Manual Trans Shifting

[FastRam]

Yesterday, I took my truck to the dealer for an oil change and to trouble shioot/inspect the shifting issues I am having when the mercury drops below freezing. As others have reported, shifting can be stiff and gear changes difficult when the temperature drops. Yesterday, my dealer's VIper tech went through the entire clutch/hydraulics, shifter and transmission systems and found no problems.

So we got on the phone and contacted several Chrysler drivetrain engineers. Long story short, they stated that as long as the shifting performance improves as the trans heats up, then all is normal, don't change the fluid, don't change to another fluid, don't repalce trans, clutch, shifter, etc. According to the engineers, 40 - 45 degrees F seems to be the thresold where shifting becomes stiff. Once my trans is operated and the fluid heats up, shifting or other trans function is not a problem, works perfectly. So, I guess for now, I keep driving it and hope the trans doesn't take a dump after the extended warranty expires...

On a side note, the engineers also stated that they have received an influx of complaints about the same issue I was having from Challenger SRT-8 owners. It seems the 8's with manual trans also have the same shifting issues when the temperature drops.

 

[FATJACK]

Synthetic ATF sure makes this a lot better but it will void your factory warranty. Tremec actually suggests Snythetic ATF in the transmission.

 

[kennygene]

The only complaint I have with mine is 2-3 shifts. I may try synthetic in the future but it seems this could have been better for the price of these trucks.

 

[FastRam]

Synthetic ATF sure makes this a lot better but it will void your factory warranty. Tremec actually suggests Snythetic ATF in the transmission.

Thats my dilemma. Switch fluids and void warranty or spin the wheel and hope it holds together. The cold shifting performance isn't bad -- you just have to be careful and make sure it goes into gear when its cold. If it doesn't go into gear and the clutch is released, it will grind quite well. Don't ask me how I know that

 

[FATJACK]

Many of us are using the synthetic ATF works very well especially in the cold weather.

 

[TNVIPER]

I use the syn ATF and my trans shifted normal at 19*...

 

[wesalbert]

When it got down in the 30's here, I noticed mine was doing the exact same thing.

 

[Tork_MoNsTeR]

Thats my dilemma. Switch fluids and void warranty or spin the wheel and hope it holds together. The cold shifting performance isn't bad -- you just have to be careful and make sure it goes into gear when its cold. If it doesn't go into gear and the clutch is released, it will grind quite well. Don't ask me how I know that

Just drain the tranny and save the fluid (so its used)... Switch to Synthetic ATF. If you ever have any problems put the old stuff back in it before taking it to the dealer.... :dontknow:

 

[JTS VENOM PERFORMANCE]

Thats my dilemma. Switch fluids and void warranty or spin the wheel and hope it holds together. The cold shifting performance isn't bad -- you just have to be careful and make sure it goes into gear when its cold. If it doesn't go into gear and the clutch is released, it will grind quite well. Don't ask me how I know that

fastram when I had mine running Ibeat the fool out of it with 1000rwhp, you can ask fstjack or anyone that was at bradenton fla for the viper nationals and daily , she got beat on, I jsut took it to be rebuilt for eddies truck to swap out, I used redline d4 atf...................there was no problems inside the tranny at all:rock:

 

[Vman455]

The only complaint I have with mine is 2-3 shifts. I may try synthetic in the future but it seems this could have been better for the price of these trucks.

Just to be clear, the factory fill is synthetic fluid--Castrol Syntorq LT 75W-85W (Chrysler relabels this as Mopar Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid 75W-85). Prior to 1998, Viper T56's came with ATF in the transmission, but owners complained of neutral gear rattle and a technical service bulletin was issued stipulating a change to the heavier manual transmission fluid (cures the rattle, but makes shifting a cold transmission harder).

I switched to Mobil1 ATF a few weeks ago. Can't really say how much it affected shifting, as I installed a B&M at the same time....

 

[FSTJACK]

The factory fluid is somewhere between swamp juice and runny mud, just awful, smells awful also.

Tremec the tranny builder recommends ATF instead of the fluid the factory and the dealers use. I talked with a Tremec engineer about this. Tremec quit warranting the tranny to Dodge because of the fluid the factory uses.

