MT82 1-2 nibble, root cause?

[stevbd]

I know this is an old subject but after all these years is there a consensus on an established root cause for the 1-2 "nibble" on my 2011 GT with the early MT82?

On my car it's always been there mostly unchanged since I bought the car with ~25K miles. Currently at 160k. It's always been hard to shift 1-2 when cold so I go 1-3 (which is fine) until things warm up. 1-2 is better when warm but will still nibble if I go straight 1-2 shifting at lower rpm. Shifts smoothly if I let it the shifter drop briefly into neutral between 1 and 2. The 1-4 skip shift feature is untouched and the light occasionally will light up on the dash but I get the 1-2 nibble at lower rpm regardless if the skip shift light comes on or not. Oddly, the 1-2 shift is perfect when warm if I wind out 1st a bit, at about 4500 rpm or up it goes 1-2 just perfect. All other up and down shifts are fine. Hasn't gotten worse or better with age. Currently running BG Syncro Shift. Compared to factory fill, the BG seems a little better when warm and a little worse when cold.

I'm confused why 1-2 is fine when winding out 1st but is crunchy when I shift 1-2 at low rpms? I can understand and am okay with shifts being notchier when cold of course.

Does this seem like a 1-2 syncro issue, a fluid issue, or something else? And could the 1-4 skip-shift feature possibly have anything to do with this if the light is not coming on on the dash? Is there some mechanical aspect to the 1-4 skip-shift feature that could be causing this 1-2 low rpm nibble even when the skip-shift feature isn't activating (at least not according to the dash light)? And would the upgraded syncros in these MT82 upgrade kits be a benefit?

Thanks for any help or advice, much appreciated.

 

[JDee]

You're lucky it still even works at 160k miles! Be happy!
Bottom line, the MT-82 is a junk gearbox and throwing piles of money at it might, or might not, help the situation. People have tried all kinds of fluids and there's no magic bullet.
If that was my car, I'd learn to live with it and carry on doing exactly what you're doing. They do far worse things than what you're experiencing, I'd say yours is a keeper.

 

[JAJ]

I know this is an old subject but after all these years is there a consensus on an established root cause for the 1-2 "nibble" on my 2011 GT with the early MT82?

On my car it's always been there mostly unchanged since I bought the car with ~25K miles. Currently at 160k. It's always been hard to shift 1-2 when cold so I go 1-3 (which is fine) until things warm up. 1-2 is better when warm but will still nibble if I go straight 1-2 shifting at lower rpm. Shifts smoothly if I let it the shifter drop briefly into neutral between 1 and 2. The 1-4 skip shift feature is untouched and the light occasionally will light up on the dash but I get the 1-2 nibble at lower rpm regardless if the skip shift light comes on or not. Oddly, the 1-2 shift is perfect when warm if I wind out 1st a bit, at about 4500 rpm or up it goes 1-2 just perfect. All other up and down shifts are fine. Hasn't gotten worse or better with age. Currently running BG Syncro Shift. Compared to factory fill, the BG seems a little better when warm and a little worse when cold.

I'm confused why 1-2 is fine when winding out 1st but is crunchy when I shift 1-2 at low rpms? I can understand and am okay with shifts being notchier when cold of course.

Does this seem like a 1-2 syncro issue, a fluid issue, or something else? And could the 1-4 skip-shift feature possibly have anything to do with this if the light is not coming on on the dash? Is there some mechanical aspect to the 1-4 skip-shift feature that could be causing this 1-2 low rpm nibble even when the skip-shift feature isn't activating (at least not according to the dash light)? And would the upgraded syncros in these MT82 upgrade kits be a benefit?

Thanks for any help or advice, much appreciated.

I had one of the same cars - 2011 GT Brembo - with the same issue. I tried about $500 worth of different gear oils and what eventually fixed it for me was the current MT82 fluid (XT-11-QDC) combined with a bottle of XL-18 additive. Much better shifting than the original (thick) oil, particularly on 1-2. Most of the aftermarket "best of breed" oils really didn't work any better than what came in the car in the first place.

 

[302BOB]

The 1-4 skip shift feature

I got rid of that skip shift "feature" the 1st month of owning my Boss.........It was the MOST annoying POS "feature" I EVER encountered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....That probably won't help your troubles, but it sure helped my peace of mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.............ALL Stangs deserved a Tremec..............Even Ford knows that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[stevbd]

Thanks for the replies.

@JDee I try to have a decent amount of mechanical sympathy or maybe I just got a decent one. Or maybe I just drive it like a wimp, I don't know. I will say, my car is totally stock drivetrain and tune including the stock 6900 rpm redline and stock torque which I think makes a big difference. I do get high rpm lockout but I'm still on the original clutch so I feel that is to be expected and isn't really the transmission's fault per se. I hear you on the "junk gearbox" thing but on the other hand mine has served me pretty well over all these years and miles and I wouldn't mind just fixing this 1-2 nibble if I can figure out what is causing it.

@JAJ thanks for the heads up on that fluid combo, I think I will try that next.

