Skipping all the details of the night, I’ll get right to the meat and potatos of this problem. Left a friend’s driveway, accelerated in the wrong direction, turned around from 2nd gear>stop>reverse. BUT after the reverse, the shifter (5 speed) wouldn’t move. In other words, the poor little car is stuck in reverse. Tried holding the clutch in, and applying a lot of force, but nothing is getting this thing out of reverse. Any ideas? The clutch was rather worn, could it have possibly gone completely kaput tonight?
If the clutch does need to be replaced, how much will it cost? BTW, my friend’s parents just use this car as a beater, little use except making quick runs to stores/school/nothing serious. And since it’s such a simple machine I’d like to try and tackle a clutch job.
If the shifter is mechanicaly stuck into reverse, it is not the clutch. If you could move the shifter into netural, but then not be able to engage a gear, that would be a clutch.
When the trans is stuck in one gear either you have a bad trans OR a problem with the shifter linkage/ shift extension.
I used to have an old Volvo that sometimes would have the shifter slip out of the gate and would not engage 1-4. On that car fixing the problem was easy. On a Scooby do I have no clue.
Replacing a trans is really no harder than changing a clutch. Sometimes transmissions can be found at a boneyard for not too much $
Try rolling the car forward or backward a little - my car will sometimes not go into reverse unless I drive forward a few inches first. I know that’s backwards to your problem, but what the heck.
Ok, I’m confused. Is it stuck in reverse because the clutch doesn’t work and the car is on an incline, or can you release the clutch? If the car is stuck on an incline, then the clutch actuation may be bad, but if you can rock the car back and forth and you still can’t get into neutral, then the transmission needs work.
Simply put, the clutch appears to be fine. Hold the clutch down, start the vehicle, try to shift but it will not come out of reverse. It will go in reverse if I let the clutch out, but that’s about all it’s good for. I have a feeling this will just end going to the dump. And i really liked this lil car.
Just for grins, you might call around to junkyards. Someone might have a Justy, and they’ll probably be willing to drop it in for you. I’ll bet that you will be the only person who wants the transmission out of one so it might not cost that much.
With the engine able to run with the clutch pedal down, and then the car engaging reverse as the clutch is let out, the clutch is releasing. This means it’s a shifter problem, almost certainly with the shifting mechansim inside the tranny.
If you’re planning to junk it rather than repair/replace the tranny, you may as well try again to force the shifter into place. Try forcing the shift lever to the neutral position while keeping it firmly pressed to the left. If that doesn’t do it, try it while pressing to the right. Use plenty of oomph.
The odds are small that this will work, and it’s possible you’ll break the shift lever or jam something inside the trans, but you don’t have much to lose. Worst case I can imagine is you’ll end up with the tranny stuck in two gears at once, which means the car won’t roll even with the clutch in. In that case, you’d have to drag it or raise the front wheels to roll it. If it’s sitting where a tow truck can get to the front end, that shouldn’t be a concern.
If this technique happens to work, the trans will likely be in a condition where it could be rather easy to have a recurrence, so all future shifting should be done precisely and deliberately.
Don’t give up hope yet - I had a similar problem with a GM car many years ago (mine was stuck in first gear). It turned out to be just a simple linkage adjustment. It might be worth your while to push or tow it to a reputable mechanic.