To start it off about a month ago my 5 speed transmission started leaking badly, shortly after I had trouble getting the car into gear, I kept the fluid full when i did drive it which was rarely because of the horrible leak. But anyways the thing wouldnt go into gear, so i turned it off, put it in 1st with clutch depressed and started it, bucked/stalled right out on me, I came up with a way, basically going through the gearbox like 10 times with the car turned off and usually then when i started her she'd go into gear fine. So i finally ended up tracing the leak to the seal inside the transmssion for the drivers side axle. So It just turned out that i had a buddy going to automotive school and was entering his transmissions mod, starting with standards I am broke, so i ended up letting him take it in and tear it apart. When the clutch came out it was in pieces, but the transmission was still mint from a rebuild that cost me $1200 20k ago oh and they noticed a small hairline crack in the case...right near the drivers side axle. They patched the seal with the welding department the school had. So I ordered a spec stage 2, i needed a axle because boot was destroyed, got that, and axle seals, some tranny fluid and flywheel resurfaced. Today his class put everything together, No leak anymore but the damn thing is stuck in 5th, now i havent seen the car in awhile and i wish i could take a look at it, but I cant. I realized now that i really should have reconsidered having a bunch of kids learning how to rebuild trannys on my car and should have seen this coming but theres an ASE instructor and hes stumped on this. I need some serious advise if anyones been in this kind of problem before. I really think its fishy that the transmission was mint internely because why would it start leaking if its all good. I have been driving a 89 buick for the last month please feel my pain, i dont think i've ever missed my maxima so much in my life. Anyone have any ideas?

 

When you put the tranny back together, it's possible to have the shifter in a wrong position that leaves the tranny in one gear but the shifter in neutral. The only solution I know of is to remove the tranny, take off the case half, put the shifter in the proper position, and reassemble.

That's why the first thing I do is test all the gears when I bolt the housing back together.

If the housing was cracked that's where the oil would be leaking from. No doubt about that.

Dave

 

If the shifter is in the neutral position, but the car is stuck in gear, then the problem is most likely what dgeesaman described. If so, try the following:before you go ripping the trans back out of the car:

Take the reverse light sensor out (driver's side, big black plug with a wire coming out of it and one 10mm bolt holding it in place). The gear selector and shift fingers are right there. If the 5th/reverse shift rail has been knocked downwards when they put the cover on, it would knock the trans into 5th gear, but the shift selector could still be in neutral. This happened to me the other day when I put one together. All I had to do was stick a screwdriver in there, pop the rail back into the neutral position, viola - working transmission that was stuck in gear three minutes earlier. A light and a screwdriver or other similar implement is all you'd need.

If that's the problem, it's an easy fix. If there is oil in the trans you need to drain it first obviously, you can do that through the reverse light sensor hole if you have a drain pan ready when you pop it off.

The biggest problem I see with this for someone not experienced in the workings of a transmission is that you will look in there, see just a bunch of rods and stuff, and you won't know what you need to find to pop back into place. Let us know if you need more help.

 

Very nice tip.

As for what you're looking for, it's pretty simple. There is a 'tab' coming from the rear of the tranny that slides back and forth when you wag the shifter left-right in neutral. The tab moves across 3 metal parts with c-shaped cutouts in them. When the shifter is in neutral, these three cutouts should all line up. You would use the screwdriver to push one of these C's up or down until they all line up.

Be very careful removing that reverse sensor - the plastic is very brittle and easy to crack. I suggest using two knife blades or thin flat screwdrivers to pry it out on opposite sides at the same time. If you crack it, it's just a $25 part, but still worth not breaking.

Dave

 

I'm sorry, but you guys seem to know alot about the 5 speed gear box. So could I please ask how would you tell if the tranny is good without opening it. I have the input shaft bearing problem on my Max and I recently brought a used gear box from this guy taking his word that the gear box is still good anyway for 260 I couldn't refuse, after all he showed me other parts and pictures from his crashed maxima. The only funning thing is that when I leave it in neutral and turn the input shaft slowly the differential doesn't move, however if I turn it with a little force then I could see the differential moving. Is this normal, I thought that if it's in neutral spinning the input shaft wouldn't move the differentials. I checked all the other gears and they all spin the differentials at a different rate when I turn the input shaft and the reverse does turn the differentials in an opposite direction. I plan on swaping my noisy tranny with this used one that I brought by myself this summer, but wanted a way to know for sure that it's good before I start taking everything out. Thank you.

 

That's normal - the drag created by the gears on the shafts will cause it to spin in neutral.

The most important thing to check on this tranny is whether the differential has any play. Just reach into each axle opening and try to lift the diff inside - if there is any wobble room at all you should definitely tear it down and rebuild it. Also check if the oil inside contains any metal flakes. But these two tests only check for really bad differentials.

I strongly recommend taking it to a tranny shop for them to separate the housings and do a quick inspection. Paying an hour of their labor is well worth it and very easy while the tranny is separate.

Dave

 

I agree, get an inspection done.