Have been reading some forums with same issue im having. Stiff 1st 2nd gear changes. Gets a bit better when warm. Has anyone had this problem and a solution to it? Splines? Mesh? Slave cylinder? Clutch? Oil? Transmission mount?
understand could be either but read many has this problem but haven' found a solid solution or resolved thread.

 

A stiff gear change is almost always the linkage , worn bushes , bent linkage etc ,

 

yeah I understand this likeliness. Today for example was 0 degrees coldest its been since I had the car. It was worst stiffness today 1st 2nd gear after 20 mins driving it got slightly easier. Would this still indicate the above.. bushing linkage bent linkage? Just seems its worst when cold and today being proof of that

 

Its always the first place to look as its the cheap fix , could be the synchro but they usually last a long time like 300+ thousand miles ,but if you do a lot of small trips then much less , all the other options you mentioned you will have bad in all gears

 

thank your for the reply. I took it to a transmission specialist today. He took it for a drive and said defnitely not gearbox or linkage. Its the dual mass fly wheel. He said he wouldn't do anything about it just yet maybe in another 3 months as he's seen much worse. He getting back to me with a price.

 

Yes could be but then a bad dmf will course vibration and all gear changes will be bad , well its better than a gearbox , but still costly probably around R20k or in US 1k us
Now many km has the car done ?

 

all gear changes aren't perfect. Worse 1st 2nd and reverse and 3rd is semi stiff. He likened it to gears on a bike lower gears being the larger sprocket will be affected more. Said the gearbox is fine 103k miles the car has done

 

A stiff gear change is almost always the linkage , worn bushes , bent linkage etc ,

 

You can always do a drain fill on the gearbox. Most manuals use GL4 or GL5 (research what your car requires as there is a difference (GL4 is common for transmissions with brass synchos). You can find full synthetics for both GL4 and GL5 which will really help on cold days. If the car is still stiff after fresh gear oil, then think clutch/linkage. BTW this is a low-cost DIY task - not sure of the exact capacity but my guess is a 5-speed manual would take about 2 quarts of gear oil so I'd budget $50-75 for this one.