Please, please help. I have no neutral!

[tylerdurden801]

The car has NO neutral. I thought it was a temp related problem (it's been -15 or so here) so I let the car run for 15 minutes (with the clutch in) and let the engine get to operating temp and stay there for 5 minutes to see if the heat from the engine would transfer to the tranny and solve the problem. It didn't. The shifter felt like it was swimming in molasses even after the engine was warm.

The car will roll backward when in reverse, but in any other position, gears 1-5 AND neutral, the car creeps forward with what feels like a lot of resistance (especially in reverse, its like I have the brakes on). What the hell is going on? Someone HELP!

The car ran just fine yesterday. I haven't mistreated the car in any way, just normal driving. Haven't heard any awful noises or anything. I have to think this is tranny rather than clutch, but maybe I lost a spring on the clutch disc. Has anyone experienced this before? Why is it in gear ALL the time? BTW, driving it 3 feet causes me to smell burnt clutch. Is this likely to go away when it gets warm (supposed to be 39 by weeks end) or am I looking at dropping the trans?

 

[tylerdurden801]

BTW, the car will idle fine with the clutch in, but I can never let out the clutch. The engagement point on the clutch is the same and the pedal pressure is the same too.

 

[dynatos]

I don't know much about the tranny - does it make any perticular noise?

I do know, however, that the cold shouldn't be an issue: it's been 10-20 degrees here in portland/gresham and i haven't had any trouble, or seen any other dsm's with trouble....

Does it feel the same in all gears? i.e. 5th is the same as 1st by how it creeps forward?

 

[BUCK]

Check your shifter shafts at the Tranny - For some reason your shift cables aren't 'talking" to the shafts (you are hung up in gear) - The shafts have 3 detentes - the middle detente is nuetral - One of the shafts also moves up & down for 3 & 4th. Lots of times the Cable Support Bracket on the Tranny rattles loose - Or possibly you broke a pin in the shifter. Once you fix it at the tranny do a complete shift cable readjustment at the shifter LAST.

 

[tylerdurden801]

I'll take a look at the shafts. And I wouldn't think the cold had anything to do with it either but the car worked fine when it was 5 degrees and after it sat out in -15 degrees for a night this happened inexplicably. Let me repeat that the car worked absolutely fine when I turned it off Sunday and when I started it up Monday it was messed up. It's supposed to warm up in the next day or two so we'll see if that has anything to do with it.

 

[BUCK]

That's COLD - I wouldn't rule out anything that COLD! You may have to pull the pins out at the shaft & slide the cable off to move the shafts by hand - Mine did this right after I bought it - the previous guy left one loose bolt in the Tranny bracket - when it fell off the cables would just flex rather than push the shafts - so check the bracket first.

 

[tylerdurden801]

Could you elaborate on this a bit? Where are the shafts and cables you're talking about? Is this at the trans or at the shifter inside the console? I have the CD manual, should I just check the transmission section?

 

[BUCK]

You can't miss the 2 big shift cables running from the firewall - they terminate forward passenger side just aft of the Accordion on top of the Trans by the Shift detente plug. The shifter bracket is about centerline trans on top - 2 bolts got to Trans from bracket - then 2 bolts go thru isolation bushings from the other half of bracket that attaches to Cables -
Once again - after you mess with under the hood - Go in the console & do a cable readjust at shifter itself -it's possible you've kinked a cable but you don't hear of that much - Let's just hope it's this & NOT something inside the Tranny!!

 

[tylerdurden801]

Yeah, my fingers are crossed. I just can't figure out how something breaks in the tranny while it's sitting there. Seems unlikely, but that could just be a wishful wallet talking.

 

[tylerdurden801]

OOOOOOOK, so it's not the cables. They are working correctly and the linkages are working properly. The bracket attaching the linkage to the trans is tight. The detents all feel nice and positive. So, my problem just got more expensive. I can put it in neutral at the linkage and the engine still bogs like it's in gear. If I move the car 2 feet (and it will move both forward and backward, but again there's resistance), I smell stinking clutch. I don't know why a worn clutch would cause this, but I'm thinking it may be clutch related because my PP was getting really stiff and it may have failed somehow when I engaged it when it was so cold. I called the dealership and talked to service and he though it might be A) the pilot bearing (DSM's don't even have these if I am not mistaken, this guy's a real genius), B) clutch (god, I'm hoping that what it is at this point), or C) the x-case (how could that be responsible for these symptoms? I've never heard any noises from the x-case either, but he said water may have gotten inside and frozen). Any other ideas? This problem is so bizarre I don't even know where to begin. The car is NOT in gear. Can anyone think of why a worn PP or bearing might cause this?

 

[tylerdurden801]

It's not the x-case. Dunno why I didn't think of it before, but I just tested the car to see if it rolls freely with the clutch in. It does (if the x-case were siezed, it wouldn't roll at all, yes?). So that's out.

 

[tylerdurden801]

Well, if anyone cares, the car is working again, and the problem was . . . nothing. The car still didn't have neutral this morning, but it didn't bind or feel like the ebrake was on. So after a spin around the block the tranny is fine, neutral is back, and I have no idea why it was weird before. I'm pretty sure it's weather related though. Hopefully we don't get any more cold snaps that bad again this winter.