I'm driving a '96 Geo Tracker that for the most part, is Perfect. I have absolutely no complaints until now.

This is not my first manual transmission and I have never had or seen anything like this, but here it goes.

If the Temperature gets below 20 degrees or so, I can't Shift at ALL!

I have to hold the clutch in, then throw the shifter around to loosen up what feels like heavy gear lube. OK, not a big deal, once warmed up it drives and shifts normal.

Now, we've had some single digit temps... I CAN'T Move the Shifter AT ALL. I'm talking, clutch in, 2 hands on the shifter, still can't move it. I leave my Tracker in 2nd gear when I park, with the parking brake on, just so I have a forward gear on my short trip to work. It takes most of the trip to work for the internals to finally loosen up.

I have already changed out the gear lube for the Synchromesh synthetic. I believe it is the lightest weight lube I can use, but I'm still having this trouble. The gear lube was changed a couple months ago and nothing looked out of the ordinary.

I have determined, that if I had let the Tracker in Neutral before shutting it off, I can start it in neutral and let it idle for and extended period and everything will work. Again, I suspect too thick of gear lube, but I already changed it to synthetic.

It almost sounds like something is not right mechanically.  Maybe it was taken apart once before and not put back together correctly and something is binding in the shifting rod mechanism?

Also, Synchromesh is not fully synthetic either according to the product description.
GM Performance Synchromesh transmission fluid is designed for GM manual transmissions and is the recommended lubricant for all Tremec brand manual transmissions. It has been formulated with a partially synthetic base for excellent lubrication properties and does not break down after time. GM Performance Synchromesh transmission fluid can withstand high temperatures as well as cool, low temperatures.


I would first get a 100% synthetic oil in there, like a Mobil synthetic.  It will make it shift much easier in cold weather.

It sounds like you might have gotten some water into the shifter unit, and it is freezing up.  I think someone else had a similar problem a while back.

Sadly, you need to drop the transmission to check unless you cut off a large chunk of the transmission tunnel.  Guess what we did on Project Trouble? 

It almost sounds like something is not right mechanically.  Maybe it was taken apart once before and not put back together correctly and something is binding in the shifting rod mechanism?

I would think that too, but I've been driving it since May 2011 and put about 12,000 miles on it already with no issues.

It sounds like you might have gotten some water into the shifter unit, and it is freezing up.  I think someone else had a similar problem a while back.

Sadly, you need to drop the transmission to check unless you cut off a large chunk of the transmission tunnel.  Guess what we did on Project Trouble? 

I suspect that too. I haven't been fording water in this rig ever. I still may look at that. Oh yeah, I'd do a little cutting too. I'm not scared.

My guess would be you have water/moisture in the shifter tower.  As said, you will either have to cut metal or drop the tranny, to pull the shifter tower.  I would pull the tower, clean it out good with solvent, then make sure you get all the solvent out, then put just a little bit of gear oil in there and work the tower around to make sure everything gets coated good with the oil, then reassemble.

That makes a lot of sense of water being in there as it would condensate in the shifter rod area.

  Before you do any cutting[Ido not suggest you do it that way]or lowering of the the trans. I would recomend removing the shifter from trans. and look into the shift tower .If you see any moister then remove tower.If no moister then remove gear oil from trans and replace it with  75w90 it doesn't have to be synthetic but is recomended.Wshen removing shifter pay attention to the lower shift bushing posision it might stick to end of shifter when lifting shifter out of the tower causing it to drop down into shift tower .then you would be removing shift tower. 

Common problem. The shifter linkage is in a separate compartment on top of the tranny and when water gets into it, it will freeze. There is no provision from the factory for the water to drain out of it. Pull the shifter boot from the console, pull the console out of the car. Pull the lower boot from the floor with the screws on the plate and slide it up the shifter. Reach down into the floor, grasp the dome shaped part where the shifter goes into the top of the tranny, give it a half turn left while pushing down on it and it should unlatch and allow you to pull the shifter out of the top of the tranny. Now using something like a big syringe or maybe even a wet/dry shop vac with a small tub on it, suck out all of the water from inside that compartment through the hole you just pulled the shifter from. When you get it as dry as you can get it(I would even recommend parking in a heated garage overnight at least, leaving the hole open, maybe even putting a small fan blowing air around the hole to make sure you get it as dry as possible) spray the heck out of the entire linkage with WD40, then put it all back together the way you took it apart. Problem will be gone. At least until the next deep water crossing! LOL!

Finally got to it...

Torn Boot on the Shift Tower when the Shifter plugs in.

Dried it out, WD40, then Light Lube with Gear Oil.

Didn't have a new boot, so I made the best of what I had... Used a Shock Boot and zip tied the heck out of it on the shaft and hose clamped the tower.

Thanks for All the Help!

I needed a new sealing boot as well for my 98' Sidekick (the 96+ are different) and Hawk had them in stock before they closed shop. I would give Trail Tough a call and see if they have them now as well.

The "lowest" boot on the shifters, known as the #1 boot, is only sold with the shift lever - I haven't needed to replace the one on the transmission, but I used the end of a steering rack boot on my transfer case shifter.