Reverse takes long to enaged when car is cold

[davidTT]

hello,
I have the the 2000 model, I have noticed, that when the engine has been now started, the transmission takes about 2 seconds to enage the reverse. Over a month after that it has started to take longer than that. When the car has been driven for a minute or so and i test the reverse, it works fine. The drive works better than the reverse when cold, however there are some sign of sluggishness. I am using the Castrol DEX.MERC and was changed about 15000 KM ago, the fluid is clean and smells good. I am thinking about changing to a mobil 1 due to its boasting viscosity. Any suggestions would helpful. The car is doing 206,000KM right now. and only started to have the reverse issue like this about 10KM ago.

I heard of additives, but i am not sure.

fluid level is fine.

[fishexpo101]

How often are you changing the transaxle fluid? Is it done on a regular basis? Do you do a drain and refill or flush? Has the transaxle filter been cleaned/replaced?

Could be a number of things happening here. Since you recently changed the fluid, I'd hold off on the Mobil 1 synthetic (you'll need to change all of it to get the maximum benefit - something on the order of 12 quarts of ATF). If the ambient temperatures are very cold, the transaxle can feel sluggish - it only becomes a problem if the transaxle continues with this sluggish behavior when it fully warms up.

Normally, I don't like to use additives, they tend to cause problems down the road by masking more serious issues, but they can be useful for short term diagnostics. Try something like Seafoam automatic transmission additive. May take a couple of thousand miles before it starts to do something - as this is a slower working additive. Will also thin out the fluid, decreasing its viscosity - so it can check and see if the Dexron/Mercon ATF you have in there is the issue. Others have used AutoRx additives as well - depending on where you are located, one might be easier to get a hold of than the other.

[davidTT]

hey, what usually is done is the simple remove drain plug, let it run out, start the engine for half a minute and stop, and then more fluid runs out. before that 55,000 km ago, the filter was cleaned. I am in a country that is generally warm, no low temps, so its really about the cold start when the car starts after being off for a while. I am thinking that since after the car is driven and gets hotter, it responds better, that it may be a poor fluid viscosity? but to tell you the truth, the problem seems to be getting more apparent when when its warmer. I am thinking to change out the transmission on the whole, but just wondering if a more viscous fluid will solve the prob

[davidTT]

the last time i changed fluid as well, the vehicle was completly cold, so i got most out as well. I was ablet to put in more than 4 quarts to replace the old fluid.