164Q - won't take reverse in the morning

["Glenn Wasserman" <glennwa@domain.elided>]

As the weather has turned cold, I have found that my car won't allow me to shift it into reverse until it has warmed up sufficiently.
 
I am not talking about a grinding, I'm talking about the fact that the shifter will move halfway down in the far-right detent, but feel as if it's hitting a wall that won't move. I have never (and will never) "muscle" the car into gear, so the only solution is to just wait till the car warms up a bit, and then it goes right into gear.
 
Yes, I am pulling the ring - it wouldn't allow me to move the shifter down at all unless I were pulling the ring properly.
 
Should I get the dead dinosaurs out of the gearbox and go with a synthetic? Which oil should I use?
 
Is changing the gear oil in a 24-valve 164 any easier than on the rear-transaxle cars?
 
Thanks,
-Glenn
'94 164Q (chilly right now, with hard-reverse-shifting and non-working bunwamers)
'93 Spider Veloce (settling in for light duty over the winter)

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