Impossible 1st gear on -84 Carrera

A friend of mine with a, for him, new 1984 Carrera has encountered a gearbox problem.
It is not possible to select 1st gear. It is not even possible to get the stick into the 1st gear position, it is totally blocked. All other gears work fine, no grinding or unusual behaviour.
Before we start taking the gearbox out, has anyone experiensed a similar problem? If so, what was the cause? All inputs appreciated.

Bjorn, 911 -65 & -77

There have been several stories on this board recently like yours. It seems our synchros are weak. They wear, and eventually come apart. Drain the oil fromt the tranny and check for metal things. Metal things will be parts you need to replace.

Consensus is that SWEPCO gear oil is the REAL DEAL for these cars. You could try that first, but your symptom seems to be somewhat common and I suspect your tranny needs synchro parts.

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'83 SC

Check the simple things first. Check out the base of your shift to make sure there isn't something there preventing it from moving over to the first/reverse positions.

Check the shift coupling just in front of the back seat hasn't slipped. With the stick disconnected check to see if you can rotate the shift rod to the first/reverse position.

It might not be a BIG problem.

I just finished fixing same symptom. My first gear synchro had lost all its teeth. When that happens there is a dog-ring that is held by pressure against those teeth. Teeth sheer/wear off and this ring expands blocking first gear.

We checked everything and rebuilt first and second synchros as 2'nd was showing wear also.

Good Luck

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TonyE
85 911 wide-body cab.