Car won't stay in gear, keeps "popping" out

[New2Talon]

My car won't stay in gear for some reason. I can get it into first (for the most part) but going into 2, 3, 4, 5, r it won't stay. It pops back into neutral. I pull shift knob back into 2nd, and it just won't stay. If I wiggle/jiggle it a few time in and out I can manage to get it to (somewhat) stay in, but it doesn't seem to be in gear very good. Like when I am able to get it into gear the SLIGHTEST bump on the shift knob will knock it back out into neutral. Usually you can push the knob with a bit of force before the tranny will "pop" the gear back into neutral. Clutch fully depressed doesn't help either.

1st and 3rd are able to go in but dont stay very well (come out easily). 2nd is hit and miss (haven't found a way to "jiggle" it in). 4th needs to be wiggled around to get it in (while pulling back, can't pull back straight, need to wiggle and pull back to get it in gear), and reverse is hit and miss.

Idea's?

[CivicTunr]

could be your clutch. thats what mine was.

[New2Talon]

How could my clutch just "sometimes" die like that though? It doesn't slip or anything, grabs fine, and it just started acting wierd like this. Driving home, everything is fine, stop at a light, start to drive again, and can't engage past first...

[ercchry]

i know when my clutch fluid over heated i couldnt get into gear, but that was every gear so i dunno

[edicius]

its the shift forks in your tranny. they are worn down so much that they don't push the gear in far enough and it falls out...
do you keep your hand on the shifter a lot?

[Genjuro]

Originally posted by edicius
its the shift forks in your tranny. they are worn down so much that they don't push the gear in far enough and it falls out...
do you keep your hand on the shifter a lot?

exactly it. same thing happened to my brothers. check the tranny forks and clutch.

[RX-7_TWINTURBO]

I had a similar problem where my 5th gear would pop out and after some research i found that is was actually a known transmission problem on my vehicle so i ended up going to pick your part and ripping out a used 5th gear and syncro and replacing them with the transmission still in the car. (fwd vehicle)
I hope you dont have to do what I did so check the simpler things first like your clutch cable, forks etc

[New2Talon]

How do I check the tranny forks/shifter forks/clutch cables? If it is the forks, is it a hard fix? Does it involve pulling the tranny?


I've only had the car for ~1 1/2 months, and it has 350+kms on it so I cannot comment on the previous life of the car/shifter...I really don't want to be dumping a whole lot of money into this car, but at the same time, I don't really want to have to look for another beater car either...

[edicius]

it definately means pulling the tranny, unless you have one of the old ford trannies which has the shift forks on an easy to disassemble cover plate. If you don't know what your doing though then your s.o.l. A service manual is kinda a must when pulling them apart as there are usually some pretty important steps that are easily looked over. If its an old car then a tranny is easy to find usually, especially if its something common. So find another tranny, put it in and then take apart the old one if your curious.

[forced_eg]

sounds like worn out shift forks or sliding sleeves to me,

best case scenario, its your shift linkage bushings, but i wouldnt hold my breath to that

[PINOY-X]

5th gear would pop out for me before .. and it was my tranny so ....

[New2Talon]

shitty, well I don't have the time/money/space/knowledge to change the tranny on this car at this point in time.

[Percivilla]

Dont know about your car but on my old VW it had a cable instead of a shift linkage. the cable stretched and it kept popping out of gear. even if its a linkage like most cars it might be just worn out. thats the simplest and cheapest scenario. If it was the clutch it would have trouble going into gear and be a real piece of shit to drive.

[dankish1]

fist off what kinda car is this?
talon?
if it is give me a call 710 9457
you can come meet me and i will adjust the cabels
it may or may not work.
i will be abel to tell u in 1 min if it can be easly reparied.
but when posting help forums you should tell us the model year of your car etc
it really helps in diagnosing it

edit: we can also take a look at your boost problem and see if we can find a vacum line unpluged

[New2Talon]

car is a 1990 NA laser. I dont really wan to drive the car right now, but if you would be willing to come up to where the car is/help me fix it i'll buy ya some beer

boost problem is in my summer car. engine is 2nd gen 3sgte