. Remove the console (philips screws) and intirior rubber boot (4-10mm bolts). This should expose the transmision boot (or what is left of it), remove it and then you can remove the large circlip that allows you to remove the shift lever that exposes the comparment through the shift lever hole. Use a heat gun or hair dryer to melt out the ice in the linkage compartament and suck (or blow) it out. I would wash out the grit and rust from the compartment with solvent and then put some grease on the parts, and then fill the comparment about half way with trans oil. This will keep it lubed, and keep it from rusting, and helps keep moisture out of it.
You need to replace the boot. Some people have fabricated a boot from vinal or sheet rubber and wired or clamped it on. There also might be a generic boot available from an autoparts store that can be trimmed to fit. Not having the boot weather tight is generally not a problem unless you regularly drive or splash through deep water, because it is so high up on the trans. But as you found out, it takes the combination of enough water in the compartment and freezing weather to cause a problem. Over the long term dirt, grit and moisture will cause rust and wear on the linkage parts. So you should fix it right away. But it is easy to correct, even in freezing weather.
You only need a philips screw driver, a 10 mm socket or open end wrench and either circlip pliers or needle nose plier (I have also remove this circlip with two screw drivers).
Good luck,
Peter
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
Just don't spill anything on your carpet... Only thing that will get that gear lube stench out is removing the carpet from the car and soaking it in near-boiling water with a good cleaner that won't destroy the carpet or plastic backer. I soaked for an hour in Simple Green solution in the bathtub. Then, pressure wash the carpet-side clean and get as much moisture as you can out. Drip-dry from there. Then you'll have a semi-pleasant Simple Green smell. Wear out though....
Not like that happens much. Just have a roll of paper towel handy.
I used half a tube of clear RTV flexible sealant to seal my boot up. Haven't had troubles again yet.
Not like that happens much. Just have a roll of paper towel handy.
I used half a tube of clear RTV flexible sealant to seal my boot up. Haven't had troubles again yet.
RIP 10-07- 1984 Toyota Tercel SR5 4wd Wagen 6 speed
RIP 04-05- 1986 Toyota Tercel SR5 4wd Wagen 6 speed
1st Terc- 1987 Tercel SR5 4wd Wagon 6-speed, Sadly cubed
1985 Tercel Standard 4wd Wagon w/ 3-speed auto, Living a happy life in Boulder last I knew
RIP 04-05- 1986 Toyota Tercel SR5 4wd Wagen 6 speed
1st Terc- 1987 Tercel SR5 4wd Wagon 6-speed, Sadly cubed
1985 Tercel Standard 4wd Wagon w/ 3-speed auto, Living a happy life in Boulder last I knew
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ARCHINSTL
- Goldie Forever
- Posts: 6369
- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
- My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
- Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis
Mosquito -
Here are some links, in order of importance. Check out the excellent photos that Iain posted - just a couple of months ago.
viewtopic.php?t=2382&highlight=shifter
viewtopic.php?t=1746&highlight=shifter+rust
viewtopic.php?t=1505&highlight=shift+lever
Tom M.
Here are some links, in order of importance. Check out the excellent photos that Iain posted - just a couple of months ago.
viewtopic.php?t=2382&highlight=shifter
viewtopic.php?t=1746&highlight=shifter+rust
viewtopic.php?t=1505&highlight=shift+lever
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
Folks, thanks. You guys rock. 
And my search skills are weak. 
Typrus--I actually like the smell of gear oil. 
Wish I had seen that thread. I'm actually selling the Tercel, wanted to take care of this problem before anyone purchased it.
Spoke to the guy at the shop earlier this morning--he was convinced it was the synchros. I told him he was wrong, that it definitely was water freezing up. He was unconvinced.
Looks like I'm gonna get my hands dirty again.
And my search skills are weak. Typrus--I actually like the smell of gear oil. Wish I had seen that thread. I'm actually selling the Tercel, wanted to take care of this problem before anyone purchased it.
Spoke to the guy at the shop earlier this morning--he was convinced it was the synchros. I told him he was wrong, that it definitely was water freezing up. He was unconvinced.
Looks like I'm gonna get my hands dirty again.
All done. Took an hour and a half total time, including talking to the neighbor a bit as well as a test drive on a nice snowy parking lot. Used a bike inner tube over the old boot (which wasn't all that bad). I'll probably order a new boot, if available, and pop that on when it arrives.
And now the car has new gear oil throughout.
Took an hour and a half total time, including talking to the neighbor a bit as well as a test drive on a nice snowy parking lot. Used a bike inner tube over the old boot (which wasn't all that bad). I'll probably order a new boot, if available, and pop that on when it arrives. And now the car has new gear oil throughout.