Shifting Linkage

Quick question for anyone who could answer...

What is the shifting linkage on a 5-spd.? What does it do?

second, if I have a bad transmission, is there any reason to change it? Why?

Thanks in advance.

What year? What does it do or not do?

An 86. Lost fifth gear, third and second are going as well

Linkage is the link between your shifter and your transmission. The shifter moves the linkage and the linkage moves to select the proper gear. If the linkage is bad or needs adjustment it can cause shifting problems.

And no, you dont need to change your transmission if its bad. But only if you cut off your roof, fill the car with soil and use it as a planter.

Seriously, Car needs transmission to get power to the wheels. No transmission, no go.

okay, well here is my problem. I am in a bit of a argument with a mechanic that I recently took my car to. I brought it to him because I had lost fifth gear and was losing the other ones. He put $550 worth of work in it and I got it back and I still had no fifth gear. He is saying that I never wanted my transmission fixed and instead just wanted him to do everything else. (while this is totally not the case, it is beyond the point of the story). The point of it is that while he did nothing to my transmission (when I took it to another mechanic after he worked on my car, they said that their was fluid in the gear box and that no one had looked at it. Is it normal for a mechanic to quote a price to fix something and not even take a look at it first?) But anyway, back to the original point. If it was the case, like he says, that I never wanted the transmission fixed; then why would you fix the shifting linkage? It seems like that is kind of like fixing up a house with a rotten foundation and never fixing the foundation.

What did he do for $500, other repairs? If you haven't had 5th making noise for a while and it seems like it isn't even engaging then you might be lucky & it will just be the short shifter rod that is bad. There are two sets of rods, one for forward/backward motion & one for side/side motion. When you look at the transmission from the top you can see the linkage, one arm has a metal rod type linkage that is connected with a metal pin, the one you're interested in is the other that goes straight back and has plastic snap on ball & socket ends. It goes straight back to a pivot point then another similar rod (longer) goes over to the shift tube. Usually when you lose fifth one of the plastic ends on the short rod has broken. You need to reallly look at it to see that it is flexing when you try to put it into 5th.

Other repairs - brake pads, replaced a pulley, couple of belts, fuel temp sensor, shifting linkage. It won't even go into fifth gear and have lost third and second as well. This is after he fixed the shifting linkage.

It just grinds when I try and put it in fifth

Grinds going into gear or grinds when you let out the clutch? How's reverse?

It grinds when I try and put it in fifth. I put in the clutch and try and put it into fifth and it just grinds, so I don't even have the opportunity to let out the clutch. Reverse is going as well now to. I can get it into reverse, but it has a slight grinding sound to it now when i drive it.

It sounds like it's time for a new transmission. It will probably get worse over time & have to be replaced.

what's the cost? estimate (obviously it would have to get looked at first)

have you looked at the shift linkage??? a lot of plastic in there I would look there first, how does it run If you do get it in gear..slip,jerk,thump,
rev up...

BC

They're hard to find used (getting too old anyway). I just put a rebuilt one in a '97 that cost $850 plus labor.

Call these guys for cheap used (from German rust buckets) watercooled motors and transmissions.
http://qualitygermanautoparts.com/Quality-German-home.htm

Quick question for anyone who could answer...

What is the shifting linkage on a 5-spd.? What does it do?

second, if I have a bad transmission, is there any reason to change it? Why?

Thanks in advance.

The linkage, as stated before, goes from the shift lever to the transmission. The only time mine failed was pretty catastrophically; it snapped, leaving me with 3rd and 4th gears only. It's not a particularly expensive fix if that's all that's wrong (I think it's a 25 dollar part plus labor; the linkage is visible and accesible without removing anything else on my 87).

If it's the transmission that's bad, you're looking at serious dough. You'd probably pay less for an engine rebuild.