how to fix shift linkage

Neu · Post by **Neu** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:26 pm

Where can I find an online manual for this? how hard is it? Do I need special tools? Uh..what're the difficult things for this?

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:28 am

Here a good link:

viewtopic.php?t=2382&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Remember you don't HAVE to remove the 6 bolts...under poor conditions it ain't gonna be fun.

Can just use some really pointed needle nose pliers to remover the c-clip...pull the shifter and do it that way.

Neu · Post by **Neu** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:11 pm

Looks like I bent something further up on the shifter. That bar that connects to the shifter, it must be inside the tranny that I messed something up, the forks someone else said. i need to get to that.

Neu · Post by **Neu** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:37 am

any help on getting to it? will i need to drop the transmission to do it?

Post by **Petros** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:46 pm

IT sounds like you will have to open up the case to get to it. That requires dropping the trans as far as I can remember. I had something similar happen just before the trans bundled itself up, so it may not be the linkage at all, but something more serious.

How many miles is on the trans, and exactly how it is acting? In my case it went deeper into 2nd gear than it should have, and then would not come out. I was able to drive it home in 2nd gear, but it got very load the longer I drove it. I just replaced the whole trans without opening it up, the gears were just wearing out to the point it would not shift anymore.

Good luck.

Neu · Post by **Neu** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:18 pm

well this is what i found out when i drove it again today.

i can shit from EL to 1st, to 2nd to 5th no problem.

4th gear does absolutely nothing, there's no resistence putting it into that gear, and it doesn't do anything.

3rd gear seems to bind up really bad, where I can pull it out of the 3rd gear position..but it isn't actually out of 3rd.

I have to come to nearly a completely stop, put it into 1st, then reverse, or play around with the gears a lot in order to get it to work.

Also, when you are going along and you accidently try to put it into reverse, you know how it grinds? it made a sheetmetal on saw sound. know what i mean?

takza · Post by **takza** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:52 am

I'd change the oil out and take a look at it. See if you have metal in it (floating fines) and how much is on the plugs. Maybe it is just low?

My guess on taking the trans apart is that you'd probably get in pretty deep...unless you just find a pin or bolt loose that holds a fork or something.

Iain · Post by **Iain** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:21 am

Neu wrote:well this is what i found out when i drove it again today.

i can shit from EL to 1st, to 2nd to 5th no problem.

4th gear does absolutely nothing, there's no resistance putting it into that gear, and it doesn't do anything.

3rd gear seems to bind up really bad, where I can pull it out of the 3rd gear position..but it isn't actually out of 3rd.

I have to come to nearly a completely stop, put it into 1st, then reverse, or play around with the gears a lot in order to get it to work.

Also, when you are going along and you accidently try to put it into reverse, you know how it grinds? it made a sheet metal on saw sound. know what i mean?

Sorry to say, but you basically have a blown transmission. 4th sounds like its stripped, and the broken teeth are caught in the syncro of 3rd. and so on. The broken teeth are just being moved around inside the trans. as you move the shifter.

Neu · Post by **Neu** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:33 pm

Iain wrote:
Neu wrote:well this is what i found out when i drove it again today.

i can shit from EL to 1st, to 2nd to 5th no problem.

4th gear does absolutely nothing, there's no resistance putting it into that gear, and it doesn't do anything.

3rd gear seems to bind up really bad, where I can pull it out of the 3rd gear position..but it isn't actually out of 3rd.

I have to come to nearly a completely stop, put it into 1st, then reverse, or play around with the gears a lot in order to get it to work.

Also, when you are going along and you accidently try to put it into reverse, you know how it grinds? it made a sheet metal on saw sound. know what i mean?
Sorry to say, but you basically have a blown transmission. 4th sounds like its stripped, and the broken teeth are caught in the syncro of 3rd. and so on. The broken teeth are just being moved around inside the trans. as you move the shifter.

yeh, I'm ganna try to drive it for a while without using 3rd or 4th, place some bets on how many miles i can cram into the already broken tranny.

neonsport · Post by **neonsport** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:42 am

In 1988, my mother had a 1978 Honda Civic wagon. She was moving out of New Hampshire, going to Florida, and called to ask me what size trailer she could tow. I told her she couldn't, and she reminded me that the Civic already had a hitch on it. It did, I'd met the original owner, and he used it to tow a small catamaran. I could've towed that with a bicycle. I told her to go buy one of those little 4x8 foot folding flatbed trailers and go with that.

She went to U-Haul and rented a box trailer. I can't imagine who hooked it up, but they did.

She blew the head gasket and fried the brakes in Vermont. She found a shop and got it back on the road. Somewhere around South Carolina, the transmission lost first and third gears. It was only a 4 speed (they didn't offer the 5 speed in Civic wagons back then). The dealership where she went to buy another car offered her $200 for the Civic, and I bought it from her for that.

I drove it for several thousand miles on just 2nd and 4th gear. You know how it is, you just get used to something and make it work. There are some things you can only fake so long, and when I went to Austin to help a friend learn to walk again after a bad motorcycle accident, I had to do something about it. The car just didn't have the torque to start up any hill at all. I found a guy who was advertising Civic parts in the newspaper and went to his house to check it out. He didn't have a single complete parts car anywhere, but he had about 15 cars parted and neatly organized on shelves in his garage. He didn't have a 4 speed, but he had a half-dozen 5 speeds for $35 each. It was almost as easy to install as a 4 speed would have been, and the only thing that changed was that I lost the reverse lockout.

The rings were already weak in that old wagon, and then the head cracked. I started tearing the engine down and lost interest. I sold it to some guy who finally got it back on the road. I still miss that old wagon, it had a lot of character and those cool blue-face Honda gauges.