Tranny will go into gear when car is off, but not on. What gives?

[eric.ws.anderson]

Hey guys. I've replaced a clutch before, and I'm fairly familiar with the inner-workings of a manual hydraulic transmission. I haven't however ran into this problem ever before:

93 Escort LX 5-spd tranny

-all gears functional when engine is OFF
-car will not go into any gear when car is ON. The shifter won't budge!

Any ideas? This happened all of a sudden.

I appreciate anyone's time!

[devaome]

Originally Posted by eric.ws.anderson

Hey guys. I've replaced a clutch before, and I'm fairly familiar with the inner-workings of a manual hydraulic transmission. I haven't however ran into this problem ever before:

93 Escort LX 5-spd tranny

-all gears functional when engine is OFF
-car will not go into any gear when car is ON. The shifter won't budge!

Any ideas? This happened all of a sudden.

I appreciate anyone's time!

I had this problem--I think--when you say the car is on do you mean running. Get the car up on ramps and have someone do the shifting while watching--make sure you instruct your helper as to the dangers of moving the car--better yet get the car up on jackstands and do the above.

Now if I can remember--it has been 3 years since I did the clutch--what comes to mind is I had some bolt that that connected the linkage in backwards or the tranny was too far forward and the linkage was hitting something--boy I wish I could remember. That is why it would be best to have someone shift while you evaluate--both with the car off and the car on. I wish I could be more help--but I do remember the linkage not budging and me thinking "well what 2 gears do I have jammed together that is gonna require a total teardown--and then being quiet relieved to see it was linkage related.

Let me know.

Bob

[eric.ws.anderson]

Thanks for the response. The shift linkage looks fine, and since the car has no trouble going into gear when the engine is off, it would seem like an indication that the shift linkage is not the issue.

If I have overlooked something please let me know. Anymore ideas?

[devaome]

Originally Posted by eric.ws.anderson

Thanks for the response. The shift linkage looks fine, and since the car has no trouble going into gear when the engine is off, it would seem like an indication that the shift linkage is not the issue.

If I have overlooked something please let me know. Anymore ideas?

Would engine torque--created when the engine is running misalign something just enough to create a no shift problem by causing shift linkage to meet up with something immoveable?

Bob

[devaome]

Eric one more thing--Put it in gear then start it--let out clutch--what happens? Only thing is if something in the tranny is locked up this could mess it up??

My escort has the neutral start linked with the clutch pedal so I can start it in gear with the clutch is depressed.

I'm becoming obsessed with this because of the same problem I had.

Bob

[eric.ws.anderson]

Those are two really great ideas! I think I'm going to have the car towed here and I'll try that on Wedesday or Thursday.
I will keep you updated!

[carlos80]

sounds like your clutch isn't disengaging, check your release fork to see if its actually moving

[jman63]

kind of a long shot, but mine did the same thing and it turned out that the clip that snaps onto the end of the clutch pedal pivot pin came off so the pin worked it's way out of position causing the pedal to go down cockeyed so it wasn't going down far enough.

[eric.ws.anderson]

This is all great input. I will look into everything that is being posted. Thank you all very much