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  • Shifting into 5th gear problem

    Hey, so a search of the forum turned up people who had similar issues but either had no solution or a slightly different problem than me. I have the original transmission in the car with 450,000km. Today coming home it was working fine, I stopped to fuel up when I was close to home and when I left the gas station I could no longer shift into 5th. All the other gears work fine. tried quite a few times on the 6 miles home. Last 3 days or so its been slightly more difficult to get into reverse but not bad. When I got home I tried with the car idling from different gears and with the car off, It went into 5th several times but it will go into 5th a couple times in a row, then not for a while, then go in again. Crawled underneath and the shift linkage feels tight and looks fine to me. Transmission fluid is full. When it won't go into 5th it feels like the shifter is going halfway into the gear but won't engage. Its not going all the way in and just spinning like in neutral like other people have. Its like your trying to shift without the clutch and the rpm's are wrong. I tried revving it up and down while driving but it didnt help.
    Fluid changed regularly because it leaks out the output shaft seals and I have to top it up all the time. I have siezed it 3 times by forgetting to add oil and running it almost empty. Last time was 6 months ago. Transmission has been fine since that. I have a 4 hour drive I was going to do with a trailer to pick some stuff up after work tomorrow and spend the rest of the evening getting my other car ready to do that rather than further diagnosing the festiva and now its dark. I am planning to replace the transmission on July 1st but I need to drive the car before that.
    Any ideas? Anything to check? thanks.

  • #2
    Probably the shift gate. Mine started like that. No 5th gear, then non of the odd number gears. Finally stuck in 4th. It was in 4th until it was swapped out.
    Jerry
    Team Lightning



    Owner of Team Lightning
    90 L "Peewee" B6D. Bought new May 16,1990
    92 L Thunder BP G5M-R Turbo B6T electronics. Jan 2016 FOTM winner SOLD
    93 L Lightning. BP



    Not a user of drugs or alcohol, Just addicted to Festiva's

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    • #3
      Ok, thanks. so the shift gate would get bent to cause that? Or does it wear or break?


      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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      • #4
        Mine had a hole worn in it. I guess it was broken in reality.
        Jerry
        Team Lightning



        Owner of Team Lightning
        90 L "Peewee" B6D. Bought new May 16,1990
        92 L Thunder BP G5M-R Turbo B6T electronics. Jan 2016 FOTM winner SOLD
        93 L Lightning. BP



        Not a user of drugs or alcohol, Just addicted to Festiva's

        Comment


        • #5
          Ha, ok
          So im going to ask a dumb question. At first i thought you meant the 5th gear shift fork that moves the gear, but when i google shift gate it seems to mean the shifter in the car. Which do you mean? And sorry for the dumb question :p


          Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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          • #6
            There's a shift gate inside the transmission that sometimes cracks or wears out. I discovered that in a transmission I had. Welded it back together and the transmission was fine. Here's a photo taken before I had it repaired.



            Ian
            Last edited by fastivaca; 06-24-2016, 10:05 PM.
            Ian
            Calgary AB, Canada
            93 L B6T: June 2016 FOTM
            59 Austin Healey "Bugeye" Sprite

            "It's infinitely better to fail with courage than to sit idle with fear...." Chip Gaines (pg 167 of Capital Gaines, Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff)

            Link to the "Road Trip Starting Points" page of my Econobox Café blog

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            • #7
              Ah, thanks!


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