Frozen (literally) Manual Transmission

[JKP]

This past few weeks in Dallas, the weather has gotten down to very cold (12 degrees). I had not driven the car in about a week and wen't to start it and realized the manual shifter would not move out of gear. It was frozen in place. I was able to force it into Neutral and start the car, but the shifter would not move left and right in neutral like normal. After about 5 minutes the shifter started to move more freely again like it never happened. Not sure if it was something in the linkage or what, but just a heads up to anyone who lives in cold weather areas, you may want to make sure the car is in neutral if you shut it down in the cold so you don't have to force it back into neutral from a gear in order to start it. No issue since, but never experienced this issued before in my life with a manual transmission car.

 

[SJM]

Did you drive in wet weather before parking up?
If so, maybe linkages on the gearbox end iced up.

 

[JKP]

Did you drive in wet weather before parking up?
If so, maybe linkages on the gearbox end iced up.

Possibly, it was very foggy prior so that could have been the case.

 

[netsinah]

As suggested by SJM above, it sounds like you've got something going on, unrelated to just the "cold" weather. 12 degrees Fahrenheit translates into minus 11 degrees Celsius, which isn't terribly cold. Admittedly, I say this from the "Great White North" (Canada) perspective, where our winters go to minus 40 degrees Celsius or worse, especially with wind chill, for some 2 weeks/year. The UK gets average winter temperatures of 2 to 7 degrees Celsius, along with rain/wind/humidity. The average February humidity levels in the UK, exceed those in Dallas. So your Emira should operate AOK at 12 degrees Fahrenheit. A trip to the dealer may be in order.

 

[JKP]

As suggested by SJM above, it sounds like you've got something going on, unrelated to just the "cold" weather. 12 degrees Fahrenheit translates into minus 11 degrees Celsius, which isn't terribly cold. Admittedly, I say this from the "Great White North" (Canada) perspective, where our winters go to minus 40 degrees Celsius or worse, especially with wind chill, for some 2 weeks/year. The UK gets average winter temperatures of 2 to 7 degrees Celsius, along with rain/wind/humidity. The average February humidity levels in the UK, exceed those in Dallas. So your Emira should operate AOK at 12 degrees Fahrenheit. A trip to the dealer may be in order.

Yeah, I'm scheduled for a parking sensor replacement next week so I'm going to have them take a look just to be safe.

 

[cyanmauve]

As suggested by SJM above, it sounds like you've got something going on, unrelated to just the "cold" weather. 12 degrees Fahrenheit translates into minus 11 degrees Celsius, which isn't terribly cold. Admittedly, I say this from the "Great White North" (Canada) perspective, where our winters go to minus 40 degrees Celsius or worse, especially with wind chill, for some 2 weeks/year. The UK gets average winter temperatures of 2 to 7 degrees Celsius, along with rain/wind/humidity. The average February humidity levels in the UK, exceed those in Dallas. So your Emira should operate AOK at 12 degrees Fahrenheit. A trip to the dealer may be in order.

I’m a couple of hours south of Dallas in Waco.

To me and most Texans, anything below 70 is cold, and anything below 30 is hell.

I wouldn’t last more than 2 days in a Canadian winter.

You should come visit in January or February for a good laugh. Whole cities shut down if there’s even a chance of precipitation when it dips below freezing. The grocery store shelves look like they did during Covid, as people store up food like we’ll be snowed in for 3 weeks.

 

[Beachbum]

Try the UK. We rampage through supermarkets if it gets too hot, then do the same if there is even a hint of snow in the winter
Our railways grind to halt in the heat because the rails warp and in the autumn because there are leaves on the line(I jest not)
If there is one country worse than the UK in coping with "expected" weather, I've yet to hear of it

 

[Porter]

I wonder if there is moisture in the shifter cables and it froze?

 

[JKP]

I wonder if there is moisture in the shifter cables and it froze?

Dunno, have not had any issue since. I suspect the fog or water froze on something, because nothing seems out of sorts now.