I use Redline D4 as others have with great success. I have been using ATF in manual trannys since the 1960s with no problems at all. The big top loaders were very hard to shift when cold, and back then Dodges procedure was to change to ATF.

It might make a slight bit more noise but the tranny will thank you in the long run, for changing out the fluid.

No one that has used ATF has had any problems with the 6spd tranny. And many have beat the supreme piss out of them.

 

[Prof]

Just drain the tranny and save the fluid (so its used)... Switch to Synthetic ATF. If you ever have any problems put the old stuff back in it before taking it to the dealer.... :dontknow:

This is referred to as fraud...from a legal stand point.

Change to the Red Line, or Mobil One ATF or Royal Purple...it will solve the problem...and few have had manual transmission problems...if you have warranty problems suck it up.

Someone mentioned above the problem with the 2nd to 3rd shift problem...changing to an after market shifter, and replacing the ram master/slave cylinder to the Viper billet resolves the problem.

 

[Tork_MoNsTeR]

This is referred to as fraud...from a legal stand point.

Change to the Red Line, or Mobil One ATF or Royal Purple...it will solve the problem...and few have had manual transmission problems...if you have warranty problems suck it up.

Someone mentioned above the problem with the 2nd to 3rd shift problem...changing to an after market shifter, and replacing the ram master/slave cylinder to the Viper billet resolves the problem.

Ya well some of us dont have the money to toss out for stupid stuff because a dodge wants to be a PIA... Tremec says its ok, but if there were ever a problem, thats what I would do..... Call it what you will, but you gotta do what you gotta do to get by

 

[Prof]

Not a moral judgment on my part...please excuse me if it sounded that way.

I for one will not lie or cheat to save money...I would put up with the irritation of poor shifting, before I would cheat to get it covered by warranty, but that is me.

My post was to alert people to the fact that if you try to fool the dealers to save money, it is probably a better decision to put up with the minor problem when the temperatures are low.

 

[TheMoparConnection]

i have mentioned this many times and it works great and will not void your warranty... Add 2 bottles of friction modifier p/n 4318060ab to your tremec will solve your hard shifting problems.

 

[JTS VENOM PERFORMANCE]

i have mentioned this many times and it works great and will not void your warranty... Add 2 bottles of friction modifier p/n 4318060ab to your tremec will solve your hard shifting problems.

Thanks buddy:rock:

information such as this is greatly appreciated:rock:

 

[Begood]

I know some of the early 04s have a problem as they get older where it becomes more difficult to shift into 6th. Jamie (RolexDr) had it happen to his red 04, and now mine is starting to do it also.

Anyone else have this happen to their's?


Bill.

 

[Tork_MoNsTeR]

Not a moral judgment on my part...please excuse me if it sounded that way.

I for one will not lie or cheat to save money...I would put up with the irritation of poor shifting, before I would cheat to get it covered by warranty, but that is me.

My post was to alert people to the fact that if you try to fool the dealers to save money, it is probably a better decision to put up with the minor problem when the temperatures are low.

No I didnt take it that way... I was just saying that if he does not have the money and does use the ATF that he needs to think ahead. If he doesnt have the money for another tranny then he would either have to do without or lie...

 

[jerew65]

Was this suggestion just for operating the truck during the colder months or will this benifit the tranny all year?

i have mentioned this many times and it works great and will not void your warranty... Add 2 bottles of friction modifier p/n 4318060ab to your tremec will solve your hard shifting problems.

 

[FastRam]

No I didnt take it that way... I was just saying that if he does not have the money and does use the ATF that he needs to think ahead. If he doesnt have the money for another tranny then he would either have to do without or lie...

Right, I don't have an endless supply of dollars to use when or if my trans decides to go away. And i really don't want to be in a position of fault if I decided to switch fluids. I purchased an extended warranty and I don't want to compromise that either. Like I said, the shifting issue when cold isn't too bad. You just have to be careful to make sure the gears engage during the first couple of shifts. Once the fluid heats up, its fine, shifts perfect. Also, I for one will not lie or "cheat the system".