Unable to shift - 1st and 2nd gear

[PJ Grady Inc.]

Yesterday I had the chance to work under my car's skirt and one thing that I noticed was that the 2 bolts on the linkage were kinda loose. I mean, I was able to unbolt them by hand! Maybe that's the problem?

Too bad I did not have the right spanner (it's a 23, isn't it?) so now I screwed it up completely! The shifter now is totally on the left side, but today I'm going to get the right wrench and see what I can do!

Bingo! there's your problem...now get to wrenchin'. 24mm or 1' will do the trick. 23mm won't work.

[ALEXAKOS]

Sounds like an issue that has found a solution! Crossing our fingers this was it

[PJ Grady Inc.]

Sounds like an issue that has found a solution! Crossing our fingers this was it

Loose adjuster nuts make perfect sense for the inconsistency of the problem but I must admit I've never come across it before so it was an unlikly cause of trouble!

[JohnZ]

Ladies and gentlemen, with the powerful aid of a 24mm wrench, jack and jack stand, a front-fleshlight and lack of fatness... I did it! I perfectly adjusted the linkage all by myself, with just a pair of gearstick checks in the middle of the operation (suppose it's luck ). I strongly torqued the nuts and now the shifter is perfectly balanced!

Took the car for a quick test drive. Man what a difference! Now 1st and 2nd gear (particularly 2nd) shift like a clock! Everything is much smoother now! I took the car to a "level" in which the gears would have failed, and it did not happened! Always a smooth shifting!

Problem solved I guess! Now I will test it on a longer drive, but I'm pretty sure I can rest assured!

And of course... thanks to all of you, as usual!

happy I am

PS: the tranny will break some day (2nd gear pin and so on), but I rather not to mess with something that works by now!

[ALEXAKOS]

We should all be so lucky! What a weird thing for those two nuts to come loose! I had speculated that but I would also expect all other gears to loose smoothness.

Big nuts!!! Hehehe

Interesting. One more troubleshooting card added in the DeLorean library of issues.

[JohnZ]

Interesting. One more troubleshooting card added in the DeLorean library of issues.

I'm proud to be part of the History, then!

[David T]

I'm proud to be part of the History, then!

Before you claim complete success you should at least make sure the gear oil is up to the level plug and the C/V boots are good. You should also keep an extra pivot bolt (part # 110183) in the car. Since you found those nuts loose you should look over all of the gearshift linkage and lubricate it.

[JohnZ]

Before you claim complete success you should at least make sure the gear oil is up to the level plug and the C/V boots are good. You should also keep an extra pivot bolt (part # 110183) in the car. Since you found those nuts loose you should look over all of the gearshift linkage and lubricate it.

I planned a full tranny oil refresh within weeks! And I ordered the stronger pivot bolt from Hervey one week ago, along with other stuff (still no news about that order... )!!

Thanks for the advice of lubricating the linkages, I'll sure give it a go!