Possibly lost 1st gear synchro?

[megaladon6]

Need some advice. Yesterday the manual transmission suddenly started grinding, going into 1st when moving. Could sorta so times carefully and slowly find a good spot with the shifter, but not really. About 10 miles later and almost home and it suddenly feels like the engine has lost power and is jumping around-chunking and clunking. Pull over, enfine is fine. Try to shift out if 3rd and shifter won't move. A hard tug and it pops out. Run through the gears ok, so decide to start out again. Still had some clunking etc but it mostly went away. But came back for a few seconds a couple of times. 2nd and 3rd gear, but never right around a shift. Yest drive this morning and no issues except the 1st gear grind-feels like there's no synchro. What do you think happened and do I need an immediate fix? Fyi, clutch is 4-5 years old, South Bend stage 2 with smf. Thanks!

 

[steve6]

when the engine is off, can you move the shifter around ok?

 

[megaladon6]

Once i popped it out if third, it shifted fine to all gears, engine on and engine off. This morning it drove fone, except for trying to gring 1st if still moving. At a stop, it's fine.

 

[Ol'Rattler]

Don't shift into first until you are almost stopped. The only time I go into first is from a dead stop or less than 3 MPH.

Hard shifting out of a gear or grinding going into a gear can be because the master cylinder is low on fluid making the clutch not release completely. Make sure your brake/clutch master cylinder is topped off. That means full once you you put the cap back on.

 

[NarfBLAST]

Hard shifting out of a gear or grinding going into a gear can be because the master cylinder is low on fluid making the clutch not release completely.

Hard shifting out of gear for me was when the throw out bearing was so worn out that it wouldn't press the pressure plate hard enough to release the clutch properly. It very slowly got worse until the bearing fell apart but the clutch needed replacing anyway.

 

[Mrsnapper]

How did this turn out- were you able to get it fixed? I was interested in this outcome bc mine is also very hard shifting into first, at a full stop... Plz let us know what was done to
repair. Thx and good luck!

 

[AnotherPerson]

Do our cars have a first gear synchro? I know some didn't have them. Most have a lock out that won't allow you to put it into 1st above a certain speed but we apparently don't have one of those.




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[jettawreck]

Yes, first gear has a syncro. Not sure how they would ever wear out w/o some serious abuse, as they are very robust stuff. But, yes, should never force into first gear unless almost stopped. The ratio spread between first/second (and of course, all the rest) is substantial.
The OP seemed to have more than one issue going on. Mentioned a drop in engine response also, no further updates.

 

[Mrsnapper]

Possible 1st Gear Solution

Okay guys!! I got mine shifting perfect now! Took me all of ten mins to adjust the cable ends on the tranny just beside the air box. This has to be one of the most helpful videos I've seen for a quick fix. (click the link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeOoDJuhSx8

Couple tips: you can use a 3/16 drill bit for the locking pin in place of the 5mm
pin. I used a piece of wood to wedge between shifter shaft and console to get
tighter hold on shifter, (pushes it further left).
Also, make sure to take slack out of cable ends prior to releasing lock tabs.

You'll be amazed at the results! Worked like a charm. Good luck!