URGENT HELP NEEDED Transmission Problem!

[ddouglas77]

As some may already know, I'm currently unemployed. Today I went to a friend's house to look at painting the inside for her for cash to pay mortgage. On the way there, 23 miles, the car ran fine. 5th gear all over the highway. I take the exit I needed to, put the car in 1rst gear, turned right, shifted into 2nd and then when I went into 3rd, the engine over revved like I was in nuetral. I pulled out, went back in-same thing. I pulled into a hotel drive way, went into 2nd, then into nuetral-parked the car. I got back in after getting directions, 1rst gear, 2nd and then 3rd. Red light, tried to put the car in 1rst and it stalled out the car. Long story short, by the time I got there and for my entire ride home, I only had 4th gear. With the car in any gear, the tranny locks up-for instance, on the street on a hill, with my foot on the clutch and the car in 1rst, the car would not roll backwards, if I put it into nuetral-which for some reason is actually 4th now-it would roll. 1, 2, 5 and reverse the car would not roll even with the clutch in. 3rd, neutral and 4th gear are all 4th gear for some reason. PLEASE HELP!! What is the problem???

[lowmileage]

maybe clutch slave? Check the resoviour. Is it toped up with fluid or did it leak out.

[ddouglas77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowmileage maybe clutch slave? Check the resoviour. Is it toped up with fluid or did it leak out.

[ddouglas77]

Car is in the driveway, just rechecked everything. It goes into all gears (not running or moving), however, nuetral is still not nuetral, it is still 4th. The gear shift lever wobbles around like it is in N, but I can't push the car (no the parking brake is not on)...What the hell is going on!!?? Is 4th gear on it's own shaft, could the other shafts bearings have locked up? What makes 4th so damn special???!!!

[bianchi1]

a few people here have said' have you checked your pinch bolt' on the shift lever..is it tight? is it still there? you might want to replace it with a grade 8 bolt and nut...it is just above the gearbox housing, just underneath the rubber bellows..

[pillowmeto]

while you have the boot off to check the pinch bolt, check to see if the vent bolts are tight. On each side of the shifter tower of the transmission, there is a small metal piece held in w/ 2 bolts, and a small metal screen vent on the top of it. These pieces also hold a trunnion which is the main shifting selector, and if one of these come loose it could cause all sort of weird shifting problems.

These may be very difficult or impossible to see from in the car with the boot off, but you can see them from underneath with some flexibility, they are definitely worth checking.


If the passenger side one is loose it could cause 1st gear on the shifter to select 3rd or R and 2nd to select 4th, it is also possible that it would cause you to select 4th instead of 2nd when it is somewhat loose, and seconds later when it very loose the trunnion would of moved too much to take the car back out of gear.


Just a thought, maybe it will help.

[ddouglas77]

Thank you, I'll check into that!

[ddouglas77]

LOL-Not funny, but somewhat. The lube was full, I went ahead and drained, came out nice and clean (Photos show the drain plug magnet) not hardly any metal on the magnet at all. Curiously though, a bolt and tab came out with the lube (reason for the laughing-the problem has shown itself), question now being-HAS ANYONE SEEN THESE BITS OF HARDWARE IN A TRANNY??????

[GTVdrifter]

That is a very specific bolt that holds the 3 different shift forks to the the 3 respective shift rails. There should also be a square flat washer with fine teeth on one side floating around in there. From your description, it sounds like the 3rd/ 4th shift fork is stuck in the 4th position. The bolt explains how that would be possible without anything breaking. If you select any gear other than 4th, the box is in 2 gears at the same time and will try to explode. You have no choice but to remove the gearbox from the car and split it open. If you need to move the car or roll it on its wheels, remove the 4 bolts that connect the driveline to the differential. I reccommend looking very carefully at the cases when you do get it apart. Trying to roll while in 2 gears at once puts a huge amount of force on the delicate aluminum.

Good luck.

[pillowmeto]

I am here to confirm what gtvdrifter said.

It is definitely the bolt that holds the shift fork to the shift rod. You will most likely want to buy a new lock tab for it, and when you put it back in, you might want to use some red thread locker on that one, and inspect the bolts on the other 2 shift forks.

The bad news is that the transmission needs to come out of the car and come apart, the good news it that it does not need to be completly disassembled and the bolt isnt hard to get back in.

[crashmctavish]

Its the bolt that holds the selector fork in place. Transmission overhaul is a must, expect to replace all synchros & sleeves. probably about £500 in parts alone. Ive recently done mine for much the same reason.

[ddouglas77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crashmctavish Its the bolt that holds the selector fork in place. Transmission overhaul is a must, expect to replace all synchros & sleeves. probably about £500 in parts alone. Ive recently done mine for much the same reason.

[crashmctavish]

You know best!

[ddouglas77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crashmctavish You know best!

[crashmctavish]

URGENT HELP NEEDED Transmission Problem!
You asked for help & I have given it. Strip the transmission, you will find burnt blue syncho sleeves. Expect to spend £500 on parts. Been there done that. Regards C Mct