420A 420a MT neutral acts like first gear, all gears dont work

[420eyy]

First off I wanna start by thanking everyone in this community. Over the 11 years that I have owned this car I have overcome many, many problems thanks to reading user's posts on here and I can't say that I would have been able to do it without you all.

Alright, so this problem is a weird one. The car is a 99 GS 420a manual trans and I am having some serious transmission issues. When in neutral, the car acts as if it is in a gear and moves forward when you release the clutch and will stall if you just completely drop the clutch. Reverse doesn't work, car just shakes. 1st and 2nd shake aggressively when taking off and is very hesitant, doesn't really move.

After moving a little in any gear the car will get stuck in that gear. The only way to roll the car is with the clutch in. There are no leaks at all, slave cylinder, master cylinder, everything looks fine and dandy along with the clutch fluid reservoir level. I just tried topping it off with some ATF4 but I changed the fluid out of the trans two or three years ago and it didn't really take much. The clutch and all of the cylinders I replaced roughly 10 years ago and honestly the clutch pedal feels fine and you can still feel that it is letting out where it should be. The shift linkages look fine, the bushings are in good condition.

My first thought was that the shift linkages were out of whack and the big reason on that was the bracket that holds them down above the trans was more loose than Gandalf's wizard sleeve. One of the bolts was wiggling to the bracket and I have no idea how it didn't fall out. I took off the shift linkages, tightened the bolts down and put the linkages back on, no dice. How this all started was I was going down a hill doing maybe 40-45, think I might have down shifted in to third, can't really remember but the car bucked a little bit and would not come out of gear so I pulled over and had my first tow home.

Can't figure it out. If anyone has any ideas I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks -Matt

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

Definitely sounds like a shifter cable, bushing, or mounting plate issue. There isn't much that could go wrong internally and cause this. Try operating the shifter arms on the trans by hand and see if it will engage different gears.

 

[420eyy]

Is it possible that the shifter cable isn't put on when the shifter arm is in the right spot/gear? I've engaged the arm in to different gears and it goes in but sometimes it is tough to do so or doesn't want to at all, other times it moves around and goes in to place just fine. The mounting plate is what holds the shifter cables down to the trans right?

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

The mounting plate is what holds the shifter cables down to the trans right?

Yes. See post #9 in this thread for a common issue/fix.

420A - Shift Cable retaining clip

Hey Everyone,So for some reason I keep having the same retaining clip pop off on the engine side of the shift linkage cables, the first time it happened it caused the shift cable to tear the boot and the cable ended up getting frayed.i replaces the shift cables and got another set of...

www.dsmtuners.com

Is it possible that the shifter cable isn't put on when the shifter arm is in the right spot/gear?

No. They only attach one way and there's no adjustability. I'd also recommend checking your cables near the firewall to see if they've broken.

 

[420eyy]

The shift linkages look fine at the firewall and gear selector arm itself. Even with them off of the arms and in neutral I am unable to push the car without it coming to a stop. With the car running same thing, neutral is acting like it is in first gear and the car takes off when I release the clutch. With the clutch pushed in, then I can have someone push the car and it will move around without a stop until I release the clutch while in neutral. Thanks for the replies

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

That doesn't sound good. You'll have to open the transmission and see what failed. If you need guidance, I can share the NV-T350 rebuild manual and walk you through the steps.

 

[420eyy]

Thanks, if you could that would be great. Do you think that I'll have to take off just the half going to the clutch or the whole assembly? I have never done transmission work before but I should have the tools to at least get it off. With a manual and some guidance I'm sure I can figure out what's going on in there.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

You remove the full transmission from the car first, then open it up. I'll send some info when I'm near my PC.

 

[420eyy]

Sweet, thanks. My pinch welds are shot from rust so if Im going to be messing with the knuckle and taking the cv axles out and crossmember, where should I put the jack stands? I figured out a spot for the front when I did my suspension but cant entirely remember and want to be positive on it for possible long term anyways.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

Yea I never use the pinch welds on a 2G DSM. Even if they aren't rusty, it's still a soft area and deforms easily. I place the stands under the front subframe supports. It's a solid area and leaves plenty of room to work with the transmission. Just a tip on the axles - you can leave them installed in the hub. Just remove the lower ball joints and the knuckle will swing outward enough to pop the axles out of the trans.

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Randome montage of related images so you know what you're getting into.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

420A - NV-T350 Rebuild Manual

To make this manual accessible to EVERYONE, here are snapshots of the entire 34 page NV-T350 rebuild manual.If you have any questions about such a process, feel free to send me a private message. I am experienced with building these transmissions and have multiple rebuilt examples in Alabama...

www.dsmtuners.com

 

[420eyy]

Thank you good sir, I'll get back with an update asap.

 

[420eyy]

I know this is a double post but I just want to thank Black98'DSM for the help. I ended up doing a tranny swap and before doing so I was bombarding him with PMs full of questions. Finding relatable posts from anywhere, even other car brand forums where people had the same issue as mine was extremely rare though. Calling transmission shops had them stumped and no one wanted to rebuild it just cause it's a Chrysler tranny.

Has anyone else experienced a manual car being in neutral, but when you release the clutch it stalls out as if it were in gear? Not talking shift linkage issue, I mean the car is for a fact in neutral and the clutch is working mint. Maybe a bearing inside exploded?

Side note, I remember going to Advance Auto with my friend 11 years ago before I started working on things myself and he had me buy Lucas Gear Oil when he changed my clutch. I didn't change that out until probably three years ago to ATF4, and honestly, call me crazy, I didn't like how smooth it was. It was smooth to the point you couldn't tell if it were all the way in gear or not and the gear oil gave more of a confirmed feel that it was really in the gear I put it in. Even in the winter, once it warmed up, it drove great and never did me wrong, rarely would I ever grind and if I did it was fault of my own. This car was my daily from 2013-2021 and it sat a lot once the ATF4 was put in.

I banged through gears every day in that thing for nearly a decade without a single hiccup on gear oil, it's just odd to me that things went wrong once I put the ATF in that is so highly recommended and gear oil being not.