Just went out to my car, and its like the gearbox was frozen, stick would move back and fore, but not side to side.

Left it running for a bit, then tried again, after a bit of pulling, it seemed to release.

Was -8 last night, could it just be a frozen linkage?, or something more sinister?

could be like that, my lupo suffers from the cold too, for the first kilometers its very hard to shift in todays -15°C. How long till i need to make a fire under the oilpan, like the russian truckers?

I think in your case that the linkage is/was frozen.

Quote from danowat :

Just went out to my car, and its like the gearbox was frozen, stick would move back and fore, but not side to side.

Left it running for a bit, then tried again, after a bit of pulling, it seemed to release.

Was -8 last night, could it just be a frozen linkage?, or something more sinister?

Yeah, I had something similar too: the movement wasn't limited like yours, but you could feel that the oil was close to being frozen and wasn't providing much lubrication... Not fun... :/

yeah probably frozen linkage
check your coolant too in this weather i wouldnt bet on having enough antifreeze in it

it snow day to park your car outside

Pop the bonnet, find the linkage, soak the thing in WD40, that should cure any freezing issues.

I did that on friday morning after spending about 15 minutes trying to get into my roadster as the doors had frozen shut, once i got in i covered all the seals in WD40 and it hasn't frozen shut since.

Cheers guys, I'll try the WD40 thing.

Might be time for an oil change, I'd assume the engine and gearbox share the oil on my car? (Pug 307 HDi)

I wouldn't have thought so, as engine oil is rather different from gearbox oil. I'd almost put money on them being separate.

Yep, they will be seperate, unless you drive an austin mini or a metro, as they had/have shared engine/gearbox oil.

My neighbor takes a leak on his mk1 golf's gearbox before he leaves for work in the mornings

Quote from tristancliffe :

I wouldn't have thought so, as engine oil is rather different from gearbox oil. I'd almost put money on them being separate.

Maybe its time for a gearbox oil change , its done nearly 100'000 miles.

yeah, not a bad idea, i would stick some of this stuff in there with the new oil as well, keeps everything extra super lubricated!