No neutral

[lindy 911]

I just got my motor back in after a rebuild and drove the car for the first time. Motor runs great, have to run down a small oil leak but after a couple times up and down the street, reverse got hard to find then it stopped shifting all together. I can find reverse but when I try to go to any forward gear the motor pulls and the clutch starts to engage but now forward movement, like it's in two gears at once.

Now I can't get a neutral. The car won't move unless the clutch is pushed in. Bummer! Any ideas?

Lindy

[HFR_Racer]

Seems like this could be several things..

If your transmission savy then I'd first check to see if your clutch cable adjustment is correct. Maybe the difficultly getting into gear is because your not disengaging your clutch.

If that's not it then.... I'd disconnect the shift coupler from the shift rod (just behind the driver seat , between the seats, under the carpet). Then you grab ahold of the shift shaft (coming out of the front of the transmisison). If you know how the shifter shaft is supposed to behave, then you can determine if something is wrong inside the transmission. If it's really in two gears at once (as you say). If it is... Then you need to drop the shift linkage guide fork (bottom of the transmission. It's possible that the shift linkage guide fork came loose (or broke). I've seen this discussed in this forum.

Is it possible that you've shifted too hard??? You shouldn't force these transmissions into gear (also well discussed in this forum). A slider fork may have slid on the shift rod. If that happened then you need to pull the transmission to adjust (repair).

If I'm talking over your head then you need probably should take her to a local wrench..

[mobileworkswest]

If you have a 915 trans, probably have a detent ball that is not positioned properly. Short term fix is to jack up car, place shifter in neutral, remove reverse switch and lever pin forward to pop it out of reverse. Re adjust shift linkage. trans will have to come apart to correct problem. hope this helps. Tom

[lindy 911]

I rebuilt the motor myself so I can get around the tool box OK but I've never been in a 915 which is what I have. It will travel under it's own power in reverse but when I shift it into first and try to take off it's like I've left the parking brake on; same with second through fifth.

Weird, as the same thing happened when I first got the motor in and installed the coupler; couldn't roll the car like it was stuck in gear. That somehow went away and I got it to shift. I don't think I had the coupler adjusted correctly when I drove it first because reverse was hard to find. This 915 has been sitting with no gear oil for the better part of 15 years. It was sealed though and there was still some residual oil in it before I re-installed. I put fresh Amsoil in it for the initial run thinking to change that to Swepco after about 500 miles or so.


Thanks for the help!

Lindy

[efhughes3]

The logical thing would be to focus on your coupler adjustment, considering the fact this happened upon reinstalling an engine.

[Flat6pac]

When youre mixed up with 2 gears including reverse the problem is the swivel connecting the trans in the back access is worn out.
Install new and adjust.
Bruce

[lindy 911]

Thanks everybody for the advice.

Ed, I agree with you and I've gone through the adjustments over and over and can't get neutral. I went as far as to disconnect the coupler all together and shifted the trans by hand with just the shift shaft and can't get it the car to roll without clutch.

Flat6pac and mobileworkswest, I'm going to pull the back-up switch and see if that frees it. Can you be a little more specific as to the swivel and what I'm looking for when I pull the back access? Where are parts available for the 915?

Thanks again!

Lindy

[efhughes3]

Your coupler may've been off enough to get you locked up in the trans when you first shifted it. I believe this is not unheard of, and a removal of the shift fork cover at the bottom of the trans is required to access, and then manually moving to free it up. It kind of gets stuck trying to get two gears at once. Maybe try a search with various terms here.

[snbush67]

Lindy,

(I should have read Eds post I guess we said the same thing) Drain and pull the bottom cover, it is likely you have two gears selected. You will be able to put the lever back in synch.

You can also check your guide fork which is attached to the bottom cover, and make sure it hasn't loosened up when you do this.

Once you have it all figured out and working right, you can drain it again and put a new gasket on the bottom, cover.


Shane

[lindy 911]

I'm going to pull the bottom cover and the back-up switch Saturday morning. What am I looking for when I pull the cover? How do I tell if it's in neutral and what do I use to move the gears around?

When I pull the back-up switch, I'm guessing there's a shaft that makes contact and I need to push the shaft back into the tranny, is that right?

Also, while I have the cover off, are there any tell-tale signs I should be looking for? I mean signs of wear or parts that need to be replaced in the future.

Thanks for all the feed-back!

Lindy

[Christien]

Be aware that when you pull the back-up switch out, you're going to get a fair amount of tranny oil coming out. If you jack up the front of the car, you can prevent this. Inside there you'll feel a pin - about 1/8" diameter. You need to push on this really hard to take the tranny out of reverse. Travel is maybe 1/2", IIRC. You can't do it with your thumb or finger - it needs too much pressure. Use the butt end of a screwdriver, or something similar.

Thing is, if you just had the motor out and didn't do anything with the tranny, I'm not sure how this could have happened. Which is why so many people are advising you to try adjusting the coupler before doing anything more serious. It shouldn't be the detent ball because you didn't have it open, so if that was in position properly before the engine pull, it can't come out of position by just removing the motor. (can it? I can't think of how) You don't say specifically, but I'm assuming it was driving fine before you pulled the engine.