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View Full Version : Help! Can't shift!



clem24
05-16-2005, 10:35 AM
Hey guys,

Thought I might come to you guys first. Just yesterday, I was driving down to Market, and found that I having a hard time shifting; it just took more effort to get into gear.

Anyway, thought nothing of it, got to Market no probs. So then I left, it was shifting normally again. Starting heading down Shag, had tons of problems getting it into gear.

So, stopped at the light at the bottom of Shag and Memorial, I could NOT for the life of me get into gear. If I tried hard, it might crunch. Anyway, I finally forced it into second, did a second gear start, and pulled off the road.

Anyway, pulled over, same story, tried and tried and couldn't get it into gear!! So I turn off the car, and now I can shift it. So, anyway, stuck it into second, and started the car and drove home.

On the way home, I noticed 2 things: I can't shift if I am stopped. I CAN shift if I rev the engine or if the car is moving and the revs are reasonable (say 4k rpms). It's also impossible to get it into first unless I shut off the engine.

Any idea what might be happening? This just happened all of a sudden. Never had a prob before. I know my syncs are worn, but I don't think that would cause such a big problem.

I am thinking it's not shifter cables, cause it can still engage while engine is off. Must be something with the clutch not disengaging fully?

Anyway, if I can't figure this out myself, which I most likely can't, anyone know of a good and reputable shop I can take it to that won't break my wallet?

clem..

bmeier
05-16-2005, 12:19 PM
could be the clutch master or slave cylinders. I have had this happen before and my slave cylinder had gone bad.
what year is your car?

clem24
05-16-2005, 12:57 PM
It's a 91. I am going to under there see if I can see anything visible tonight. Then I guess it's off to a shop...

clem..

Zenshi
05-16-2005, 01:30 PM
It could be the master cyclinders or slave cylinders like they said above. Do you have fluid in both the cylinders? LOL

garyb
05-16-2005, 03:24 PM
same thing happens to me. i have a 95 integra. doesn't happen as severe as yours at all, but still damn annoying! gonna check the cylinder's tonight

90awdwagovan.
05-16-2005, 04:11 PM
sounds like clutch to me

clem24
05-16-2005, 04:17 PM
Yeah, I gotta check the fluid levels. I just did not have time yesterday to even peek under the hood. I just drove it home and took off again in my beater. I hope it's only the fluid level, but then again, if it is maybe I've developed a leak somewhere... I believe the clutch is fully hydraulic, yes? Man, this really sucks. This is what we go thru to own 15 year old cars..! :confused: Ah well! I'll update tonight after I crawl under the car.

clem..

HuMz
05-16-2005, 04:18 PM
exact same thing happened to me, in my case the clutch dampering springs had fallen out and i was driving down crowchild and basically had to jam it into first, until finally it got so bad i had to pull into te closet gas station and get it towed....so you'll be looking at a whole new clutch pretty much

HuMz
05-16-2005, 04:21 PM
and i took mine into douglesdale certigard, im lookin at the invoice riht now and it was 275.00 for clutch, 22.31 for bearin pilot and then they had to resurface the flywheel as well but i wasn't charged for that, i paid up the ass in labor though because they had no idea what it was at first and had to remove the tranny

Zenshi
05-16-2005, 04:24 PM
I would bet its the cylinders :P doesnt sound like a tranny / clutch failure to me

jvillain
05-16-2005, 04:27 PM
A quick check for the master/slave cylinders is stick it into gear put the clutch all the way down and start it. If the clutch is trying to grab even though you have it pushed all the way in then it is 90% the slave or the master cylinder.

clem24
05-17-2005, 09:41 AM
Ok, update. I jacked up the car last night, had a quick look underneath and there didn't seem to be anything leaking and the lines to the tranny all look fine.

I started it up and it shifted fine... After clutch is depressed, I can get into gear, no probs; just like before. So I don't think it's either of the cylinders..

Which leads to me believe this might be something as stupid as air in the hydraulic line. One friend said I might have condensation in there causing the fluid to overheat. Not sure what's up, but at this point, the cheapest solution might be to flush/bleed the clutch and see what happens. Then I'll take it from there I guess.

Certigard hey? Heh heh, I don't even trust Toyota mechs with my MR2. Although as long as they did a good job and actually fixed the problem. I just hate it when they charge you an arm and a leg and then can't figure out what the problem is. What was their labour rate?

Thanks for all your help guys! But from the looks of it, this is probably indicative of something else big, so I guess it might be time to start looking for my new dream '93+ LSD tranny! Hee, use this an excuse..

BTW, on that topic, I passed on a E153 that came off a Gen3 (I think it was a JDM '97 with LSD and lower gear ratios?). The reason why I passed was because it used an electronic speedo. Do you guys know if the '93-'95 LSD tranny from the US still used a mechanical one?

clem..

jvillain
05-17-2005, 09:55 AM
You just swap out the electrical sending unit and screw in your mechanical one off the old tranny and yer done. Might not even get your hands dirty.

91tomstwo
05-18-2005, 12:52 PM
It's either the clutch or the syncrhos. If the clutch master cylinder or clutch slave cyliner was bad, you would definitely feel it in the clutch pedal when you press down.

-kl