TheTypeB

1993 FD R1 w/ B&N short shifter (I didn't even know.)

Alright, right out of the gate let me make it very clear that I HAVE used the search function and while there were things that were similar, all of the symptoms and/or indications do not match up.



My Problem:
Stuck in 4th gear, possibly 3rd.

The difference from what I see from most people is that I don't have the LATERAL motion of the shifter, as opposed to the pitch forward and back. I can move from the positions for 3rd and 4th, but neutral isn't present in between and there is no shifting going on

Here's the act:


While pulling into a parking spot at work shortly before Christmas, I shifted into reverse or what I thought was going to be reverse. As I did so, something(I can't really recall what perked my interested and it was one of those vague "hey what the heck was that moment) happened.

As I let out the clutch, slowly and very low in RPM, the car started to struggle forward a la trying to go from a dig in too high of a gear. Frustrated, I left it where it was, taking up 2 parking spots and did my shift. I came out, and with a small push from a co-worker I was able to get enough momentum to get going from a stop and limp it home.

So then, I hope on the ol' forum, do a search and sift through the results that a search for "stuck in gear" gets me. And around, oh, page 7 of the search actually gets to stuff about transmissions.

I've read about the problems with the gens that have the tranny like the Miatas, and the problems that lead up to it. But it doesn't really match up. I'm hoping my linkage is just broken/disconnected but I know the FD usually isn't that simple.

I'm not really too sporty with the car, especially under regular driving conditions. The last time of spirited driving was weeks prior, and I'm not really that rough of a shifter.

Am I thinking along the right track there, or could there be something else I'm missing? I've yet to have to drop a tranny, but if I have to I will, I just need to know if I even need to before I commit.

bryant

if its stuck in a gear it could be that your clutch went out or the fork broke.

does the clutch pedal fall to the floor?
is there any pressure when you push the clutch pedal in?

Wargasm

If you can crank the car smoothly with the clutch depressed, this would tend to support the idea that the clutch fork and clutch hydraulics are working OK. Then the next thing I would suspect is a broken part inside the transmission case jamming things up. You could also pull apart the shifter boot area and check for broken bushing pieces in the shifter area which might jam the lever.

If the car won't crank nicely (lurches forwards) with the clutch down, I would suspect clutch hydraulics or fork.

TheTypeB

Clutch functions fine, I was able to drive the car home with enough of a push from a friend at a stop.

The clutch pedal still works fine, I've fired it up a few times in the time being.

Is there really no difference in the loss of lateral as opposed to pitch in the shift motion?

CantGoStraight

This would at best be a guess, but if the plastic piece on the ball of the shifter was worn out or broken it may just be a mater of getting the shift rods lined up correctly again and if you were doing any serious gear jamming I doubt you've done anything terribly wrong and should be an easy fix. You'll need to put the car on level ground and remove your center console plastics so you can remove the shift lever, then look in there and see if you can align all the shifting rods so the shifter can move to any of them from the neutral position. It maybe as simple as the plastic piece broke and jammed one of the rods not letting the shifter move side to side to engage either the 1st. 2nd. rod or the 5th rev rod. That's about all I can offer you for advice.

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

That shifter bushing thing sounds like a good place to start.

I recently ran across a shop that can rebuild and fix an FD tranny here in San Diego. If you need their info, shoot me a PM.

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

I think you have busted shifter parts inside the tranny. I expect you'll need to drop it.

Fortunately if it's just a broken shifter part the rebuild may not be too expensive.

Dave

fd3rew

iTrader: (1)

There is the possibility that you might have broken the 3/4 hub. This will sorta lock the car in either 3rd or 4th gear. I had a broken 5th/R shift hub and my car was locked in 5th gear with no reverse. I missed a 5th gear shift one time and it fused/welded the hub to the gears for 5th and because of that 5th gear was partially engaged full time with absolutely no reverse. You mention you can go from 3rd to 4th, once you got the car rolling were you able to shift between the two gears??? If so, it might be like what the other members have said and it is just something simple that is broken in you shifter and holding you up. Although highly unlikely but, there is also the possiblility that maybe a roll pin for the shift rod backed out and it won't allow you to shift out of your current 3/4 position.

TheTypeB

Sorry if I was unclear, I can't shift from 3rd to 4th, just move the shifter from the positions of 3rd and 4th without the shifting.


The hub sounds like a very likely candidate, but is that something that possibly happened from a soft shift while not moving at all?

I pulled into my parking spot then realized I had just pulled in too far and went to shift from neutral to reverse, so really I don't know how or why I even ended up in 4th gear.

I've already taken up the console from the inside and looked over everything and so far it looks pretty good, the shift bushing looks a little hard, but not degraded to the point of disconnection. Looking down the assembly that connects to the shifter, the rod that heads into the linkage proper behaves the same way as the shifter itself; up and down only with no side to side motion possible.

Is the *** of the tranny seperate from the whole housing or does the whole thing have to come down at once?

fd3rew

iTrader: (1)

before you go as far as to try to take the tail apart while the tranny is still on the car, I would go and drop the pan first and see if there is anything broken with the shift hubs/shift forks/ and get a peek at sections of the shift rods. Dropping the pan will allow you to see all your shift hubs and forks.

from front to back, you have........bell housing--main housing--center housing--extension housing

bell housing
not much in the bell housing other than your clutch disk, pressure plate, throw out, etc, and your slave is mounted on the side

main housing
starting from the bell housing side you have the 4/3 shift assembly, follow by the 1/2 shift assembly, and then closer to the center housing you have the 5/R assembly

center housing
not much in the center housing you can see and not much to do with shifting other than gear(s) and bearing(s)

extension housing(***) speedo gears


so, just drop the pan and see if there is anything broken or see if you can move stuff around the 3/4 shift hub. It might help if you have someone above move the shifte around for you so you can see things move(or binding) around

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

Good point. While I don't estimate taking off the ext housing to be much harder, removing the center pan to see someone operate the shifter will be instructive. If the shift rods aren't even moving then you know your problem is in the extension housing.

Dave

TheTypeB

Superb, thanks a million. I'll be sure to come back to grovel if this leads to fixin' it.