UnregisteredSA22C

Hey guys,

I have a "what do you think is broken" type question haha. My shifter in my SE freezes up once the car heats up, and I can't move it into any other position (if it's in 3rd then that's the gear I have to stay in all the way home). If the engine isn't running, I can move the shifter fine. The clutch pedal also still disconnects the tranny from the engine, so I can avoid stalling when I'm not moving. I'm thinking it's a bearing or something broken inside the tranny - has anyone else had this happen to them?

Just fyi, I have a pretty stock 13b engine (just have headers and OMP delete) and stock SE tranny, nothing super crazy. I daily the car right now and don't track it. My transmission oil is topped up and the shifter is lubed with some bearing grease.

Roland

JOE68

had that same problem with my SE tranny in my corolla ..the exhaust would overheat it made a heat shield it helped a lot . ....

GSLSEforme

How many miles on car?
So after driving it warmed up stuck in 3rd gear,if you were to pull over,shut engine down,you’d be able to move shifter thru all positions? Would you be able to start engine and put in 1st and drive off and shift up?
When cold,shifts fine? How long can you drive it before being unable to shift up/down?
Does shifter stem get hot to touch in the time you can’t shift gears?
Is the trans noisy,all gears or some?


You state the oil is topped up,with what?
Have you ever drained oil into a pan and inspected contents and checked what’s on the magnet on drainplug? It is normal to find some fine metal”paste” on magnet. Larger pieces are indicative of bearing,gear material.
The shifter tower should have same type lubricant as what goes in trans. Bearing grease probably not hurting,better than no lubricant. Won’t help shift quality.

Depending on your answers to the above questions,at this point I’m thinking clutch not releasing issues...
Do you have a full clutch pedal,is it hard to push,any noise associated with pushing clutch pedal to floor?
Where in pedal travel does clutch engage,closer to floor or more at top of pedal travel?

UnregisteredSA22C

- the transmission has 220,000 km
- yes I was able to move the shifter just fine after pulling over and turning off the engine. Once I started the car again, I'd be stuck in whatever gear I happened to be in.
- when the car is cold, I can drive it normally. It's usually about 15 mins of running before it starts to stick. I didn't notice any temperature change in the stick at all.
- the trans was making a bit of a whining noise with the clutch out and the stick in neutral (say waiting at a light) which I thought might be the pilot bearing or throwout bearing, so I've been saving for a new clutch
- I have 80W90 gear oil in the trans
- I've never noticed any noises with the clutch pedal. The fluid is full (I've been checking) and it engages closer to the floor than the top but still fairly close to the middle.

Thanks for the answers everyone I appreciate it!

GSLSEforme

I would drain trans and inspect oil from it.
Focus on clutch/not releasing fully,this is likely the main issue. Pull transmission out of car,remove clutch/p plate. Any oil on clutch? Look at rear main seal and input shaft seal in trans. Inspect pilot bearing to see if rusty or needles damaged/missing.

Have a clutch kit on hand with new pilot bearing/grease seal/throw out bearing.
I suspect you will find on disassembly the pilot bearing has disintegrated/seized up essentially locking input shaft in trans and engine together and while clutch will release enough to start out and declutch to stop car, the input shaft and thus all internals in trans will still be spinning and the reason why you can’t shift between gears-but can with car turned off.+ might be noise you’re hearing with clutch depressed.
Likely the reason car is able to be shifted when not yet warmed up is pilot bearing still spins somewhat but the heat generated from rusty/damaged/missing rollers in pilot bearing slowly seize up and give you the no shift condition.

This is good news as this repair will be much cheaper than trans repairs.
Consider renewing clutch master cylinder/Slave cylinder if you don’t know how old they are and bleed thoroughly.
Also consider cleaning out bearing grease in shift tower and putting 80/90 weight lubricant in there. Use a synthetic gear oil in trans like Mobil 1. It’ll help trans live longer and may add some smoothness to shifting.
Though not directly related to the no shift complaint,consider in interest of longevity of new clutch parts,machining flywheel surface,it makes clutch operation butter smooth. Replacing rear man seal while flywheel is off is good insurance. Replacing front seal in throwout bearing support and paper gasket that seals it to bellhousing also cheap insurance as often the process of removing/installing trans is enough to aggravate the original seal to begin leaking.
On the other end of trans is output shaft seal where driveshaft enters back of trans,another possible source of oil leak when removing/installing driveshaft.
All these seals don’t cost much and only take minutes to replace with trans out of car and help guarantee a long lasting clutch job.

chuyler1

iTrader: (1)

Drain all the transmission fluid and replace it.

My car had the exact same symptom a few years ago. With only 20k original miles on the car, i drove it to work. After 30 min in 5th it got stuck in gear. I was able to get it out and into 3rd coming off the highway but it was very difficult. It did it again on the way home, and once more the next day. Like yours, it was fine when cool, but had to get very warm for the symptom to occur. I dumped all the fluid and replaced it. I also removed the shift boot, shift lever and wiped out what I could from the top and poured in the recommended amount of gear oil into the top. Put everything back together and it has been shifting like a new car for the past 20k miles.

I don't know if this is going to work for you, but gear oil is relatively cheap compared to rebuilding the transmission. It's worth a try before you move on to other alternatives.