1994 5sp 4wd shifting problem

[Saab01]

My girlfriend has a sweet (POS) 1994 tracker that she commutes about 5 miles to work with.

Today as she was parking in her school's parking garage the manual transmission would not go into gear at all into any gear with the clutch fully depressed.

She had to push it abit but final got it into reverse to get into a parking spot. when the car is off, the shifter will move into gear ok she says. I haven't seen the car yet.

Previously the car was hard to get into reverse sometimes but other gears were fine.

So if it the clutch/tranny linkage/transmission gears? I know very little about tracker's so we need help!!

I'm going to look at it tonight after work, so any help Asap is appreciated!

Thanks!

[HAWG]

sounds as if the clutch is going south

[Saab01]

Originally Posted by HAWG

sounds as if the clutch is going south

That makes sense. She just moved to a new apartment and is parking on a steep hill. She might be burning it up back into her parking spots.

any idea how much that would cost?

[baumbr]

Check the free play in the clutch pedal, it should depress about 1" maximum before the throw out engages. The clutch cable can be adjusted from underneath the Tracker. There is an arm that sticks out of the side of the transmission, I believe the passenger's side. Attached to this arm is a steel rod, which in turn attaches to the clutch cable. Lubricate the nut and threads on the rod and then tighten it up until you have proper free play at the pedal. You may have to hold the rod with pliers or another wrench to keep it and the cable from turning/twisting. Hopefully this will fix the shifting problem. Let us know how it goes before we get into more complicated stuff.

[Saab01]

Originally Posted by baumbr

Check the free play in the clutch pedal, it should depress about 1" maximum before the throw out engages. The clutch cable can be adjusted from underneath the Tracker. There is an arm that sticks out of the side of the transmission, I believe the passenger's side. Attached to this arm is a steel rod, which in turn attaches to the clutch cable. Lubricate the nut and threads on the rod and then tighten it up until you have proper free play at the pedal. You may have to hold the rod with pliers or another wrench to keep it and the cable from turning/twisting. Hopefully this will fix the shifting problem. Let us know how it goes before we get into more complicated stuff.

The clutch has never had a good feel to it, but it certainly felt different tonight. the first 1-2 inches felt dead... it was totally free of any restriction, then you could feel it being alittle stiffer but nothing really felt like a clutch engaging all the way to the floor. under the hood we saw the clutch cable mooving alittle bit when we put the pedal down.

otheriwse i wasn't really able to get under the car. I think we are going to get it towed to a garage tomorrow and see what they say.

[dgee]

sound like you need to adjust the clutch

[Saab01]

Originally Posted by dgee

sound like you need to adjust the clutch

Do you have any details on how to do that? I have the chilton's book for the car... it described adjusting it at the pedal, not at the transmission as was previously mentioned a few posts ago.

Thanks, Steve

[baumbr]

"Adjust at the pedal" if you read between the lines means to adjust the pedal free play so that you have the proper resistance at the pedal. The cable adjuster is down under as stated. The manual threw me for a loop on that one, too. Then I discovered that the writers were using a different grammatical structure than the rest of the English speaking world.

[dgee]

baumbr has it right you adjust it from underneath the truck.it sounds like the clutch is not totally disengaging does it grind when you try to put it into gear. let us know whats going on .

[dgee]

basically you are adjusting the play between throw out bearing and presure plate.

basically the throw out bearing is inside tranny which almost rides against the pressure plate.the bearing is connected to an arm the arm is connected to a shaft the shaft is connected to another arm outside of the transmision . the clutch cable is connected to that arm. you dont want to much play between the throw out bearing and the pressure plate . if there is to much the clutch will not totally disengage and the clutch will still rotate causing the transmissin to grind or not engage. not enough play the clutch will slip.

[Saab01]

Originally Posted by dgee

basically you are adjusting the play between throw out bearing and presure plate.

basically the throw out bearing is inside tranny which almost rides against the pressure plate.the bearing is connected to an arm the arm is connected to a shaft the shaft is connected to another arm outside of the transmision . the clutch cable is connected to that arm. you dont want to much play between the throw out bearing and the pressure plate . if there is to much the clutch will not totally disengage and the clutch will still rotate causing the transmissin to grind or not engage. not enough play the clutch will slip.

Thanks for all of the advice. Unfortunately we had it towed to a garage nearby and we've had a bad blizzard today so I don't know whats going on right now with it. they want to replace the clutch cable totally, which may or may not be necessary, but should fix this problem.

unless the whole clutch is bad.... and then we get a new car. considering her power steering doesn;t work either, its not really a worthwhile fix at this point if we go beyond the clutch cable.

[baumbr]

Don't be too hasty in replacing the Tracker. Try the adjustment first. If that doesn't work then a new cable, they can get bound up and not slide well just like choke cables, motorcycle brake and throttle cables, and bicycle brake cables. A burned clutch will usually slip not stick, i.e. you can rev up the engine while in gear but the car barely moves. that doesn't sound like your problem. Sometimes a sticking clutch can be fixed by giving it a good soaking with brake cleaner. (Mechanics used to use dry cleaning fluid "tetra", but it's now a banned substance.) Replacing the clutch is tedious and dirty, but not hard. The most difficult part of the job is lining up the transmission shaft splines.
Get the clutch working and then lets look at the power steering.

[Saab01]

Originally Posted by baumbr

Don't be too hasty in replacing the Tracker. Try the adjustment first. If that doesn't work then a new cable, they can get bound up and not slide well just like choke cables, motorcycle brake and throttle cables, and bicycle brake cables. A burned clutch will usually slip not stick, i.e. you can rev up the engine while in gear but the car barely moves. that doesn't sound like your problem. Sometimes a sticking clutch can be fixed by giving it a good soaking with brake cleaner. (Mechanics used to use dry cleaning fluid "tetra", but it's now a banned substance.) Replacing the clutch is tedious and dirty, but not hard. The most difficult part of the job is lining up the transmission shaft splines.
Get the clutch working and then lets look at the power steering.

Thanks for your help. The garage wasn't able to look at it until today, they are replacing the cable. we had a big snow storm friday so there wasn't anything happening this weekend either.

Hopefully that will fix the problem. I'd rather not have to get a new car.

yeah the power steering is part of a long laundry list including windshield washers not working, back door under softop doesn't open, airbox is stuck shut... etc. It was free so we can't complain i guess.

[baumbr]

Hey, stick with us. We'll get your Tracker cherried out before you know it. I've been through most things with my '92, including my son putting it through 2 collisions.

Couple of items for today that you may want to try:
1. Get a Haynes or Chilton's manual, you'll be able to do a lot of work yourself;
2. Lubricate everything, surprising what a few squirts of lubricant fixes.
3. On the windshield washer - Open the hood and back at the cowling near the windshield is the washer fluid hose. You should see a Y shaped connector, if this connector is cracked all your fluid will leak out and not make it to the windshield. Run a straight pin or fine wire down the nozzles to clear any blockages. Check the fuses, although not likely as everything on a Tracker seems to go through the same one or two fuses. Last take 12v directly to the pump motor and see if it runs.

Always start with the simplest problem/fix and you'll be fine.

[geofrog]

Hey the clutch cable is not that big of an issue. If all the mechanic wants to do is replace that, then you have a pretty honest mechanic. He could of just as easily told you the clutch was bad.

I had the same situation, i thaught it was the clutch. I bought the clutch and a new cable just because i was going to just do it all. We found out a little to late that the clutch was fine, but replaced it anyway, but the cable was bad. A $15 fix. O well.

Since then however I have replace the clutch cable twice, but i think that is due to me playing in sand and mud as much as possible.

SeeYa
KRis