VERY Weird Problems...stuck in gear / not going into gear / car on or off

[tsi1991awd]

Alright, let's see if I can get some ideas here...

I just bought a 1990 TSi AWD. Has a rebuilt transmission (was rebuilt in 2005) with double synchro 1st and 2nd. It is a 1991 trans with a rebuilt Transfer Case and also has the 1991 shift cables and 1990 shifter.

When I first picked up the car, it was grinding in 3rd and occasionally 4th. 1st, 2nd, 5th gear was notchy and the clutch engaged pretty much immediately off of the floor. It has an ACT 2600 with street disc and Fidanza aluminum flywheel.

I bought this on Sunday the 28th of March. Let's fast forward to Tuesday the 30th....driving to work in the morning and all of a sudden I go into 3rd gear and let off the gear and it acts like it is in neutral...this was AFTER it was grinding to get into gear. I was like "wtf" so I tried putting it into neutral and then back into 3rd and then it caught. I was thinking my 3rd gear was completely out, but it went into 3rd so I was in the clear.

Well the car died (found out it had a dead alternator and the battery was completely out of juice). Died right in the middle of the road...had a guy push me into a parking lot, but the car was STUCK IN GEAR even though the shifter was in the neutral position. The shifter moved freely left/right so I didn't understand.

I unhooked the cables from the tranny and moved through all the gears...the cables were fine and DID NOT bind in any way. I had the car towed home and disconnected the cables from the shifter base. I adjusted the cables and the tranny will shift fine while the car is OFF.

When the car is running, it will be hard as hell to get into 1st gear, it will grind as if I'm not pushing the clutch trying to go into 2nd....and it will go easily into 3rd. BUT once I put it into third gear and go back to NEUTRAL, it will still be stuck in 3rd gear. YES, the shifter will move left/right easily and will be in the neutral position. The shift levers on the tranny itself are even in the neutral position, but once I let off the clutch the car dies.

If I go to the shift levers and move them up/down and move them through 3rd/4th/Neutral at the transmission itself, I can get it to go back to neutral. But as I said...once I am in the car again and shift through the gears and hit 3rd, it will become stuck again.

ALSO, it STILL engages right off the floor, even after bleeding the clutch 6 times and no matter how I adjust the rod. I did smell burnt clutch the first night I had the car.

So with all of this said, let me recap. The shift cables are adjusted properly. The clutch is bled properly. The clutch pedal is adjusted. The tranny shifts fine when the car is off. The tranny is hard to get into all gears while the car is running AND it will grind bad trying to go into 2nd, 5th and REVERSE. Once I hit 3rd gear shifting through all the gears, it will stay in 3rd gear and it is next to impossible to shift into any other gear. If I shift into another gear, it will STILL be stuck in 3rd.

Any ideas??

 

[liquidz28]

bad pressure plate/clutch assy,
bad clutch hydro's..

 

[tsi1991awd]

So you're saying you think the tranny itself is completely fine, even though it will still be stuck in 3rd gear while the shift levers on the transmission itself are in the neutral position?

 

[liquidz28]

So you're saying you think the tranny itself is completely fine, even though it will still be stuck in 3rd gear while the shift levers on the transmission itself are in the neutral position?

im not sayn that at all, just the symptoms seem clutch related, when my disk broke i had the same problem, could get it into gear, but not back out, and when the car was off i could put it into any gear without any issues. but obviously i cant be 100% correct w/o looking at it for myself, but i would at least start there

 

[tsi1991awd]

I dont doubt that the clutch needs replaced as well as the master and slave.

But what I have a hard time understanding is it being stuck in 3rd gear even if the shifter is in the Neutral position and the shift levers on the transmission itself are in the Neutral position.

Because once it goes into 3rd, it is extra hard to get it into any gear and even when the shifter IS in another gear and put back into the Neutral position, it will be in gear...assuming 3rd still.

 

[liquidz28]

so the fork is operating correctly and all?
maby the tranny leaked out the goo, have you checked the level?
just seems wierd if your shift linkages are ok and your clutch is ok (all parts of it) that it would have problems sticking in a particular gear, tear the transmission apart and have a look, maby you got some crap syncros in there or something diddnt get bolted back togeather correctly.
still sounds like a clutch problem to me, but who knows.

 

[tsi1991awd]

I am taking it down to Andre at Pina today and have him look at it. HE rebuilt the damn thing in 2005 so if theres something wrong, he will be able to tell. I honestly dont see how the clutch would make it stay in 3rd gear when the shifter inside the car is in Neutral and the shift levers on the transmission itself are in the Neutral position.

 

[liquidz28]

o shit, your in spanaway?
im in tacoma..
i should come look at that ;p

 

[tsi1991awd]

I actually moved to Puyallup but yea...I would have you look at it but its already with Andre. He called and left a voicemail last night saying the clutch is definately bad but he wants to pull the tranny apart and see whats going on with that 3rd gear issue. I hope this doesnt warrant a ####ing full rebuild.

 

[mach4g63t]

Sounds very, very similar to my problem.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/drivetrain-tech/362045-transmission-stuck-gear.html

I had to tear my down and replace a broken shift rail. Good luck.

 

[tsi1991awd]

You didnt have to replace all the synchros and shit did you? I hope it is a shift rail or fork and nothing else has to be touched.

 

[mach4g63t]

You didnt have to replace all the synchros and shit did you? I hope it is a shift rail or fork and nothing else has to be touched.

Nope. In my particular case it was just an 18 dollar shift rail from jack's and like 30 bucks in tranny fluid which I already had. Use the VFAQ for transmission rebuilds. It makes it very simple to open up, figure out what's what, and begin repairing versus shelling out some serious dough to have a shop fix a potentially 30 dollar part for 400 dollars worth of labor.

 

[tsi1991awd]

So we got everything taken care of...replaced the clutch, found the pedal worn so we replaced the pedal lever and now everything disengages...car drives, BUT and I stress this....BUT it has absolutely NO third gear.

I can shift into every single gear, drive....but third acts like "neutral". The linkage is good, I can even take the cables off of the tranny and put the car into 3rd by hand and it still won't be in third.

Could this just be a synchro? Or would the gear itself be stripped or what? There was no metal in the fluid when it was drained so I have no idea. Like I said, it will shift into all gears with no grinds...even shifts into 4th just fine. I'm not sure if it could be a bent shift fork or just the teeth stripped off or what...because it doesn't grind at all. It just doesn't go into gear.