My '97 Stick Maxima won't go into 1st or 2nd gear
 

My gear shifter won't physically go into 1st or 2nd gear, no matter how hard I push it into gear. It goes into 3rd, 4th, 5th and Reverse gears fine, and the car will move in those gears as well.

The day before this happened, I noticed that I wasn't getting as much power as usual in 1st and 2nd gears... but this could also be my imagination.

The car is a 1997 Maxima SE with ~150,000 miles on it. A new transmission was put in at about 100,000 miles (along with a new clutch), and I keep up with regular maintenance. I did install a short-throw-shifter quite some time ago, but could this be causing the problem? We've had problems with the exhaust and axles recently, but these problems were fixed and are probably unrelated.

Anyone have any ideas what is going on? Thanks!
Shawn

Is this only with the engine running, or can you not shift with the engine off either?

Checked gear oil level?

Have you checked under the car for any binding with the shift linkage? Disconnect the linkage and try to shift manually?

You could pull the reverse/neutral position switch, take a look for anything in there.

Will it go left to where 1st/2nd are, you just can't go up or down? If no, something is physically blocking the shifter from getting over there, whether it is a shift rail out of place in the transmission (has been known to happen occasionally, and could be caused by a couple different things) or something blocking the shift rod that connects the shifter to the striking rod.

If you can get it over to the left where 1st 2nd is, can you get it in gear with the car off. If yes again, that is a clutch problem.

If it won't even go to the left to get to 1-2 gears, then as said above there's probably something internally stuck in the shift linkage. most often, that's the cage from the input shaft bearings. It's common that the ISB cages explode and leave shrapnel in your tranny. since the linkage is the lowest part of the tranny, the bits eventually wind up in there.

Thus.. if that's the problem, then it's time for a tranny rebuild. expect $750-1000 from a shop, or $100 in parts and 1-2 days labor to do it yourself.

check the fluid level in the clutch master. you wont be able to shift if there is not fluid in there. a bad line will cause it to leak out.

My 97 nissan maxmia auto. will start but when i put it in any gear it wont move and it sounds like the gears are rubbing eachother do any one know what it may be need help on this one A.S.A.P

Does the speedo rise when you gas it in gear?

Sounds like the shift linkage broke...

hey guys my 96 max 5 spd just gave up on me today as i was making a u-turn in 2nd, no clunking or banging just stopped moving. won't move in any gear 1st-5th or reverse, speedo goes up when i hit the gas in gear..any ideas? it's stuck at a 7-11 and i'm hoping i can rig it to drive it home at least..

Chances are the driver's side axle popped out of the trans or one of the CV joints broke. Did it puke gear oil?

Peolpe jacking this man's thread....WOW start your own. I would say pull the reverse switch too (anyone have a pic where it's at so he can check? This will cause you too lose fluid too right...so have some gear oil to put back it in there.

if your description is correct this is an axle problem, not a transmission problem. probably an axle popped out of the trans or a shaft popped out of the cv joint, or maybe you broke an axle.

speedometer responding to accelerator input means that the diff is spinning, but the wheels are not. problem resides between the diff and the wheels.

axles make sense, they looked like they were still in, haven't had a chance to jack it up, hopefully tonight...no oil leak