My box resists shifting on cold mornings
 

Need to change transmission oil? 123k on an 03. Works great over 70 degrees F.

Mine (2003 S manual) is the same, even with new transmission oil. Only from 1st to 2nd, when cold.

Mine got a little better after a transx oil change but especially when cold it is slow to shift. Once the car warms up, it is much better.

Ever since I bought the car 39,000 km it has not liked to shift from first to second when cold

If you are not using Porsche approved transmission oil that could be your problem. I had the issue and switched oil and it cleared up the issue for me.

Do you have the name of the oil? I'm assuming the oil in my transmission is from whenever the dealer would have changed it last.

This issue has popped up for me too. It just refuses to go into 3rd gear some cold mornings until I wiggle it around or shift into another gear then try 3rd again. But then it'll be fine for another month. No other issues once it shifts into 3rd. Replaced the motor mount several months ago which can cause shifting problems.

Not for me. My transmission has Porsche oil and it shifts poorly from 1st to 2nd when cold. Maybe the fact that you live in SC where it doesn't get that cold has something to do with your not having the cold shifting problem.

that is probably it, in the summer i never have the problem just in the colder months

that is common on manual gearboxes which use 75w90 gear oil (also known as extreme pressure grease) use of a high quality synthetic oil will help, ford's motorcraft oil used in the miatas works very well. but the only real fix is to let the car warm up before driving it. shifting will always be heavier before the gear oil gets up to operating temp. if you leave the car idling, transmission in neutral foot off the clutch, for about two minutes before driving off it will be a lot better.

At least I'm not the only one. Very tough getting in second until it warms up a few minutes. Has always been that way.

Ya, and don't even think about reverse in the morning cold! I changed tranny juice with Porsche approved fluid, still difficult when cold.

Its more important to have the transaxle warm that it is the motor. reason being the the clearances are much tighter.The only part on a motor car that has very tight tolerances maybe except for the plain bearings.

Shell Spirax S5 ATE 75W-90

Please note that there are different Shell Spirax ATE oils available. You'll need the S5 with API GL-4/5 spec and Porsche homologation.

Regards from germany
Markus