'87 Camry shifting problem

[go_die_today]

I have an '87 Camry with a manual tranny. I drove it home from work last night and it drove just fine. I pushed in the clutch this morning and it started just fine. When I pushed in the clutch and tried to shift it into reverse, it would not shift. I tried shifting it into every other gear and it doesn't shift into any of them. The stick just moves forwards alittle and backwards alittle. It does not move left-to-right. Any ideas as to what could be wrong and how to fix it?

[Mike Gerber]

You don't really give too much information to go on here: how many miles on the car, what shape the clutch is in, what type of driving you do (city or highway or a combinations of both) etc., but I'll give you a place to start. Check to see if there is fluid left (DOT 3 brake fluid) in the clutch master cylinder. It's the smaller one right next to the brake master cylinder. It's on the driver's side along the firewall in the engine compartment. Don't just look from the side, take the cap off and see if it's at the full line. It's possible you have a leak in the slave cylinder and all the fluid has leaked out. If this is the case, you would need to replace the slave cylinder and bleed the clutch hydraulic system. Most techs recommend replacing the clutch master and slave cylinders together, since if one goes the other is usually not far behind. Replacing both should run about $300. If you can do the job yourself, the parts should run about $125-$150.

Mike