No reverse when cold

[SubieBrat]

Ok so I recently put a five speed d/r into my Brat. Had a few problems with not going into reverse before, put the shims in the bolts and fixed that problem, but now its doing the same thing as before. Except this time it only when my transmission is cold.

 

I live in Colorado and we've been having some cold nights and It like reverse doesn't exist, but the second I drive for a few minutes and warm it up its perfectly fine. Only does it when its colder than about ten degrees.

 

Anyone have any ideas how I could fix this? Possibly an idea for a "cozy" or some sort of way to keep it warm at night.

[kabarakh]

Mine does the same thing. Quite interested to hear any input.

[john in KY]

When I lived in AK, my car had a "heating pad" glued to the oil pan. Was electric and worked great. My coldest morning was -57F. Car started right up although the tires rode as if square, not round. don't know why the pad couldn't be made to work on the transmission. 

[SubieBrat]

I'll have to try that. my only concern though is the thickness of the tranny case. think it would heat through it enough?

[ivantruckman]

in our climate we have a lot of moisture . it tends to collect in the transmission and low temps make the gear oil awfully thick  .

[SubieBrat]

in our climate we have a lot of moisture . it tends to collect in the transmission and low temps make the gear oil awfully thick  .

but that's the thing. it doesn't feel stiff, if shift normally other than reverse. tranny feels like it does on a warm day, other than reverse. it is like theres two positions for neutral

[kabarakh]

Bump for anymore input... It really is an irritating symptom.  Not crippling by any means, but someone has to have a solution.  None of my searches have come up with anything.  I leave in Washington, so it never really gets that cold (although moisture is definitely prevalent) but it doesn't matter how warm the ambient temperature is, i can't find reverse until the car/engine is warm.