Got stuck in 5th, what could be wrong?
 

I was getting off the freeway this morning and could not downshift, the car was locked in 5th. Got the car to the emergency lane and after a few seconds of moving the clutch and lifting and releasing the parking brake, it released and seemed like normal. What could be failing? Bushings were changed 3 years ago when short shift kit was installed. This has happened only once before that I can recall.

This is an outside guess for your issue. I could be the accelerator or decelerator blocks jamming the synchro ring from disengagement... I had the opposite happen and this was the cause. I jammed the accel block in-between the synchro ring and the hub of the dog ring and could not put it in 3rd gear... It gradually got worse until I could not put it in 3rd ever so...

MY Fix was complete rebuild... to get there I had to take it all apart... Put in a new dog ring, synchro, and accel block... put it all back together... zoom zoom Until I took it all apart I did not know what was wrong, just that 3rd had disappeared...

Sorry for some potential bad new$...

Best regards,

Michael

Chris-
It may just be that you need to re-adjust the shift coupler. If the clamp on the shift rod isn't tight enough, the shifter can gradually slip out of adjustment. I hope this is your problem, because a transmission rebuild isn't cheap.

When I first bought my SC, I had this happen to me three or four times over a few weeks, always as I slowed after long highway sections. It took a lot of force to get the trans out of fifth. I changed the linkage bushes, adjusted the shift coupler and it has never happened again since. Hope you have the same success ;)

I had this when I installed my short shift kit (factory). If the shift coupler is set so that the gear lever does not travel sufficiently forward when engaging fifth gear, then the lever will not clear the reverse lockout mechanism entirely. When jammed, moving the lever further forward and to the left may allow the reverse lockout enough room to relax into its correct position. Careful when adjusting the shift coupler, though, 'cause if you set the coupler with the lever too far forward then the tab welded to the side of the lever won't come back far enough to clear the corresponding tab on the shift tower in neutral and you won't get the lever out of the 5th/reverse plane.
Good luck and happy fiddling!

Put in a new dog ring, synchro, and accel block... put it all back together... zoom zoom Until I took it all apart I did not know what was wrong, just that 3rd had disappeared...

What is a:
accel block...

I have the factory short shift kit as well, interesting point.

Thanks everyone, I will take it slowly to see how often this happens and in the mean time start saving for a replacement transmission. One of the previous owners had it rebuilt about 1998.

If it happens again try pushing the lever even harder into 5th (ie, forward). If you are then able to get out of 5th easily it is your coupler adjustment. That 5-R lockout cam can get wedged in behind the shift lever if it doesn't travel forward quite enough, as Rootmatt correctly pointed out.
I have found fine-tuning the factory short shift for proper 5th gear operation challenging. Beware: setting the linkages with 5th gear too far forward may result in difficulty getting out of 5th without nicking reverse.

This happened to me shortly after I purchased my 1986. First, I noticed that after picking the car up from an attendant the shift knob had rotated about 15 degrees clockwise. Strange, but no problems shifting, until I got to 5th...then it wouldn't come out :eek: . After tugging harder and harder it finally popped loose, and the knob had rotated back to its normal orientation. A few weeks later a similar thing happened, except that now I couldn't get it *into* 5th. :confused:

It turned out that the upper and lower parts shifter are epoxied to each other. The epoxy had weakened and allowed the shifter to rotate. This caused problems with shifting into and out of 5th.

Check if your shifter has rotated. If it has, this may be your problem, and you can either re-epoxy the shifter, or have it welded together as I did.

Well the problem reoccured today and I was able to get it out easier. I believe it is the shift gate because it seems if I give it a little push in 5th it seems to come loose but I had to bring the car to a stop to get it out.

I've had similar issue too, I just push it deeper into 5th then it pops out, it's only happened maybe 4 times out of 40K miles, so not too bad.

This issue is usually due to a slight mis-adjustment of the shift coupler.

Chris, if it happens again, try revving the engine a few times while you have the clutch pedal pushed in. It has worked for me. Then call Hergesheimer or someone you trust to adjust the coupler properly.

stuck on 5
 

Happened to me 4 times today. I had to force it off 5.

It sticks even if the engine is not running. Shifter linkage adjustment ?

+1

One issue is the large hub that the 5th/reverse shift sleeve slides on gets deep notches worn into it in the 5th gear position, which tend to catch the sleeve.

I had this problem on my '86 Targa, and it was easily fixed by adjusting the shift coupler as described in Wayne's 101 Projects book. Try that first.

Mine was the reverse lock out pin needed some lube