Gears are acting up...
 

Oh boy, this won't be a 'happy new year' -- when driving home tonight I suddenly couldn't get my '98 Box into 5th gear... and then, shortly after, I realize that I only have 2nd and 4th -- no 1st, no 3rd, and no reverse. The shifter is also "loose", vertically. As always, any help appreciated.

-- peer

Cheer up, the good news might be in the description of the linkage being loose. The notion of loosing that many synchros at once is daunting yet unlikely.

Agreed, you are either looking at replacing your shift linkage at the shifter or at the transmission.

PS Pick another descriptive term, the last guy who entered our shop and said "my car is acting up" was greeted with my brother asking "Why don't you put it on stage?"

Prime suspect is that one of your gear cable holders have come loose at the end where they attach to the gearbox... The cables themselves will almost certainly still be connected but because the outer cable sheath is no longer held in a fixed location, the amount of push or pull that your gear lever puts on the gearbox levers is greatly reduced and hence, so is your gear choice.

Heavy duty tie wraps will give you a quick fix.

Happy New Year. :-):cheers:

I had something similar happen to me after transmission removal and replacement, it turned out that the gear cables (in my case reverse) wasn't completely seated in the retaining bracket on the transmission as fooksm described above. Easy to check and fix if it's the culprit; Jack the rear of the car up (use a stand) or use drive up ramps, look up from behind the rear wheel (passenger side) towards the top of the transmission, if one of the shift linkage cables is loose simply press it back into place.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...986linkage.gif

I had something similar happen to me when I had been pushing the shifter too forcefully into reverse, and a small plastic retainer in the shifter broke. One of the cables came off.

I took the console off to get to the shifter, pushed the cable end back on, and it worked without the retainer for quite some time until I replaced the entire shifter with the 9x7 short shifter.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1325347501.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1325347514.jpg

I just found the culprit; a broken shift rod (see picture below). But I have no idea how to replace it -- I don't even know how to get it off (looks like it's crush pressed) and probably need a special tool..? Again, any help appreciated (and if you're in the Redwood City neighborhood and would like to help me, I'll happily treat you for a fancy dinner ;^)

-- peer


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1325564900.jpg

According to the Bentley manual, you just pry the cable ends off the ball mounts, page 34-5.

That is correct.... The special tool required is a large flatblade screwdriver.:-)

I'm still a little in shock that the rod itself had snapped though.