Problem Shifting

There was a thread on this issue when I searched, but as far as I can tell, nothing that led to a resolution..

I can't get it to shift in to 1st... it wont even engage... it's like something is blocking the lever from going in to that position. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and R all work fine..

Wondering if anyone has any thoughts.. It's getting old reving her up and dumping the clutch in 2nd to get going, not to mention stressful on the car and sucks through the fuel...


Thanks

its either your clutch, or somethin fucked up your shift linkage. I guess it could be the tranny, which means the rest of the gears will go soon, but how long has this been happening

It just happened a couple nights ago.. I got in to my car, and it wouldn't go in to first... it's bizarre.. nothing else is weird about shifting, everything grabs with no effort, and doesn't make any noise or anything...

When I try to push it in to first it feels like it's hitting a physical barrier

which tranny, and how many miles on it - I'm guessing tranny though unless for some reason something is catching on your shift linkage. Might look under the car and have somebody shift for you to make sure something isn't blocking it like your exhaust if it came loose or something. If nothing is hitting it I'd say tranny.

which tranny, and how many miles on it - I'm guessing tranny though unless for some reason something is catching on your shift linkage. Might look under the car and have somebody shift for you to make sure something isn't blocking it like your exhaust if it came loose or something. If nothing is hitting it I'd say tranny.

Yeah I was planning on looking under the car tomorrow.. but the tranny (in fact, the whole car) only has 130k miles on it, and I don't drive it like a maniac....

I'm guessing it's just something fucked up with the linkage... I'll post again tomorrow....

oh, and it's a stock 91 dx 5 speed

I am wondering if we're all clear that I can shift in to any gear I like except first, and it's not that it goes up and nothing happens, it's that it will not go there no matter how hard I push up on it

check for linkage binding on something, if not, its probably internal and woul dbe better off buying a new tranny.

its either your clutch, or somethin fucked up your shift linkage being that the tranny goes into every other gear i doubt thats the prob. there is a possibility that 1st gear synchro ring could be jamming the hub from engaging. i say its internal.

Well folks, tis not the linkage... this is probably going to be expensive, isn't it....

It's the syncros. I've read a thread somewhere before and the syncros was the problem.

yea prolly ur synchros. have u tried shifting to 2nd first then up to first and see if it'll stop the gears inside from spinning so u can get it into 1st??? if u havent then i'd try that, if it doesnt work then hold it up in the position of 1st and wiggle the shifter back and forth while pushing up and see if it'll pop in, just a few suggestions

yea prolly ur synchros. have u tried shifting to 2nd first then up to first and see if it'll stop the gears inside from spinning so u can get it into 1st??? if u havent then i'd try that, if it doesnt work then hold it up in the position of 1st and wiggle the shifter back and forth while pushing up and see if it'll pop in, just a few suggestions

I've tried all manner of insanity to try to get it to go in to first, but alas, nothing. Also, does it matter that I can't do it even with the engine off?

This sucks.. and it's so weird.. It's not like it happened while i was driving either... I got off work, drove home, parked .. went back down to my car to go back to work 3-4 hours later, and bam! no first gear

weird, ur 1st gear sounds like its really messed up then, u should be able to get it to go into 1st with the engine off, i'm thinking maybe something snapped off and its jamming ur first gear, so to find that out u gotta rip the tranny out and split it apart and see whats happening

Yeah....

I talked to a guy at a local tranny shop.. he said worse case scenario, 600-1000 bucks... as much as I love the hatch, I would have a hard time investing half the value of the car to get it fixed...

Although I suppose I can't really sell it as it sits.....

This blows

have you checked at the gear lever itself for obstructions?peel back the gator and have a look.

600 to 1000 bux is to much. almost 2 years ago when i went through my first tranny, i took it to the local junk yard, and they put me in a used one for 350 bux, and it lasted me over a year. Now i am(was till my engine blew) running an si tranny i bought from a friend for 75 bux that has lasted about a year, and still goin good. so just look around and you can find a tranny for cheap, and it wont take but a day to put it in if you know what you are doin

yeah 600-1000 is way too much for a d series trans. You can get low mileage Si tranny's for 300 or below!

Umm.. I'm pretty sure that quote included the labor to install it... And I asked them because I don't know what I'm doing well enough to do it myself...

Anyway, now the car is undriveable, it's stuck in 2nd and won't leave...