Agamemnon

Last Saturday, my transmission suddenly can't be shifted into first or second. The gear lever just won't move any further left no matter how I tried, but when pushed forward I got third. It just happened all of a sudden. I stopped by Walmart on the way to my sister's place, and when I came out of the store this happened. It was perfectly fine on the drive to the Walmart. So I drove it the short distance to my apartment from the Walmart, and park it there. It's not easy to start in 3rd! The clutch emits a burning smell. Sunday I tried it again, and it's still won't shift to 1st or 2nd. Today I called my mechanic, then drove it to his shop halfway across town. About halfway on the way, I was cruising on the freeway, put it in neutral, and as I habitually do, move the lever left and right in neutral to make sure it is in neutral, and suddenly noticed, hey, it can go further to the left! So I slowed down, then put it in 2nd. It can go to 2nd now! WHen I had the chance (the car coming to a stop), I put it in 1st. It works! IT shifted fine from there on, as if nothing ever happened. My mechanic sort of didn't believe that anything was ever wrong in the first place. He checked it out and found nothing wrong with it!

What the heck happened? What could cause a tranny to suddenly refuse to shift into 1st or 2nd anyway? And how could it fixes itself?

I'm calling it a miracle!

lophix

iTrader: (3)

any tranny that can fix itself can also break itself. i dont think there is any way to actually "check" the transmission without taking it apart. might be just a shift fork, but bottom-line: start saving.

davebond007

Could have been the linkage. Just a guess.

Tall

I had a friend borrow my car and, from what he explained at least, this exact same thing happened. He said 1st and 2nd were toast. I got back into town two days later and nothing was wrong. Now, if I could only get my stalling problem fixed.

vwink182

iTrader: (2)

HEY SEND ME SOME TRANNY MIRACLE DUST or whatever you are using I'm with Dave, might be the linkage...that's what happened to mine, but mine didn't fix itself either.

Agamemnon

Just sprinkle some talcum powder on the tranny, sacrifice a chicken to the transmisison god, then dance around the car naked.

Anyhow, the problem returned briefly on the way to work today, and of course fixes itself a short time later. I was just slowing down on the freeway, shifting to third, but just before I did that I moved the lever all the way to the left to see if 1st and 2nd is still there. I can't move the shifter left past the 3rd/4th position again! So I shifted to third and proceeded through. Later on when I'm off the freeway and really need the 2nd and 1st, it shifted there with no problem at all.

I'm paranoid now! As I drive the car now I would periodically move the shifter all the way to the left (1st/2nd position) but without actually shifting (just move the shifter left but not up or down), just to see if they're still there!

nismobaron

Sounds like the shift llinkage pin or something similar is worn and moving in & out of the linkage bracket. Eventually it'll fall out & then you'll have NO gears... Happened to me in another car a few years back & was lucky enough to find a nail on the highway - was able to 3rd to reverse or 1st to 4th (as nail was too small for hole). Jack the car up and check the shift linkage mechanism at the selector and at the gearbox. Don't just eyeball it, use a screwdriver and poke around until you find the loose part.