[matt719]

My brother has a 1997 900SE. He is experiencing shifter problems with his car. I've looked around and seen problems including: linkage, bushing, syncros, tanny mounts. The problem is I can't determine which one of these it is. Here is his explaination of the problem:

"it's hard to shift out of gear and hard to find the gear you're shifting into."

I know, not too specific but I've driven it and it's hard to say much other than that. Sometimes you'll go to shift itno gear and somehow miss the gear and grind the tranny. I'd say it is especially hard to find the gears and there is resistance in most of them. I find it especially hard to find 5th.

Any suggestions or thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[TGA78]

Have you checked to see how the car shifts when it isn’t running, to eliminate the clutch cable?



Also I think you could search this forum for the instruction on how to check and see if the linkage is adjusted properly.

 

[matt719]

Does that imply that this is a linkage problem? I remember reading about how the NG900s up to '97 had "defective" linkages and they made a replacement part for the '98 model year that you can buy.

So you think the linkage isn't adjusted properly?

 

[Jeremy R.]

The new linkage came out in '96, I think. A 1997 900 should definitely have the new linkage. The way to check the alignment is to put the car in 4th gear and drop a 4mm hex key into the alignment hole under the shift boot and also into the alignment hole on top of the transmission. The transmission hole has a small black plastic plug in it. If everything's aligned, then they'll drop right in. If they don't, then you'll need to loosen the 13mm pinch bolt on the shift linkage and fiddle with the shifter until it does. I like hex keys because the bent head will keep it from dropping into the transmission's innards.