Transmission won't go in gear

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navyguy
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Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:19 am
My tercel:: 1984 4wd wagon

Transmission won't go in gear

Post by navyguy »

My son was driving his 1984 tercel 4wd manual transmission 60 mph and lost all gears, thought it might be clutch but shop pulled tranny and its fine, any body have an idea of what could cause this on a manual transmission? Hopefully nothing too costly.
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splatterdog
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Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:26 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: Transmission won't go in gear

Post by splatterdog »

All gears are neutral or can't get the lever in to any gear? All gears neutral-likely a broken/stripped out input shaft/gear. Can't shift in to gear with engine running-clutch not fully disengaging, check cable.
navyguy
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Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:19 am
My tercel:: 1984 4wd wagon

Re: Transmission won't go in gear

Post by navyguy »

All gears neutral, Thanks I'll have them check it. Would that be an costly job?
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Petros
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Posts: 11941
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Transmission won't go in gear

Post by Petros »

could be clutch, or input shaft failed. also check cv axles are good, sometimes the spline shaft end shears off.

all of these should be fairly simple fixed compared to a trans rebuild. Also, sometimes a sloppy shift linkage will cause the lever to pull out of engaging the linkage, also a simple fix if you can get the parts.
'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)
xirdneh
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My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Transmission won't go in gear

Post by xirdneh »

Could you clarify for me? Is it stuck in neutral at neutral position or will it move to all gears but none of the gears work? What was happening prior to this, any symptoms? Like hard shifting or popping it out of gear with out pushing clutch in (car not running).
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
xirdneh
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My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Transmission won't go in gear

Post by xirdneh »

If it was stuck in neutral this usually fixes it.. Pull 17 mm plug on top right of main case. Shove a big screw driver in the hole and push hard. That will move reverse idler gear forward and solve the problem.I do not know why the gear gets out of its place. When handling tranny the shaft that the 5th gear fork is on can get bumped and move shaft inward about 3/8 inch locking up the tranny requiring doing the above fix.
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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lannvouivre
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My tercel:: 2006 Pontiac Vibe
Location: Odessa, TX

Re: Transmission won't go in gear

Post by lannvouivre »

xirdneh wrote:If it was stuck in neutral this usually fixes it.. Pull 17 mm plug on top right of main case. Shove a big screw driver in the hole and push hard. That will move reverse idler gear forward and solve the problem.I do not know why the gear gets out of its place. When handling tranny the shaft that the 5th gear fork is on can get bumped and move shaft inward about 3/8 inch locking up the tranny requiring doing the above fix.
This trick also works on the Muncie M17, if anyone was wondering.
But...did you try hitting it with a hammer?
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