jWESTFOO

Does anyone else notice that their power train in general behaves better and feels tighter when the car is still below normal operating temps? I get so much less drive train noise and slop during this time than I do after having driven for an hour or so around town. Maybe this is normal, but it just goes against what I've been told in the past about waiting for your car to warm up before full power train use.

Sabre

It seems to me that when all the fluids are cold, they'd be thicker and therefore there would be less "slop" as you say.
Personally, I have always felt the opposite. To me, when the car is cold it always feels a bit more resistant and unwilling due to that same effect

kaotik25

^ I agree, i've always felt the opposite. I have a 2001 AP1 with 110k tranny. I only use Honda MTF in my tranny and with a cold start the shifting is very notchy and resistance to get into gear - i have to almost force it. Once the car warms up and been driving for about 20 mins everything is smmoooth as butter. Shifting is almost effortless and it would seem as if i'm sliding into the gear (love the feeling).

Scenemaker

I'm a new owner as of about a month ago. I learned very quickly that even when my engine temp gets into the "normal" range, I still need to give everything a few more minutes of driving to feel right. Shifting is rough until about 10 minutes into the drive. Took 2 2nd gear grinds to learn this. Once warmed up, I can slam gears all day without a grind. The 2 times it happened, I was really worried that I needed new synchros and perhaps this is a sign that I do. Anyway, long story short here, I feel the exact opposite over the OPs statement.

Kenshyn

Every morning when I leave for work, I swear everything feels better and smoother, but I also have to shift slower than normal from 1-2 so the car doesn't jerk.
I feel the same as you do jwestfoo.

I should note the last time rear end/trans/clutch fluid was changed was 3 yrs/40k miles ago; they need changed again.

BuellRunner

Mine like to be warm.....I always take it easy until warm.

jWESTFOO

The hell of it is my trans and diff fluids were just changed less than 1000 miles ago. Still need to change my clutch fluid though, maybe that will make a difference, but I'm not so sure.