Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox?

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Wed 16 Mar 2011 11:21
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Waino

As the cold weather started in December, I noticed that the gearbox on the Astra became very noticeably stiffer. By the time we'd had reached the very cold spells, with a couple of weeks when the car hadn't been used at all, the gearbox became so stiff that my wife wasn't happy about driving the car. Now that the weather has warmed up to 8 to 10 degrees during the day and there are few night frosts, the gearbox has relaxed again.

I must admit, I was becoming quite concerned about this and had wondered if a gearbox problem was developing or, maybe a thinner oil was needed. I've never noticed this cold weather effect on previous cars and I just wonder if anyone else has experienced it. Maybe it's something peculiar to this particular engine/gearbox design.

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Wed 16 Mar 2011 14:26
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - injection doc

It will be the oil that causing the stiffness cold. It may be that someone has topped up the gearbox with the incorrect grade of oil.

I used to flush gearboxes and fill with synthetic oil, this used to make a superb gearchange.

If its done quite a few miles it may be worth a change .

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Wed 16 Mar 2011 20:30
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Lygonos

Had a manual 300zx some years ago - cold winter made the box stiffer - Castrol Syntrax 75W90 made it much less stiff.

If it's not too difficult a job is worth changing the 'box oil unless the car is quite new in which case it's probably normal for your car at very low temp.

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Wed 16 Mar 2011 22:03
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Waino

Thanks for the comments. The car was 4 years old in January and has done 55k miles. It has previously been serviced by the local main dealer although the last one, done at the end of January, was with a very reputable local independent. I'll call in and ask if it warrants attention now, or if it will wait until the next service.

I know I shouldn't cast aspersions at the main dealer, but I wouldn't put it past them to have filled the box with lard.

Edited by Waino on 16/03/2011 at 22:04

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Thu 17 Mar 2011 05:01
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - oldroverboy

Not casting aspersions Hey! I can cast one, Evans Halshaw, St Albans did put semi synthetic 10w 40 instead of fully synthetic 0w40 during an oil and filter change, but did refund me when i noticed on the invoice, needless to say not going near them again!

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Thu 17 Mar 2011 11:52
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Collos25

Don,t get the two mixed up engines and gearboxes are not the same thing.

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Thu 17 Mar 2011 14:06
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Waino

I was talking specifically 'gearboxes' in my post(s). I took it that Orb was simply referring to the possiblity of garages getting their oil grades mixed up - wherever the oil was intended for.

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Thu 17 Mar 2011 15:05
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - oldroverboy

Don,t get the two mixed up engines and gearboxes are not the same thing.

And GM, chevrolet in my case told me that the warranty WOULD NOT cover damage due to incorrect lubricants, GEARBOX OR ENGINE. Vauxhall and chevrolet have many shared components and i am quite sure that if one GM dealer who is actually ford vauxhall and chevrolet at the same branch is capable of using incorrect lubricants then another is too.

I remember in the early 80's in switzerland when i worked in an Opel dealers we changed hundreds of gearboxes that had been wrongly filled with lubricant at the factory. we also changed the indicator switches, and the wiper mchanism too, and lots of batteries. Component quality is supposed to be better, but mistakes can still happen

Perhaps in this case there is something, perhaps not,

as someone else suggested, if you are in doubt get the gearbox oil changed.

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Thu 17 Mar 2011 14:23
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - dervdave

There didn`t appear to be any change in the wjfes 1.3cdti which was stood outside the whole winter so I also wonder if it has the right oil in.

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Thu 17 Mar 2011 15:24
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Waino

Thanks for that comment, DD - I now have a direct comparison with another 1.3tdci and so will enquire with my garage.

Many car engines are very specific about the grade of 'engine' oil needed - are gearboxes similarly specific or is there a 'universally accepted' excellent product e.g. Injection Doc suggested that a synthetic gearbox oil would be the way to go? I daresay that too stiff a grade of oil could lead to reduced fuel efficiency?

BTW, DD, I've had the Astra for a year now, and I promised that I'd write a review. I must get round to it!

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Mon 21 Jan 2013 12:37
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Waino

It's been a while since I posted the original query but, at last, it seems like I have an answer.

The stiffness in shifting the gear-lever became very variable - most of the time OK but, at other times, very difficult. I wasn't really able to tie it in with any particular circumstances e.g. temperature or periods when the car wasn't used. There were references on the internet to technical service bulletins on the matter, but there didn't seem to be a clear-cut answer.

Recently, the gear-lever became significantly more difficult to move, in fact, my wife and son refused to drive the car so I mentioned it to my garage last week when the car went in for its annual service/MoT. I was prepared for the worst, but it turned out to be no more than the gear linkage that needed lubricating. The car is fine now.

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Mon 21 Jan 2013 16:10
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Happy Blue!

Wow - 22 months since last posting and coming back to update us. Thats really good - thank you.

Presumably the car is now seven years old. How is it fareing?

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Mon 21 Jan 2013 19:40
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - mss1tw

No point starting a new thread - Is there a cold weather related cause of this that isn't gearbox oil? I changed the gearbox oil in my Berlingo to the correct 75/80 when I first got it as it's done over 100k miles, but in this extreme cold it's a bit stiff till warmed up. Didn't want to come out of first easily this morning and into second made me glad I know how syncromesh works, to make things easy for it!

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Mon 21 Jan 2013 20:24
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Waino

"Is there a cold weather related cause of this that isn't gearbox oil?"

I assume by 'linkage' the garage was referring to the bits between the gear-lever and the gearbox. I suppose some systems could be more complex than others and if various joints are demanding lubrication, then could it be the cold affecting the lubricant on those joints?

It made one helluva lot of difference on the Astra - the difference between driveable and none-driveable!

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Mon 21 Jan 2013 19:59
Astra 1.3cdti - Cold weather affected gearbox? - Waino

Actually, I have posted several times in that 22 months, but on different topics. I've received a lot of good advice/information from this site over about 12 years so, if you have any further information that might help someone, then I guess it's only courteous to pass that information on. I'm certainly no mechanic, but I like to take an interest in how the car's performing.

The (estate) car will be 6 years old next month (it's a 56 reg/Feb '07); a friend had it as a hire car for his work for the first 3 years then, when he retired, he offered me first refusal on it. It cost £5.5K with 43K miles on the clock and the only reason he didn't buy it himself was that, as he was retiring, he wanted to treat himself to a brand new car. In the 3 years that I've had it, I've taken it up to 76K miles. He has some regrets about not hanging on to it.

OK, it doesn't have much grunt when pulling away from roundabouts, junctions etc but it isn't a bad utility vehicle. It is fine trundling along at 70mph, but is quieter at 80. My style is to drive at 60-70 and, on a recent 560 mile round trip mostly on motorways, it achieved 61.44mpg (brimmed test); I reckon there was enough fuel left in the tank to do another 100 miles. In cold weather with shorter journeys, however, economy can drop as low as 50mpg. The carrying capacity in the back is terrific - great for carrying band gear, and it's lowish and longish - great for carrying a 16' Canadian canoe on the roof bars.

I've heard various criticisms of the car but, I have to say, I'm very pleased with mine. Like others, I have observed an engine vibration at around1.7k revs but this hasn't got any worse and I can get round it by treating it as though I am in too high a gear.

(Touch wood) - it's costing peanuts to run!

Edited by Waino on 21/01/2013 at 20:01

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