Hey All,

It finally got ***** cold in Chicago. I've got a '08 G35xS 5AT which just rolled 36k miles. Mechanically I have never had an issue. Drove the car to work today and it sat until I left for the day. Today the high was 10 degrees so I started the car up and let it run for about a minute and then drove it a 1/2 mile to the hwy keeping it under 3k rpm. Upon merging onto the hwy, I noticed that the car wouldn't shift into 5th. I tried manual mode and it wouldn't budge. Now I'm going 75 in 4th when the car finally shifted. Total run time until it shifted into 5th was probably 10 minutes.

Do I chalk this up to uber cold weather and not enough warm up time? It's going to be colder tomorrow and I'll see if it happens again.

 

The car probably didn't want to shift to 5th until it was up to a normal operating temp. Staying at 4th would have warmed the engine a bit quicker

 

willdogs is correct

 

Thanks for the quick replies! I'll let it warm up longer tomorrow.

 

when below freezing its always a good idea to warm up the car for at least 2 mins.

 

I wonder if, besides the engine temp, is there a minimum tranny fluid temp threshold that is required? The tranny temp doesn't intially come up to an operating temp as quickly as the engine does, and idling doesn't really give it much of a workout to generate friction/heat in the fluid.

 

On cold mornings Always let your car warm up.If you have to get up early for wrk give your self time every morning to warm it up..its been between 13-28 degrees the last few days at my place so i have needed to give myself a couple extra minutes for my infiniti to warm up.also keep an eye onn your tranny fluid in cold weather.

 

Thanks all. I think I will need to drive it a little longer before getting on the highway.

 

I drove my 07G on many 10F (-12C) days, and colder, and never saw a time where it wouldn't shift into 5th after 10 minutes of driving. That is odd.
FWIW, 75mph in 4th won't hurt anything other than gas mileage.

 

Thanks. It's currently 1 degree outside and I don't plan on leaving the office until it's time to go home. I'll see what happens today. I'm due for an oil change soon so I'll bring it up with the dealer.

WATERLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I've been to Sports World many many years ago. =P

 

Sports World was in Kitchener. Most parts of it where sold, and relocated at different owners venues around the region.
It's now a strip mall and an Ice Hockey Complex.

 

OK, did it having any trouble shhifting BEFORE 10 minutes though? Like, after just 2 or 3 minutes, because that sounds like what he described in his first post.

 

He said it was at about the 10 min mark before it would shift to 5th. Poor choice of wording, to say 'after', in my comment.
No, I never ever had any issues with the car shifting.

 

It was 10 degrees when I left yesterday. Let the car warm up for at least 2 minutes. Took a different route to the highway that allowed the car to shift up to 4th a few times. By the time I hit the highway car shifted into 5th with no issues. Probably gonna chalk it up to not enough warm up time for the trans.

However, when I started the car my iPod started to play. Which is weird beacuse I always turn off the radio before I turn off the car...And I was also listening to the radio in the morning, not my iPod LOL!