I have a 97 ls with a 5 speed. Installed a short shift about a month ago, but i think that is unrelated.

Anyways. I was driving home a couple days ago when I went to down shift and it felt like my car was in neutral. No matter what gear I'm in I have full side to side play on my shifter. I can get it in gear but it is extremely loose in every gear.

I looked underneath thinking something might have fallen off from when I installed the short shift, but I realized I had a hole in the under side of my transmission. I got some quick steal to make a temporary seal until I can get it replaced. I thought all of the transmission fluid drained out or something, so I tried to add some in. It seemed like it was full though. Any fluid I added just came right out. I tried both with the car on and without. The shifter still feels the same.

I have no clue wtf is going on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Some pics under the car would help. Especially around the shift linkage, because most likely that is where the problem lies. And most likely it is definitely related to your short shifter install.

 

Not to thread jack, but I've been having the same problem as well. Subscribing for possible solutions people might provide.

 

Same here , Once I was done installing my short shifter it was very tight, about a week later it became very loose, it appears to be up in the tranny tho, the stabilizer bar is bolted on tight, bushings tight...

 

i had the same problem when i swaped a b16 in my eg hatch. the bushings were in place but the washer that goes over the bushing was missing. I would check your shift linkage and double check the bushing to make sure everything is in place.

 

Sorry for the late reply. I was out of town over the weekend. I'll get some pics tommorrow. The short shifter still doesn't change the fact that there was a hole on the bottom of my tranny though, so Ill take some pics of that too.

 

in this pic you can see where i patched the hole

shift linkage into transmission

shifter

 

I would go ahead and make sure the bolts holding the shifter in place are all tight.

On another note..... you live in WA, the underside of your car is not supposed to be that clean ..... do you detail the under carriage?

 

This could be way out of left field, but I had an Avenger awhile back that the shifter was way loose, then one of the shift cables busted so i lost first, third and reverse.. I got new cables and the shifter was REAL tight again like it was supposed to be. I just got my Teg so I'm not incredibly familiar with them yet, I don't know if it could be related to that or not.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gsr dood &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you live in WA, the underside of your car is not supposed to be that clean ..... do you detail the under carriage? </TD></TR></TABLE>

lol. Not really detail, just keep it clean. Doesn't hurt to take it to a no brush car wash every now and then. Especially living in a place like washington. The undercarriage wash they do helps out a lot with preventing rust and stuff from all the road chemicals that come up from the rain.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RacnChick &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This could be way out of left field, but I had an Avenger awhile back that the shifter was way loose, then one of the shift cables busted so i lost first, third and reverse.. I got new cables and the shifter was REAL tight again like it was supposed to be. I just got my Teg so I'm not incredibly familiar with them yet, I don't know if it could be related to that or not. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I haven't lost any gears. I can still drive the car if I really wanted to. I just don't wanna screw it up worse. The shifter is loose all around, but i can still put it in gear and take it out with virtually no problem.

What has really got me confused is, that hole in the bottom should have let all, if not a large amount of transmission oil out, but it still seems to be full. Do i need to run my car more to get the fluid circulated or something?

 

I have that hole on my transmission too. It is not your problem, and you did not loose any fluid from it. There is no fluid in that part of the transmission, just the flywheel and clutch.

You should remove the short shifter and check everything including the dust boots, holder plate, bushings, etc.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TB123 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have that hole on my transmission too. It is not your problem, and you did not loose any fluid from it. There is no fluid in that part of the transmission, just the flywheel and clutch.

You should remove the short shifter and check everything including the dust boots, holder plate, bushings, etc.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

You know, i started thinking, maybe that hole was supposed to be there, and i just never noticed it. Do you think i should take that patch off then?

Ill switch out my short shifter, and let you guys know how it goes.

 

Has nobody notices that the shifter rod is not sitting inside the rear bushing like it should be?

 

Okay, so the short shifter was the problem. When I was first installing it, I noticed that the circular part that connects to the shift linkage was significantly smaller than stock. Here's where I made my first mistake. I put on washers to make up for the excess room, but didn't have enough to completely fix the problem. Instead of doing it right, I just said screw it, cause it felt okay when I was shifting. So that allowed for the bearings to eventually work themselves loose.

Admittadly this was a cheap shifter, which was my second mistake. If i forked up 15 more bucks, it probably would have fit better and been better quality.

Lessons learned: Don't take short cuts, and don't be cheap.



So for everyone else having this same problem, I hope you saved your stock shifter. A short shifter doesn't really make much of a difference anyways, especially considering that my car is mostly used as a daily driver. Definitely not worth the head ache.

 

I think my short shifter makes a huge difference, and I really need it with my light flywheel.

The bottom of my shifter is also narrower than stock, like yours, and I took up the space with washers. The key, though, is that the washers were smaller than the outer diameter of those bearings (so you can still move the shifter no matter how tight you crank down the bolt), and I also stuck a lock washer in there to help keep the other washers pushed together and not rattle. I've had my short shifter for 6 years and have never had a problem.

And yeah, that hole in the tranny case (actually the clutch housing) is supposed to be there. Did you not notice that it was a regularly-shaped square hole? It's not like something could have broken out in a perfect shape like that.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did you not notice that it was a regularly-shaped square hole? It's not like something could have broken out in a perfect shape like that.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's exactly what I was thinking when I was patching it. I was thinking wtf, how did it put such a perfect hole in here. lol. But will it hurt it to leave that stuff on. It's a bitch to get off.

And for my car, the short shifter made a noticable difference, but just not a useable one. I don't take my car out to the track much, and when I race its usually from a 40-50 roll. So im not trying to shave seconds of my time or anything. Its all just for fun. I'll save the shifter though, just in case I need it in the future. And I'll keep in mind how you did your washers.

 

that whole on the trans is supposed to be there if you noticed it is like a perfect shaped square

 

So to fix it, you just ended up putting more washers in there Patrick? Awesome, I'll try this, thanks!

 

Well, I was about to say I did that in the first place, but I didn't.

My shifter is an AutoZone shifter, yes that's right, and it's been perfect for the past 6+ years. However it came with these 2 thin spacers, which were not enough to take up all the space on the through-bolt.

So actually what I used were the spacers immediately on either side of the shifter (touching those bearings), and then the washers to take up the rest of the space, with a lock washer stuck in there (I think I have on on each side, can't remember) to keep everything pushed together so it doesn't rattle.