Shifting problems, 1 to 2 and 3 to 4.

[CobesSHO]

OK, I had some shifting problems shorting after buying the car, 1-2 shift. Looked at the rod shifter and noticed it was very sloppy at the shifter/tranny fork union. Beefed-up the the rod shifter portion by drilling it out to 1/2" and adding 1/2" brass bushings and new 3/8" bolt. Shifting got much better but still wasn't where it needed to be. Next I changed out the tranny fluid and the shifting got much, much better, but I had a leaking axle seal that needed replaced. So I replaced the axle seal, added more fluid and I also repaired the bad front motor mount. Shifting was awesome, amazing how much better everything was. Now today I drove the car to work and can't hardly engage into any gears without struggling. So when I got home I loosened the rod shift support bolt and rod shifter/tranny fork bolt, thinking that it's possibly a alignment problem since the last time I tightened these was when the front motor mount was shot. I haven't driven the car after this but I am assuming it's still going to be bad, but hoping otherwise.

Any ideas on what could be wrong? Is it a bad throwout bearing? I was told the clutch is realtively new (less than 600 miles) and it seems strong. Is there something else I should be looking at because it's really wierd how it went from shifting great, sitting overnight, to shifting terrible.

 

[yzstud]

does it shift fine when the car is not running? If so, it sounds like its time for a clutch job. If it still shifts hard with the car off, it sounds like an internal prob with the trans.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Does the shifter slide ok? The rear bracket of the shifter is designed to allow the shifter to move with the drivetrain on the slider. If it's rusted in place it can cause shifting difficulties like you're having.

 

[CobesSHO]

Drove the car again

Drove the car again, after making the adjustment to the shifter bolts, and it is basically the same as before, seems to be a little better. Checked the rear slider on the shifter and it's fine, slides freely. With the car running, parked, clutch in, it shifts fine. When driving the car it just doesn't want to engage into gear. Could this be an alignment problem with the new motor mount? Could this be a problem from when I re-installed the axle when replacing the axle seal? As I said earlier, it's wierd that it shifted great, parked the car overnight, and then it shifted like crap the very next time I drove the it.

I'm thinking about loosening/re-tightening the motor mount nuts and tranny mount bolts and trying to see if that makes it any better. Or am I just wasting my time? Is this simply a throw-out bearing/pressure plate problem?

 

[shomtx95]

is there a lot of slack in your clutch cable?

 

[Mr Anonymous]

As mentioned check your clutch cable adjustment and also check the fluid level in the tranny.

 

[CobesSHO]

Clutch cable and fluid level

Clutch cable seems fine, engages/dis-engages a little from the floor and the fluid level is full. Read the manual and it said to adjust the clutch, pull the pedal upwards until you hear it "Click", did this and heard the click. Perhaps the cable is old and needing replaced, near the end of it's life and stretched? Where should the clutch engage/disengage?

I just repaired the leaking axle seal and filled it up again, Valvoline Synthetic ATF, so I know that's not an issue.