Stuck In Gear...Shifter Hard to Move?? NO NEUTRAL

[tsi1991awd]

OK, so I just bought a 1990 TSi AWD. Was driving to work today and it has been grinding going into 3rd and 4th gear since I got the car. But here's the thing....I was on one of the back roads and it was grinding into 3rd. After I got it into 3rd, I came to a stop light and went around the corner. Then I tried shifting into 2nd and nothing happened. It was like I was in neutral or something. It just revved. So I went back to third and it did the same. Went to 4th and that was fine. Went back into third and it was fine. Then I just stopped and put it in first....didn't budge anywhere. 2nd didn't budge. Third and it started to go a bit then it died completely. Couldn't restart it.

A guy pushed the car into a parking lot for me because it was stuck in gear....I put the shifter into neutral, it moves left and right with ease...but the car is stuck in, I BELIEVE, 3rd gear. We got it into an empty spot and I can't shift through the gears while the car is running. It WILL shift into 3rd and 4th gear smooth as butter. It WILL NOT shift into 1, 2, 5, R without me using excessive force to get it into the gear.

I had my wife come out and had her try and go through the gears. One cable moves freely (if you are looking at it standing in front of the car, it is the left cable...it moves freely) but that is when it is going into 3rd and 4th gear. The other cable doesn't move.

Weird thing is, I took the shifter console off and went through the gears while the car was off and it was easier to do. Once the car is turned on, it will only go into 3rd and 4th position. BUT the thing is, I can put the shifter into neutral position and it will move side to side...but the damn thing is STILL in gear.

What do I do now????

 

[big_d]

Sounds like a broken shift fork.

 

[haswesley]

To check the shift fork, have someone push the clutch in and out while you watch the shift fork. The shift fork is near the clutch master cylinder on the tranmission housing. The fork should move left to right while the 2nd person is pushing the clutch in and out. Also, sounds like it could be your clutch not engaging/disengaging completely which can be caused by something simple like air in the lines and they need to be bled. Of course, a broken shift fork will also prohibit the clutch from engaging/disengaging.

 

[tsi1991awd]

I ended up taking the cables off of the tranny and went through the gears that way and they moved freely. I moved the little brackets into the neutral position and put the cables back on. I was able to put it through all the gears while the car was turned off.

Once I turned the car back on, it was hard to go into 1, 2, 5, R but it was easy to go into 3, 4. But the car died on me after receiving a jump. Found out that the alternator was shot and the battery drained. Luckily I bought an alternator from Autozone last year for my 91 and it has the lifetime warranty so I got it free.

The clutch is an ACT 2600...it was always really hard to push to the floor and it engaged almost instantly after you let it off of the floor....I am assuming it had been like this for a while....after I bled the clutch (I used a speed bleeder and bled the shit out of it) I went back and pressed the clutch pedal and it is a lot softer than it was to begin with. Could be air in the system?

ALSO, I think the slave or master may be leaking because when I used the adjustment rod at the clutch pedal, I could always push the slave cylinder in. When you adjust it properly, there is a point where you adjust the clutch rod out and it won't allow you to push in the slave cylinder....this never happened. Sooooo....??