Won’t shift out if first

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Jdonnel
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Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2019 6:41 pm
My tercel:: 1983 Toyota SR5 4WD

Won’t shift out if first

Post by Jdonnel »

New to the forum, but I have just recently picked up a 1983 sr5. I’ve driven it about 500 and have had no issues that I couldn’t address, mainly just tune up stuff. Well after driving around this mourning I had to take my wife to the doctor. On the way home it was very hard to shift out of 1st. Then as we got closer it refused all together. When I got in the driveway it was able to shift out with not grind. The transmission is warm and it’s 75 degrees right now out side. I won’t have time to see if it’s low on fluid before I have to head to work. All the other gears work fine and EL works. It doesn’t make any noises. Did I just lose a synchro...that’s not made anymore??

Joe
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NWMO
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Re: Won’t shift out if first

Post by NWMO »

Joe,

Welcome to the board, there is lots of good help here.

Others will be along and provide more technical advise. First thought, check/change the differential fluid (plenty of posts here with opinions on the new fluid, but most important that you put something new in if it's old old). That is actually on my list for Tercel#2 that I just got started a couple of weeks ago. I've only driven it a dozen blocks or so, but fixing brakes and checking trans diff level is next on my list. If fluid looks ok and level is close, you may hold off on the fluid change. I think others here may recommend a "flush" where you might add a small amount of ATF or other fluid (detergent) to help clean things up some, drive a short distance to warm things up and THEN change the old gear oil out. Again, others know better than I on that.

I'm no transmission guru, but based on reading, it seems a damaged or lost synchro would certainly create grinding, etc., not just fight you when you try to shift. Best case scenario would be challenges with detents that may be making it difficult/impossible to shift, but not be a true transmission problem. At any rate, kudos on your new ride and good luck.

Chris
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Won’t shift out if first

Post by Petros »

Welcome to the forum! sorry to hear about your transmission problem.

a lost syncro would not prevent you from shifting out of first. it would just be crunchy getting it into gear.

there are several things to check:

all the tires must be the same size and inflated the same amount (different size tires puts stress on the drive train, including the trans).

could be the plastic parts in the shift linkage are worn out and sloppy. or a worn out shift linkage/lever.

unfortunately, other than the items above, any other problems would require pulling the transmission and tearing it down. that is a big job, and takes special tools (pullers, etc).

You might start looking around for a used transmission to just replace it as a unit. if something breaks further, you could trash the whole transmission. right now it might be able to be fixed, and at the very least most of the parts are good for salvage to use on other transmissions.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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