[aznsaab]

I'm having trouble getting the car into first and second. I usually have to move the shifter around a bit to get it to go into first or second. It feels like something is blocking the shifter from moving into position but after I move it around it finally goes in. It generally happens when I'm down shifting, Like going around a corner into second, or starting from a stop in first. When I come back to the left of the gear pattern I feel the blockage. Once I do get it to engage either first or second, I can shift between the two just fine. I hope this wasn't to confusing, Any ideas??

on another note, I finally got my clutch finished. Thanks to everyone who provided the help and advice. The sachs clutch works Great!

 

[yfs87]

does pulling up on the reverse lockout slider help?

 

[SteveTheFolkie]

I'd suggest you're trying to rush the shift. My '85 did the exact same thing on downshifts - there was no way I could do a quick downshift - had to wait a bit then she'd go in smooth as silk. I can't say I ever downshifted to 1st while in motion - I'm just thinking about the 3->2 downshift ....

 

[GearHead]

your shifter may be slightly out of alignment
your slave could be slightly dieing(thats my 1990's problem)
your motor mounts could be toast allowing movement of the engine/tranny creating the "blockage"

 

[aznsaab]

I know it's not option two. Just replaced that. (unless it's defective) Anyway to diagnose whether it's suspect 1 or 3?

 

[jetman]

Perhaps you need to re-bleed the slave (or its out of alignment)

Many of these things are just hard to down shift into 2nd at this point in the game. (no synchros on 1st anyway so its going to be tough)

Blip the throttle going in and it might be easier.

 

[aznsaab]

No, the reverse lockout doesn't help. I'm thinking the shift linkage maybee?

 

[K-900]

Try the shift linkage, i had the same problem on my old T16. It had a small oil leak, which leaked over the linkage rubber, and it deteriorated.

I lost first and second, a lot of people on here (no hard feelings ) told me my box needed replacing. I refused to believe and I got under it with a friend moving the shifter. I spotted the problem right away, and cable tied it until I got a replacement part

Hope this helps!

Kenny.

 

[jetman]

I lost first and second, a lot of people on here (no hard feelings ) told me my box needed replacing. I refused to believe and I got under it with a friend moving the shifter. I spotted the problem right away, and cable tied it until I got a replacement part

Hope this helps!

Kenny.

Good point here. It actually is pretty hard to diagnose stuff over the internet based of someone elses description. We can point out (several) possibilities, but until you get you hands dirty you're never going to learn, fix or properly diagnose anything!

 

[TheRedBaron]

no synchros on 1st anyway so its going to be tough

Really? I thought there were

 

[aznsaab]

Good point here. It actually is pretty hard to diagnose stuff over the internet based of someone elses description. We can point out (several) possibilities, but until you get you hands dirty you're never going to learn, fix or properly diagnose anything!

lawlz... No worries here. I don't think the exchange of information could take palce if we all had to worry that every time we made a post there was someone who was going to take that with extreme certainty. I always remember that the internet is a horrible place for communication (No body language, verbal cues, etc) and that anything and everything can be misinterpreted. Point being, Thanks for all of the help, but don't worry I know that the only way to learn is to get out there and do it. It's how I got where I am now. My father was never really into cars so I learned out of repair manuals and places like this. Although I love this place because sometimes when you learn things on your own, you do them the hard/expensive way. It’s like having your very own wizard to help you with your car!
Cheers

 

[Jim Mesthene]

(no synchros on 1st anyway so its going to be tough)

There's a synchro ring on 1st as on the other gears (5th is a smaller size); it's just that the 1st gear synchronizer has much more work to do to accelerate the gears.

 

[K-900]

Good point here. It actually is pretty hard to diagnose stuff over the internet based of someone elses description. We can point out (several) possibilities, but until you get you hands dirty you're never going to learn, fix or properly diagnose anything!

I for one was looking for people who might have had a similar problem to me, so I could know what to look for. Unfortunatly there wasn't, I ended up striping the interior to take apart the shifter housing with no joy, two hours wasted with the same problem. Next step was to get someone to wriggle the shifter, and hey presto one cable tie and 10 minutes later it was fixed ;oops:

 

[aznsaab]

Just took it for a drive to see if she would tell me anything new. Burping the throttle going from third to second helps a lot. I also noticed that if I am at a stop and it won't go into first, if I burp the throttle with it in neutral and then try I can usually get it to go into first. If that doesn’t work then I noticed going into second gear and then trying first helps. All of this screamed synchros to me. I kind of felt sick. Then I also noticed that when I do get it into first and try to go, the car vibrates and shimmies almost like when you try to accelerate in to high of a gear. It doesn’t do it in any other gear. Now I’m thinking engine mounts right? Well then in the parking lot with the engine off I tried to move through the gears. No first or second. Like I move it left and can’t budge it up or down. I can move through third, fourth, fifth, and reverse though. So now I'm thinking linkage right? I started the car tried to go into first and second again. Still locked up. Tried putting it in neutral momentarily and still nothing. Now I’m just utterly confused. Is it the engine mounts, linkage, or synchros? Is it possible that it could be a triple failure? I want to check the linkage out but I’m not quite sure how to remove the center console. Also I don’t have means readily available to check underneath.