PandaNin

Hi Everyone,

Long-time reader, first-time poster.

I purchased an '84 auto a few months ago and started tearing into it to replace the worn out parts. Fl(e)abay loves me.

I just replaced the rear bearings a few days ago and all seemed well.

The other day I went to back out of my garage and it wouldn't start. Since I always have my handy laptop around I checked on here and figured out, oh, it's the park sensor relay, into neutral, starts right up. Well, putting it into neutral felt like a cable was grinding or rubbing. It went into reverse and backed out just fine, I put it into gear (no rubbing) and drove around and had a good time. When I got home I parked in front of the house (slight incline) and put it into park (more grind feeling through the stick); took foot of brake and started rolling backwards. Park wasn't there. I put it back into gear and drove around into the the garage. That worked fine. Then I tried to put it into reverse to test it and it's not there either.

So now I'm stuck with no park and no reverse.

Any ideas??

Thanks,
Don

telidor99

Kinda a newer owner my self, but I remember others mentioning fluid levels.

On the down side..same thing happened to me..was the transmission and a destroyed t converter.
Keep hunting for answers...my fingers are crossed for you.

marton

Sorry, do not know much about autos.
I guess you checked there is enough fluid in the transmission?

Maybe there is a cable between the handle and the transmission that is loose or has stretched so it is not selecting the correct gear?

Marton

PandaNin

Thanks for the ideas.

I haven't crawled under yet as we just had our 25-hr endurance race and I was prepping for that. Maybe tonite or this weekend I can get under there and check. I thought about a stretched cable but didn't make sense that it would work for forward gears but not park/reverse.

I also thought of fluid levels and researched here on how to check/add. That's gonna be fun! Definitely a weekend project.

Hey Telidor, when you say same thing, do you mean exact same thing? You had no park/reverse but had forward gears? Pls tell me it's not the exact same thing.

telidor99

I skimmed your message,sorry.
Reading further my car would not engage..reved but forward/reverse did not work. Think park did.

PandaNin

There is light at the end of my (transmission) tunnel.

I'll update after I crawl under and see what can be seen.

Thx everyone

Charley B

Are you saying this car was just in a 25 hour enduro?

Jim bailey - 928 International

It really sounds like a cable problem and NOT anything in the transmission.

ZEUS+

Usually a broken shift cable will go into park and leave you stuck in park. Could be broken due to grind feel or popped off retainer bracket.

PandaNin

Oh no, this car was not in the 25 hr. I'm the Chief Steward for the National Auto Sport Association (N.A.S.A.) www.nasaproracing.com; and we just had our 25 Hour endurance race at Thunderhill in Willows. Takes alot of getting ready for that so no time to work on the car.

I don't drive the 25, I just walk up and down the pit lane for 25 hours making sure all my pit marshals are taken care of and everyone is playing fair.

jon928se

I've heard of similar symptoms - due to the shift cable bending close to the shift lever on the tranny when the cable is pushing ie when the lever in the car is moved forwards towards P.

Disconnect it at the tranny and move the shift lever on the tranny by hand - if you can then get all gears the cable is the problem. You could also check that the tranny lever is aligned properly - With it in Neutral or park (I forget which and am at work so I can't check) there is a hole in the lever you can poke a 1/4" drill bit through and it should align with a corresponding hole in the trans body.

PandaNin

Update: I checked the fluid and it's about perfect.

I checked the cable (after removing the exhaust shroud) and sure enough, that's gotta be the problem. The cable is connected but appears like part of it is broken. I don't know what new one looks like so can't compare. The metal end of the cable cover appears to be broken as it's edges are sharp and consistent with torn metal. i.e. not smooth edges

I pulled teh cable and was able to put the car into every gear successfully. There was a problem going into park as it jumped right back out. I don't know if the cable maintains tension on it to keep it in park. Seemed kinda strange.

After messing with the cable a wee bit I started the car and it did engage reverse and park as normal. However the cable quickly gave out and stopped working properly. The cable has no stiffness in it at all and when pushed on buckles. I can see why it doesn't want to engage reverse or park. The cable has lots of tension pushing against it when in those gears. For drive forward gears it is pulling towards the front of the car so that works fine.

I'll update when I know more!

Thanks!