Magnifico

Quick replies GREATLY appreciated- just moved and don't have fulltime access to internet. I'll just go through my thought process, cause I'm really confused and hope someone can answer some of my questions.

I have a 92 VE 5 spd, and last night I reversed out of a parking spot with no problems, stopped, then shifted into first.. I tried to take off.. the RPMs revved up, but no speed transferred to wheels... so i think it must not be in gear. So I go to shift. Uh.. my shifter wouldnt budge at ALL,and then it stalls.

So I keep trying to shift for a long time, nada. The car's acting like it's in gear, because it wont idle (stalls if i dont put foot on gas). But at the same time it wont move at ALL. I cant inch forward with the clutch, i cant move with gas pedal, I cant push the car, nothing.

So I start to think about what it could be... i dont know much about transmissions and I'm really confused as to why the car was acting as if it was in gear, but still wouldnt move. I also assumed the clutch was working since putting it down would let the car idle. Is this a correct assumption?

Finally I realized that if the clutch was working I should be able to push the car with the clutch depressed. So I try that, having my buddy push. It wont work at first- it acts like its still in gear, wheels locked. Just when I'm about to give up, it finally moves to his pushes, and from then on starts shifting. Ever since that its been shifting like a brand new car- way smoother than before.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

Basically I'm just wondering what the possible reasons for this problem could be.. so i can make plans for what to do when it returns, and put some money aside to fix it?

Please help!

P.S. The land I was parked at was a reclaimed Indian graveyard i think- maybe I just pissed off some ancient spirits?!?!?

Magnifico

oh yeah and its been working with no signs of any problem or noises or anything all day today, but phantom problems scare me

bhunter

iTrader: (3)

For one thing it sounds like it was stuck in third, not first.

Magnifico

why? just guessing your train of thought hre, correct me if im wrong.. are you suggesting that to explain why i couldnt move? I considered that possibility, but really you can at least inch forward with the clutch or a lot of gas from a standstill even when in 3rd. but my engine was just revving straight up like it wasnt in gear at all. and i absolutely could not move, even a milimeter

bhunter

iTrader: (3)

Well yes, I was thinking if it killed the engine but wouldn't move the car it must be in some kind of higher gear. Maybe it was in kind of neverland between first and third??? Just don't do that again, man!!

Magnifico

hmm, i suppose, heh. I just didnt know if that was possible or not, I thought it would either be in gear or out of gear with nothjing inbetween but i realy have no reason for thinking that acuse i dont know how transmissions work.

Something else i thought of was that maybe there was something physically stuck in there, and trying to push the car shook it loose. Anyway it seems to be working fine now so I guess ill stop worrying for now, basically this came at a bad time cause I was gonna take a 7 hour trip later today and that scared the hell outta me

thanks for replies

bhunter

iTrader: (3)

How did you end up getting your car from Minnesota to Arizona? I'm driving my Aztec Red to Tucson starting tomorrow.

JTs93SE

My car has same prob (gets stuck in first), especially on cold days and usually just on start-up. I usually just slam it out and knock on wood that I'm not messing somethin up. Other times it pops out on its own when I let out the clutch. Anyway, now my clutch is knocking when disengaging in first gear. Could these two be related? Could I just need to lube the clutch linkage? I have a p.o.s. ebay exedy clutch and will probably just try to get an ACT / Fidanza set-up.

Any opinions are greatly appreciated.

MrSector9

iTrader: (4)

Our old saturn did this once at a stop ligh to my mother,wouldnt budge to anythign.. waited a while and shoved it and it popped into neutral and was fine ever since... some fo the gears must have meshed up incorrectly for some reason.

Wiking

My bet is what u just said: clutch linkage does not release. Open the hood and try tapping when the issue is acute. Open operating cylinder bleed valve to see if fluid return is not blocked for some reason, rubber bits etc... (=pressure stays on). See manual page CL-3 (see LINKS on my page).

'The linkage' starts actually from the pedal... There is not much to lube except pedal linkage; will do no harm ...fluid change to make sure no water condesation, vapours.



Smbdy spoke the other day of a problem havin two gears simultaneously (do I remember right?) and thats surely a box problem.

Jeff583

ok i just had mine apart and rebuilt it in december, i believe that when you tried going from reverse into first the mechanism that engages and disengages reverse did not fully disengage and when you tried going into first it was not fully out of reverse, you would have to understand the reverse mechanism to know what im talking about but it is totally different than any of the other gears, either that or your linkage bushings are worn out, or you have other syncro problems wich are inside the tranny


one more thing, you havent notice a humming noise coming from your tranny when you just sit in nuterual with the clutch out, a little noise is commom, but if you can hear it over you engine when its at an idle while your inside then your internal transmisson bearings could be going or gone this is why i had to rebuild my tranny because my bearings were hashed and started having shifting problems

gdmaxse

iTrader: (1)

yeah that happened to me once while i was in the middle of an intersection. i finally slammed it into first with a lot of grinding, that was 2 years ago and it has never happened again

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

may be a frozen linkage issue or syncros going out in the tranny.

Wiking

I had a frozen box in my jeep 'some' yrs ago; (its stick dives directly into box). Then the weather was -20 (I hope its now warmer in AZ). Replacing the water with oil did good... never has done any harm.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

This happened to me several years ago as well. turned out to be bits of metal from the front input shaft bearing were getting stuck in the differential, and eventually down into the shift rod linkage at the bottom of the tranny. those parts are both constantly submerged in tranny fluid and the diff is always spinning when the car is running, so it's easy to see those metal bits getting thrown around inside the tranny case.

http://mattblehm.com/pics/car/tranny/IM001405.JPG
http://mattblehm.com/pics/car/tranny/IM001411.JPG

john93se

I've had the same symptoms; going to school in Troy made me notice it during the winter when I couldn't pull out of my parking spot. I am guessing you already checked your fluid level but I just figured I'd throw it out there. Mine was leaking down in through the firewall onto the floor slightly. Once replaced it worked fine for a while till the clutch died and I bought an sachs organic. Just figured I'd put in my two cents