Manual Transmission Stuck In Neutral

[MICAH1]

My standard transmission will not move to any of the forward gears or reverse. Clutch cable is secure, lock nut is in place. Pulled the shift boot and did a visual of the shift to transmission and could see nothing out of place. The stick just moves freely with the clutch press in or not. All springs are connected. Also the clutch was replaced last April. I drove the car with no problems yesterday!!

[West Coast GT]

Crawl under and check that the four bolts connecting your transmission to the bell housing are tight. If they loosen up you'll lose ability to engage your gears, starting with 3rd.

[MICAH1]

Checked the connecting bolt last month when I replaced the pan gasket to the transmission.

[young_wrench]

Is the car on or off when having this problem?

[dcm013]

Originally Posted by MICAH1 My standard transmission will not move to any of the forward gears or reverse. Clutch cable is secure, lock nut is in place. Pulled the shift boot and did a visual of the shift to transmission and could see nothing out of place. The stick just moves freely with the clutch press in or not. All springs are connected. Also the clutch was replaced last April. I drove the car with no problems yesterday!!

Does the shift into gear "feel" right, that is the same as it did when it was working OK?

When you look with the boot off and move the shift lever does it move the linkage of the trans.? You should be able to feel the detents and hear it "snicking" into gear. If in doubt jack it up and make sure the levers on the trans. are moving when it's shifted into the various gears.

If not, something has come undone or broken in the shift linkage.

How does the clutch pedal feel? Any change in feel since it worked OK yesterday?

Any noises noted from the clutch area since it last worked OK?

Did you notice any slipping of the clutch? Odor?

If the trans. actually is engaging the various gears, you can engage gears with the engine running and the clutch engaged (pedal up), and the car won't move when you select a gear your clutch has failed or you have broken the transmission input shaft (not likely).

Don

[MICAH1]

Young Wrench, Not sure what the car being on or off has to do with the gears shifting..... but to answer your question, I have tried to engage the gears with the car motor on and off..

[MICAH1]

Originally Posted by dcm013 Does the shift into gear "feel" right, that is the same as it did when it was working OK? When you look with the boot off and move the shift lever does it move the linkage of the trans.? You should be able to feel the detents and hear it "snicking" into gear. If in doubt jack it up and make sure the levers on the trans. are moving when it's shifted into the various gears. If not, something has come undone or broken in the shift linkage. How does the clutch pedal feel? Any change in feel since it worked OK yesterday? Any noises noted from the clutch area since it last worked OK? Did you notice any slipping of the clutch? Odor? If the trans. actually is engaging the various gears, you can engage gears with the engine running and the clutch engaged (pedal up), and the car won't move when you select a gear your clutch has failed or you have broken the transmission input shaft (not likely). Don

Nothing seems to be undone, by sight or by feel. When I push in the clutch the movement and feel is the same as it was when I pulled into the garage on Saturday. The linkage does not seem or look loose, but the shift will not S_T_A_Y or catch in any gear position!!

[guyopel]

Sounds like a broken roll pin on a shift rail ..you would need to remove the trans. pan and have someone shift the trans. and see which shift arm is not moving to find what is wrong . HTH
John

[dcm013]

Originally Posted by MICAH1 Nothing seems to be undone, by sight or by feel. When I push in the clutch the movement and feel is the same as it was when I pulled into the garage on Saturday. The linkage does not seem or look loose, but the shift will not S_T_A_Y or catch in any gear position!!

So, are you saying that even if you sit with the engine off, shift the lever into first gear, for example, and let go it pops back to neutral by itself?

Even with the boot removed?

Detents inside the trans. will hold it into gear unless they for some reason are not present - I've seen threads about losing the detent when removing the trans. pan but can't remember the details right now - the shift boot will tend to pull the lever back to neutral if the detents aren't working.

Or does this only happen when the engine's running and you start to engage the clutch and launch the car? This would be worse.

[MICAH1]

Originally Posted by dcm013 So, are you saying that even if you sit with the engine off, shift the lever into first gear, for example, and let go it pops back to neutral by itself?

I push in the clutch, shift the stick to the position of first gear, but it will not catch...... just slides back to the neutral position.

[dcm013]

Originally Posted by MICAH1 I push in the clutch, shift the stick to the position of first gear, but it will not catch...... just slides back to the neutral position.

Quite possibly an issue with the detents. See my previous comment about the boot. Does it still pop out of gear when the boot is off (or at least detached from the floorpan/console)? When the weather is cold the boot will have a greater tendency to pull the shift lever back to neutral.

If you hold the shift lever in the first gear (or reverse, etc.) position while you start to engage the clutch does the car start to move? This should help determine whether the trans. is basically OK and you just have a detent problem. Once torque is applied the "torque lock" in the synchronizer sleeve should prevent the trans. from popping back to neutral. At least until you depress the clutch pedal again.

