Notchiness - what is it

[Boston Fit]

Sorry if this is a newbie question, but what causes notchiness? Also, why is my shifter sometimes notchy and sometimes not?

[tankinbeans]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that a little more information is needed as to what you are referring to. In my car, and I'm still very much the noob myself, my shifter can be notchy when it is gold outside. The temperature makes the fluid a little more viscous and doesn't allow it to move as smoothly as when it warms up. Also, sometimes the synchros can be slightly misaligned trying to shift into first at a stop light/sign. In that case it's usually a good idea to cycle between 2nd and 3rd to line everything up properly.

If this hasn't helped, I apologize because I'm still trying to learn myself.

Good luck.

[kayubassist]

Because the weather is cold these days, I am also having problems with shifting from 1st to 2nd.
Sometimes it makes a loud banging noise, doesn't matter low or high rpm, it is very notchy. I don't know if moderate slope has got anything to do with it, but is certainly a lot notchier than flat ground.
So I try to double clutch everytime I shift to second or just skip second and go to third until car is warmed up.
Then again, I am a noob also, so when I miss the timing for shifting I just cruise in neutral until I can shift properly at the right rpm.

[tankinbeans]

Because the weather is cold these days, I am also having problems with shifting from 1st to 2nd.
Sometimes it makes a loud banging noise, doesn't matter low or high rpm, it is very notchy. I don't know if moderate slope has got anything to do with it, but is certainly a lot notchier than flat ground.
So I try to double clutch everytime I shift to second or just skip second and go to third until car is warmed up.
Then again, I am a noob also, so when I miss the timing for shifting I just cruise in neutral until I can shift properly at the right rpm.

The loud bang happens to me just about every morning, but it only happens once and then all is good. I think it's because I park with the right side of my car slightly higher than the left. I believe I've read, from Cow, that only one wheel is ever held in a parked state; maybe the way I park is putting more stress on the mechanism than usual.

EDIT: I just noticed a glaring error, and I had to fix it. Hire =/= higher.

[kayubassist]

Because the weather is cold these days, I am also having problems with shifting from 1st to 2nd.
Sometimes it makes a loud banging noise, doesn't matter low or high rpm, it is very notchy. I don't know if moderate slope has got anything to do with it, but is certainly a lot notchier than flat ground.
So I try to double clutch everytime I shift to second or just skip second and go to third until car is warmed up.
Then again, I am a noob also, so when I miss the timing for shifting I just cruise in neutral until I can shift properly at the right rpm.

The loud bang happens to me just about every morning, but it only happens once and then all is good. I think it's because I park with the right side of my car slightly hire than the left. I believe I've read, from Cow, that only one wheel is ever held in a parked state; maybe the way I park is putting more stress on the mechanism than usual.

same for me, driver's side is higher than the passenger's side and slightly uphill so the front is higher than rear.
and then, I start driving on a uphill and then downhill. usually the loud bang happens when I go on to the main road which is downhill.
sometimes, I just cruise down the hill in neutral if I miss the timing to shift to avoid the bang because it's just painful to hear that sound every morning.

[theholycow]

I believe I've read, from Cow, that only one wheel is ever held in a parked state;

Not exactly. Both wheels are held, but only one has to slip. Once one is slipping, the other will be allowed to turn.

I honestly can't imagine the "bang" that you guys are describing. I don't think I've ever experienced anything I'd described as an audible bang.

[tankinbeans]

I believe I've read, from Cow, that only one wheel is ever held in a parked state;

Not exactly. Both wheels are held, but only one has to slip. Once one is slipping, the other will be allowed to turn.

I honestly can't imagine the "bang" that you guys are describing. I don't think I've ever experienced anything I'd described as an audible bang.

Thanks for clearing that up. I knew I'd misunderstand something. The one that I'm referring to is one that you've already explained to me. It's not audible, but I can "hear" it through my hand. It's almost like one of those trapped door doohickeys where it's holding a load and you pop it open. Once you pop it open the pressure it releases and you can kind of feel it recoil.

[4onthefloor]

When it's cold outside (which it often is in Canada) it feels like I can feel every tooth on the gear when I try to shift. Even once it warms up, the shifts are still noticeably notchy.

Overall a crappy transmission.

[AHTOXA]

I believe I've read, from Cow, that only one wheel is ever held in a parked state;

Not exactly. Both wheels are held, but only one has to slip. Once one is slipping, the other will be allowed to turn.

I honestly can't imagine the "bang" that you guys are describing. I don't think I've ever experienced anything I'd described as an audible bang.

I think I know what these guys are talking about. I get a rare clunk upon clutch disengagement. Often caused when I slightly mistime my throttle and clutch input. Most often when I'm half asleep, woke up 20 minutes ago and now driving to work.

Happened with all my manual vehicles.

[Boston Fit]

Thanks guys, the notchiness I experience is nothing close to a bang. It's just a slight click that happens as the shifter goes into gear. But at other times it's buttery smooth and I don't know if it depends on the revs or if my car's grumpy, or what. I'm really just curious more than anything else. It doesn't seem to be climate related.

[theholycow]

An occasional non-smooth engagement is normal. You've got spinning metal things with teeth that need to get jammed into holes to stop the spinning...the synchronizers do a good job of matching everything up but can't do it perfectly every time, sometimes teeth will miss their hole for a moment before catching.

If you think it might be worse than it should be, your best bet is to have someone with experience drive it and give you their opinion. Perhaps someone from this site is in your area?

[camera_man]

I also think some of the notchiness you might be asking about refers to the normal shifting feel of the car. Some transmissions are buttery smooth while shifting from one gear to the next. There's almost no effort to move the shifter, the syncros work silently in the background, and everything tends to glide around. On the other hand, there are some transmission in which you can really feel each gear as it engages or disengages. You can also clearly feel each gate for each different gear, and the whole shifting process has a much for 'mechanical' feel to it. That's what I tend to call a notchy transmission feel.

[AHTOXA]

Compared to my old Vw, my jeep is very notchy.

[Rope-Pusher]

Notcherly!
All things being equal, if you hung the Jeep's clutch in the input shaft for the VW, the VW shifting would become more notchy. Bigger, wider gears the Jeep needs would also increase the inertia that must be overcome to shift the VW. Yes, you can design to minimize these effects - multi-cone synchronizers, dual-disk clutches and changes to the transmission layout can make a high torque capacity transmission shift better.

[bk7794]

I get that when it is cold. I think its because the oil is cold, after that it does not really do that. Must be that the synchronizer is not doing a good enough job and the gear is still spinning. Plain and simple the oil is cold..my 2 cents.