I have on 03 S that recently had its 30k mile service. This problem has progressed slowly over the past few days, but today it has gotten really bad. When the car is stopped, it takes a lot of force to shift into gear, any gear. Reverse is the worse, and it almost takes 2 hands to get it into gear. Once I get the car is moving, I can freely shift between any gear just like nothing is wrong.

Even if I have it in 1st while the car is stopped, put in the clutch, take it out of 1st, and immediately try to go back into 1st, it is still takes way too much force.

I have an appointment with the dealer, but they can't get to it for 2 days. Just wanted to see if anyone here has had similar problems or might have an idea as to what is wrong.

 

I don't know what's the problem but in my car if your at a stop try putting it in 3rd gear real quick without moving or releasing the clutch then put it in 1st, it makes it go alot more smoothly into 1st.

 

Might want to have them both flush the clutch hydrolic fluid and change the tranny oil. Both can make gear engagement sticky as you describe.

 

Maybe the dealership put the wrong oil in the transmission (or none at all!). Its not part of the 30k service though - what exactly did the dealership do?

 

Occasionally I have trouble going into reverse, it seems to mainly happen only when I am stopped on an incline. I haven't had a chance to get the tran. fluid changed yet. Let us know if you get the clutch fluid changed too. I am interested to hear what helps you. As far as the other gears I can freely go from 1-6. Reverse just gives me some trouble only on the incline.

 

It sounds almost like your clutch is not fully disengaging. Have you looked at the clutch fluid level lately?

 

Bad clutch master cylinder....or clutch plate

I had the same problem. (Both actually)

Better get the charge card ready......

John

 

Same.
Had all my fluids redone and still have the problem. It goes away when the car's been driven for about 10 minutes or so, or when I slip it into first as the car is coming to a stop. Just learned to live with it.

 

I checked the clutch fluid, and it was a little low. It was below the MIN line by about 1/2 an inch. I added some fluid last night to bring it up to the right level, but it didn't seem to help this morning.

The thing that seemed odd was that the fluid looked fairly dirty. I don't have much experience with clutch fluid, but I expected it to be somewhat transparent, while this was kind of a chalky grey.

 

Sounds to me like you need to have the hydrolic system flushed, and blead. The drop in fluid level could just be due to clutch disk wear, but might also indicate a leak somewhere, so look for any signs of leakage just in case. Getting clean fluid in the system and bleeding it may or may not solve your problem, but you need to eleminate it as a possibliby.