Does it make sense to anyone why the 1-2 shift is glitchy at low revs and smooth at high revs?

 

[Beermoney]

Thanks for the replies.

@JDee I try to have a decent amount of mechanical sympathy or maybe I just got a decent one. Or maybe I just drive it like a wimp, I don't know. I will say, my car is totally stock drivetrain and tune including the stock 6900 rpm redline and stock torque which I think makes a big difference. I do get high rpm lockout but I'm still on the original clutch so I feel that is to be expected and isn't really the transmission's fault per se. I hear you on the "junk gearbox" thing but on the other hand mine has served me pretty well over all these years and miles and I wouldn't mind just fixing this 1-2 nibble if I can figure out what is causing it.

@JAJ thanks for the heads up on that fluid combo, I think I will try that next.

Does it make sense to anyone why the 1-2 shift is glitchy at low revs and smooth at high revs?

It would be hard to answer. It has plastic shift fork pads from the factory, they may have been abused before you got it causing a slight misalignment. Possibly a slightly misaligned shifter.

All that said you wouldn't know until you took some things apart, which isn't worth it if it's just a slight annoyance.

 

[JDee]

I had one of the same cars - 2011 GT Brembo - with the same issue. I tried about $500 worth of different gear oils and what eventually fixed it for me was the current MT82 fluid (XT-11-QDC) combined with a bottle of XL-18 additive. Much better shifting than the original (thick) oil, particularly on 1-2. Most of the aftermarket "best of breed" oils really didn't work any better than what came in the car in the first place.

Major brain fart.
I completely forgot that my first Mustang was a 2011 GT Brembo car as well, I bought it in '13 or '14. It was an optioned out luxo barge that I bought used from the original owner. It was famous for not wanting to go into 1st gear when cold, and crunching on the first 1-2 shift of the day. I tried a couple of different gear oils, BG being one of them, and nothing made any difference at all.
Seems like ancient history now, in a way it is.

 

[stevbd]

@Beermoney Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping that after all these years, and with the 1-2 crunch having been such a common problem, that a clear understanding would have formed by now as to the basic cause and fix. Unfortunately, so far these responses make it seem like that isn't the case. Maybe fluid, maybe shift pads, maybe something else, get a Tremec!

EDIT - My understanding is the 1-2 crunch especially when cold was/is very common on these early MT82's, which suggests to me some design or manufacturing defect that might be fixed as opposed to damage from misuse? What that design or manufacturing defect is, I don't know and that is what I am trying to figure out. Thanks all.

 

[NGOT8R]

@stevbd, you could try the new aftermarket carbon fiber lined synchros. I just put some from SynchroTech in my transmission during the rebuild. I have a 2019 Bullitt and did have an occasional nibble too. Aside from that, I wasn’t having any real trouble with mine and the gears and synchros looked perfect, although the 3/4 synchro inner ring did have most of the coating worn off of it. This was at a mere 6400 miles on the tranny.

If you do decide to upgrade the synchros, I would recommend upgrading to billet shift forks and changing the input, output and countershaft bearings too for durability, since the whole thing will have to be torn apart to change the synchros anyway. FYI, I‘ve only found billet shift forks for 1/2 and 3/4. For gears 5/6 and reverse (in your model year MT82), I believe you can upgrade to bronze shift fork pads.

 

[Beermoney]

@stevbd, you could try the new aftermarket carbon fiber lined synchros. I just put some from SynchroTech in my transmission during the rebuild. I have a 2019 Bullitt and did have an occasional nibble too. Aside from that, I wasn’t having any real trouble with mine and the gears and synchros looked perfect, although the 3/4 synchro inner ring did have most of the coating worn off of it. This was at a mere 6400 miles on the tranny.

If you do decide to upgrade the synchros, I would recommend upgrading to billet shift forks and changing the input, output and countershaft bearings too for durability, since the whole thing will have to be torn apart to change the synchros anyway. FYI, I‘ve only found billet shift forks for 1/2 and 3/4. For gears 5/6 and reverse (in your model year MT82), I believe you can upgrade to bronze shift fork pads.

Not sure they make the billet shift forks for the non D4 transmissions. If they do, I'm unaware of where to get them.

 

[NGOT8R]

Not sure they make the billet shift forks for the non D4 transmissions. If they do, I'm unaware of where to get them.

My bad, you are correct. The best that non D4 owners can do is weld up shift forks, add bronze pads and upgraded synchros.

 

[twistedneck]

A lot of transmissions have issues with gear nibble or even a crunch at cold temps.. you need to avoid that until it warms up. My STI had it, my mustang has it.. Its not something to worry about but for gods sake don't let it happen, like you said OP go to third for a while. Root cause is syncro design the fluid just is a fix (that thin twin clutch fluid must do something to fix it). I swapped my MT82 at 25k it was getting a bit loud, its still going strong un-rebuilt in a car that road races and drag races. my new Calimer stage 1 is also fine and very quiet although it has a tiny amount of lock out at high RPM i think my clutch is finally going.