Manual Transmission Problem

[jason322]

I have a 1997 Cavalier Base Model. It has 102,000 and a 5-speed. When I try to shift into reverse it just grinds so I have to turn off the car, put it into reverse, then start it. Also when I was going down my ally this morning I was trying to shift into second but it wouldn't go I had to shift into 3rd. Once I got onto the street 30 seconds later it easily shifted into second. About a mile down the road I was taking a right and I tried to down shift into second and it wouldn't go once again. So I shifted into third and 10 seconds later it would go into second. I have had some problems with 1st and 3rd also but 2nd is the biggest problem.

Could anyone tell me what is the problem???

[perna00]

sounds like your synconizers in your tranny

[hackken]

It could be a transmission problem, but most likely is a clutch problem. Your clutch may not be fully disengaging causing you to have problems shifting the transmission gears. I had a similar problem several years ago and it was the clutch. Hope this helps.

[jason322]

Well....

Today was very interesting. I found the problem. Here's what happened.

After I got done with school I went to start my car and nothing, none of the lights would turn on either. I have had this problem before and it was a loose battery connection. Well I shook the battery and nothing happened, so I got a friend to try to jump start the car. Nothing happened. So he had to go to work so I called my friends dad. He came over and gave me a jump and it wouldn't start so we got some starter fluid gave the intake a shot of that and it fired right up. So i'm driving to his house to charge the battery and my car dies right in the turn lane of 2 major streets. So he parks his car and startes to push my car into a nearby gas station. BTW-he has had 2 back surgeries. We get it going again and I finally get to his house. I told him about what happened this morning and he knew instantly what was wrong. He checked the clutch hydrolic fluid(or whatever) and it was completely empty, nothing, nada, zipo. So we salved that problem, know the starting issues. We put the car on the charger for 1 hour and still nothing. So we think that maybe the battery is dead but its a brand new battery so it can't be bad. So we instead take out the alternator and take it to autozone and it test good. So we go back and put that back in. We then jump start the car and let it idle for like 10 minutes. We turned it off and tryed to start it once more and nothing. So we let it idle even longer and it just dies after like 15 minutes. We then tested the battery by touching the jumper cables together and sparks go flying. So we are like okay the battery is definately good so we think well maybe the starter is bad, since the battery can't be bad because its new and has a charge. We start to take out the starter and there is this metal bar, who knows what the hell its for, right underneath the starter, and the exhaust is blocking one of the bolts in this bar. So we pry out the bar with great amounts of force(BTW I hope this bar doesn't do anything important). We run up to autozone once again and the starter is good. So we get back to the house put the starter in and we can actually hear the starter moving finally, problem is its moving at like 10 rpm (LOL). Well he has a idea so we hook up his car, start it, then start mine with no problems at all. Then I try just my car, and nothing. Then he hooks up my car to his but doesn't start it and it fires right up. So we finally concluded after 7 hours of jacking around that it was a bad battery.

So yeah I hope you get a kick out of our extreme stupidness.

[nova racer]

Originally Posted by jason322

Well....

Today was very interesting. I found the problem. Here's what happened.

After I got done with school I went to start my car and nothing, none of the lights would turn on either. I have had this problem before and it was a loose battery connection. Well I shook the battery and nothing happened, so I got a friend to try to jump start the car. Nothing happened. So he had to go to work so I called my friends dad. He came over and gave me a jump and it wouldn't start so we got some starter fluid gave the intake a shot of that and it fired right up. So i'm driving to his house to charge the battery and my car dies right in the turn lane of 2 major streets. So he parks his car and startes to push my car into a nearby gas station. BTW-he has had 2 back surgeries. We get it going again and I finally get to his house. I told him about what happened this morning and he knew instantly what was wrong. He checked the clutch hydrolic fluid(or whatever) and it was completely empty, nothing, nada, zipo. So we salved that problem, know the starting issues. We put the car on the charger for 1 hour and still nothing. So we think that maybe the battery is dead but its a brand new battery so it can't be bad. So we instead take out the alternator and take it to autozone and it test good. So we go back and put that back in. We then jump start the car and let it idle for like 10 minutes. We turned it off and tryed to start it once more and nothing. So we let it idle even longer and it just dies after like 15 minutes. We then tested the battery by touching the jumper cables together and sparks go flying. So we are like okay the battery is definately good so we think well maybe the starter is bad, since the battery can't be bad because its new and has a charge. We start to take out the starter and there is this metal bar, who knows what the hell its for, right underneath the starter, and the exhaust is blocking one of the bolts in this bar. So we pry out the bar with great amounts of force(BTW I hope this bar doesn't do anything important). We run up to autozone once again and the starter is good. So we get back to the house put the starter in and we can actually hear the starter moving finally, problem is its moving at like 10 rpm (LOL). Well he has a idea so we hook up his car, start it, then start mine with no problems at all. Then I try just my car, and nothing. Then he hooks up my car to his but doesn't start it and it fires right up. So we finally concluded after 7 hours of jacking around that it was a bad battery.

So yeah I hope you get a kick out of our extreme stupidness.

replace your cables posative and negative. that should solve that problem. now for the clutch you might need a new slave cylinder. because it does not burn it.