Transmission gear Oil

[ice445]

The adjustment instructions don’t really make any sense. The way I understand it from how everything works is that you adjust the cables so that the shifter stays in neutral. I’m not sure how you’re supposed to use an elastic to keep it in reverse as per the fsm.

I’ve had the bushings go before and what I have doesn’t feel the same.

At least I'm not the only one who couldn't make heads or tails of those garbage instructions. I even tried what they said to the best of my ability, the shifter simply got locked in the place I left it...

I replaced the cables entirely on my car with a new set and that fixed everything. It's also worth checking for corrosion on the shaft pin that engages the side to side cable. Bonus round is that the newer cable set actually has an adjustment on the interior side that my old cable did not.

[doverosx]

LOL. We need to start a "Shifter adjustment anonymous group". I'm going to swap in the fluid this weekend and post back up, the shifter is delayed from AAD due to paper work issues so I'll have a good A/B comparison as to the hero behind the shifting problems I have. Pulling back slightly on the shifter toward (2,4,R) lines everything up for decent shifting so I might also be looking at a new set of cables with sensible interior adjustment.

I'll check the shaft pin that you are talking about, I think I know what you are referring to. Thanks a lot of the help.

[ice445]

LOL. We need to start a "Shifter adjustment anonymous group". I'm going to swap in the fluid this weekend and post back up, the shifter is delayed from AAD due to paper work issues so I'll have a good A/B comparison as to the hero behind the shifting problems I have. Pulling back slightly on the shifter toward (2,4,R) lines everything up for decent shifting so I might also be looking at a new set of cables with sensible interior adjustment.

I'll check the shaft pin that you are talking about, I think I know what you are referring to. Thanks a lot of the help.

Keep in mind motor mounts have a big effect on shift quality as well. Mine were ROASTED by 58K. I just changed them, and not only is shifting much crisper, but the engine/trans isn't moving around so much and pulling on the shifter cables.

[doverosx]

8296A44A-085F-46DB-9584-D5CD39A5670C.jpeg (98.24 KiB) Viewed 8213 times

6mm hex for drain right on the bottom, torque to 13ft-lbs, locators optional but fiat had it there when new so I dabbbed a new bubble on.

12mm on the side, torque to 16ft-lbs, for the fill bolt. I used a funnel with a 3’ hose, but if you use a longer hose you won’t need to remove the intake snorkel like I did.


Highly recommend the royal purple, shifts much better... definitely not a lifetime fluid.

[MadFiat]

Need to change mine. Should have done it while the trans was out and I didn't - was being rushed to get things finished.

I had been worried about a rattling, but the more I learn, apparently aluminum flywheels... just rattle? ... ok whatever... If it blows up it blows up lol...

[doverosx]

That I'm not too sure about because the sounds of things will be different depending on the car. Some chatter as you start moving is normal from what I can recall.

Also, day 2 with the Royal Purple is much, much better. Definitely a fluid related issue for 90% of what I was experiencing. It's lifetime fluid if you're a street driver but no way is it lifetime for actual racing....nooooo way. 4 years of lapping/autox/drag racing. The shifter will fix the other 10% of issues and then I'll see how the fluid ages and how it behaves in actual cold weather (-30C). A lot of the people on AbarthChat can't think outside of their bubbles and think 32F is really cold and that their "street driving" is the end all of experience .

I'm glad I race, there's no room for BS when you track a car.

[MadFiat]

That I'm not too sure about because the sounds of things will be different depending on the car. Some chatter as you start moving is normal from what I can recall.

Also, day 2 with the Royal Purple is much, much better. Definitely a fluid related issue for 90% of what I was experiencing. It's lifetime fluid if you're a street driver but no way is it lifetime for actual racing....nooooo way. 4 years of lapping/autox/drag racing. The shifter will fix the other 10% of issues and then I'll see how the fluid ages and how it behaves in actual cold weather (-30C). A lot of the people on AbarthChat can't think outside of their bubbles and think 32F is really cold and that their "street driving" is the end all of experience .

I'm glad I race, there's no room for BS when you track a car.

What I'm having seems to be described as "gear rattle" .. apparently it has to do with the aluminum flywheel not damping the slack in the gearset at idle in neutral with the clutch out.... I listened to a lot of videos of this noise, and it seems to match what I hear exactly. Most cars that have this with lw fw (most common seems to be bmw e36) they say it's "normal" and "doesn't hurt anything"... However one solution I see recommended is fresh gear oil, and people say that Redline does seem to be quieter. Several say you should go up to a heavier weight at the same time to help dampen gear vibration at idle. Honestly, I suspect that would help in my situation as well as it never rattles when cold, only when hot, which indicates it's the thinned oil that's no longer cushioning the gearset as well.

[Jonohhh]

I have really bad gear rattle, its done it since new. We almost brought it in to service because of the fairly loud clash sound when releasing the clutch after shifting, but we didn't, and many years later it's fine.

Also, about draining it. From what I understood, the 2013s require the use of the large bolt at the back to drain, which is a pia to access, and at some point (one person said 2015) a small plug was added to drain. I have that small plug, and I have a 2013, so something doesn't check out there.

[doverosx]

Yeah it's weird. There's a video online for 2013s so I was very happy to see that on 2015s we actually lucked out (FOR ONCE!) and my fluid change was easier than an oil change on the car lol. Sorry suckers hahahah...but we deserved to gain something.

Alvin, if you went with a CM LWFW, I hope you opted for a damped clutch because there does need to be some damping on that side of the engine. If you do have the damped clutch from CM (It'll have a D at the end of the model number), then I guess the noise you hear is "normal" for your setup.

[MadFiat]

Yeah it's weird. There's a video online for 2013s so I was very happy to see that on 2015s we actually lucked out (FOR ONCE!) and my fluid change was easier than an oil change on the car lol. Sorry suckers hahahah...but we deserved to gain something.

Alvin, if you went with a CM LWFW, I hope you opted for a damped clutch because there does need to be some damping on that side of the engine. If you do have the damped clutch from CM (It'll have a D at the end of the model number), then I guess the noise you hear is "normal" for your setup.

I did do the dampened clutch. Modern Performance won't actually sell it with the lwfw and rigid clutch together. Which is good because some of the info that's out there is confusing.

I've been nervous about it being a dragging Throw-out bearing... but it only does it when hot, so that tends to support the gear noise idea since the thinned fluid will allow more noise. The bearing is brand new so the thought of it being that is not something I like to entertain...