• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Hard to shift into second gear when cold

Same cold 2nd gear shift problems as well. It also pops out of 2nd, at least it did the first month i had it. Now almost a year into driving her it just popped out last week for the first time in a while. I might have just been getting used to the clutch and shifter,mabey i wasn't putting it all the way into gear? I'm used to a WC T-5/pro 5.0 shifter,lol. I have no clue what fluid is in her, or what to fill her with. I have a buddy at Jiffy Lube, any idea if i should trust them to fill my trans? He does my mobile 1 full synthetic jobs, i just want the best and not a house brand.
If he's your friend I'd trust him otherwise never a discount oil change place for me. Just grab the needed amount of the Ford 'honey' fluid or some Royal Purple and have him do it at the next oil change, took me like 5 minutes while the oil was draining out. The fill area is on the forward facing front of the trans. Would be easier for him if he has a grease/oil 'gun' and fill until it spills out.
-J
 
If he's your friend I'd trust him otherwise never a discount oil change place for me. Just grab the needed amount of the Ford 'honey' fluid or some Royal Purple and have him do it at the next oil change, took me like 5 minutes while the oil was draining out. The fill area is on the forward facing front of the trans. Would be easier for him if he has a grease/oil 'gun' and fill until it spills out.
-J


Yes hes a good buddy. Ok,i will grab royal purp from schucks get my buddys discount, and roll to the jiffy.I dont think he will even charge me. I assume Royal P. only has one kind of trans juice?

Thanks buddy!
 
So who has tried adjusting the cables? Makes a big difference I can assure you.

My old SF SVT ended up having a bad gromet at the cable end. I think it was only $15 to replace the entire white piece with the gromet inside it.
 
Royal purple has Three kinds, you want syncromax which terry haines said is the only fluid that meets and exceeds ford specs. They also have Max gear, which i have no experience with. But you dont want to use Max ATF for obvious reasons
 
Last edited:
My old SF SVT ended up having a bad gromet at the cable end. I think it was only $15 to replace the entire white piece with the gromet inside it.

I believe its 12$ for one and 18$ for the other (white and black cable ends)
I just purchased some from ford.
 
Bringing up a old thread!
I recently noticed that on my stock SVT that shifting into 2nd in the cold is a PITA in the cold and sometimes it grinds. I have 100k on the stock trans and it has newer RP in it too. Any thoughts on this guys or suggestions? The cable ends on the car look good too.
 
The biggest issue is the shifting fork. If you have the original it will never be as good as it could. The roller bearing fork introduced late 99 or early 00 pretty much took care of the problem. With the original fork, it fits so tight on the shift rail that until the trans warms up a little it is very hard to move.

It may help to start the engine in neutral, let the clutch out and blip the throttle a time or two to splash some fluid around inside the trans. No matter what, the thing will not be as good as it could until the trans warms up a little.
 
Im going to have to do something, it grinds going into the gear with the clutch in even when its cold so something isnt right. This is on my 2000 also.
 
Nope, I just was drinking already so it makes no sense LOL!
No, it just grinds when its cold, when the trans is warm its alright.
 
Cold grind is pretty normal for manual gearboxes with some miles on them. One of my mazdas developed a cold start grind at around 75k that a fluid change wouldn't totally fix.
 
Back
Top