[GTJIM]

When you changed the pan gasket last month did you put the detent ball and spring back in - the one that falls out when you remove the pan ..... ?

[MICAH1]

DCM, The shift will not engage any gear!!!! It is like every movement is one big neutral!!!!

GTJIM, that is a big ten four on the detent ball and spring...

[GTJIM]

..Then there is probably something wrong with either the shift linkage - maybe the long pivot bar has come loose where it bolts on to the side of the tranny or something else is loose or bent.

Ya gonna have to get under there while someone else 'wiggles' the stick.

Here is the layout of the linkages.

[MICAH1]

Jim, I did get under the car to inspect the linkage, but did not have anyone else in the car to move the clutch and linkage while there. Your suggestion is the best, so I will set things up to pursue that direction this weekend. Thanks!!!

[jlthunder]

Going back to a simple approach, did you replace the pilot bearing and release bearing when you replaced the clutch?

[MICAH1]

Originally Posted by jlthunder Going back to a simple approach, did you replace the pilot bearing and release bearing when you replaced the clutch?

I had a shop install the 1.9 clutch kit I purchased from OGTS last April, then drove the car to Carlisle and up until Saturday just past..

[jlthunder]

If you ordered part # 8072 8.0 INCH CLUTCH KIT
New German 8.0 inch clutch kit included pressure plate, clutch disc, release bearing and pilot bearing, then this should not be your problem. Check your receipts because if you only got the clutch, then one of the other items may of failed.

[dcm013]

Originally Posted by dcm013 Does the shift into gear "feel" right, that is the same as it did when it was working OK? When you look with the boot off and move the shift lever does it move the linkage of the trans.? You should be able to feel the detents and hear it "snicking" into gear. If in doubt jack it up and make sure the levers on the trans. are moving when it's shifted into the various gears. If not, something has come undone or broken in the shift linkage. Don

I think your clutch is fine.

I agree it sounds most like a linkage issue since you're sure your detents are OK. Am I correct in assuming you can't feel the detent loads as you shift into gear, then it pops out?

If you look at the picture GTJim sent you'll see on the passenger side there's a flat "rod" on the passenger side that attaches the shifter mechanism at the rear of the trans to the shift lever on the side of the trans. This is what selects each gear. Take a look at the trans section of your FSM for a more complete picture of the linkage assy. installed on the trans. The rod is only held on by cotter pins. If you can't select ANY gears, maybe one has rusted or broken and the rod is detached.

If the pin at the front broke I would expect you'd see the rod hanging down, but if the rear broke it MAY be resting on the backup light switch wires. You should be able to get under the car and see if the rod's attached at both ends.

The rod on the driver side has a pivot in the middle and it is what moves the selector shaft inside the transmission into the gate selected, 1-2, 3-4, or reverse.

Don

[BQS4]

Thomas;
On the passenger side of the trans, at the front of the bar that runs down the side of the trans, there is a short link that it connects to. This short link then connects to a shaft that goes into the trans. See if tthis link is moving the shaft when you move the shifter. I have attached an augmented diagram.

[MICAH1]

Hey Gene,
I finally got the time to get under the car and inspect the transmission linkage. Everything is connected, and at first glance all seems okay. What is strange to me is when I began to tug on the link on the right (passenger) side it freely moves back and forward as does the gear shifter. Is something wrong here!? Also I can easily push in the shaft that goes through the transmission and see the linkage on the left hand side move out. I have an extra 69 trans (for parts) in the garage so I tried moving the same linkage on it and it does not move. So, am I dealing with an internal problem here???

[BQS4]

Thomas, if that little short piece of linkage is moving, it may not be attached to that shaft that goes through the trans. I have seen and had this problem a time or to. What needs to be done is the short linkage needs to be pinned or welded to the shaft it's on, but, unfortunately to do it best, it would be better if the trans was out of the car.

[MICAH1]

Gene,
All linkage is connected as displayed in your illustration.. Check out the photos below.

[BQS4]

Thomas;
It's the short linkage in picture # 2 second from the left. If that short linkage is NOT fixed to that round shaft, you cannot shift your trans. In other words, that short linkage AND the round shaft have to move TOGETHER

[MICAH1]

Originally Posted by BQS4 Thomas, if that little short piece of linkage is moving, it may not be attached to that shaft that goes through the trans. I have seen and had this problem a time or to. What needs to be done is the short linkage needs to be pinned or welded to the shaft it's on, but, unfortunately to do it best, it would be better if the trans was out of the car.

Just wanted to update this thread and say that the above framed quote was indeed the solution to my problem. The transmission linkage is once again selecting the gear positions @ shift. Once again Gene, thanks Big Guy!!!!