off topic high traffic area (gear box)

[xaserII]

hey i went out to my car this morning and tryed to shift it into neutral so i could start the car and the gear lever is stuck in 1st and wont come out. when i engage the clutch it acts normal. i guess what im trying to describe is that my gearbox is frozen or is acting like its frozen..
any ideas on what could have caused this? i tryed like heck to get it out of first gear but no dice. it got kinda cold here last night and we have a couple inches of snow but that shouldnt matter.
i think my gearbox is fried. will wait till it warms up and mess with it but i think the dessert rat is done for.
x

[ARCHINSTL]

xaserII -
Has it been a long time since you've driven it?
This identical situation actually happened to me with my '86 626 when I had not driven it for a month or so back in '89 (I had just purchased a pickup and was enamored of the truckin' experience for a while).
Anyway, my lever was stuck in neutral - I always used the parking brake at that time. The clutch went in OK, but attempting to move the lever just produced growling sounds. The dealer explained that the clutch disc had frozen itself to the pressure plate because of lack of use. Oddly, I had just read of that phenomenon in a Road & Track article responding to a reader's letter of this occurring with a Ford Festiva (early Kia-Ford) - apparently they frequently suffered this. I don't know if the 626 had similar genes or not. I've never read on the other Toyota/Tercel Forums of this being a problem with our cars, however. I think R&T may have mentioned that FWD cars were prone to this because of ?, but I'm uncertain.
The remedy was a new disc and possibly pressure plate and resurfaced flywheel - I don't really recall if the latter two items were replaced/rehabbed, though.
Tom M.

[neonsport]

When I bought my third 4WD Tercel, it had the same problem. It turned out there was some water in the pivot area of the shifter,and in cold weather it would freeze and stick the shifter in whatever gear it was in. In warm weather it would work fine.

[takza]

I'd try taking a length of wood and propping the clutch pedal to the floor overnight or for a few days...maybe it will loosen?

Try some lube down over the shifter shaft at the bushing...remove the covers? Mine had grit and water in there....I cleaned this out and used gear oil.