My cavalier is stuck in 4th gear. Happened after coming to a set of lights. Shifted to neutral and and noticed it felt strange... sure enough i cant change gears. i've checked all cables and associated linkages. All is good.
the car is stuck in 4th... i cannot change gears at all... not to neutral, not to reverse, nothing. its a Getrag 5-speed not sure which one. There are 2 cables coming from the shifter, one moves with side to side movement of the shifter and pulls the shaft in and out on the transaxle under hood.
The other cable is the one moving freely, its moves with up and down (forwards and backwards?) movement of the shifter and moves a lever that is on the same shaft as the other cable under the hood. This second lever rotates on the shaft that is moving in and out of the transaxle.
check out the picture now....
cable C responds to to left and right movements of shifter. this pulls shaft A in and out.
cable B is the one that appears to move freely... the up and down throw on the shifter. the lever you can see in the picture appears to rotate freely on the shaft A. should this make the shaft turn or what?? someone that has seen these getrags must know... or someone that has a standard cavalier or sunfire could easily see what im talking about with a quick look under the hood.
thanks in advance for anyone with any knowledge or input!
-Dan
oops no remote linking... heres a new one hope it works
first, try to shift the trans AT the linkage on the trans. will it shift while its off? hows the clutch pedal feel? does the trans make any abnormal noises? i doubt it's an issue in the car, more likely its in the engine bay.
JBO Stickers! Get yours today!
that lever labled B in the picture wobbles around loosly ... clutch feels good.. i got the car home in 4th. no noises... there was nothing abnormal when it happened... im thinking that lever isntnt supposed to be loose like that but i wanted an informed opinion.,.. is there a set screw on there or something or some other fixture that may have broken or come loose? im gonna take a better look tomorrow but was wondering
btw, that picture of the shifter on the transaxle, in the engine bay... where i have traced the problem to so far
it might also be useful to emphasize that i have tried to move the linkages manually on the transmission and it rotates loosely on the shifter shafter.... is that shifter shaft supposed to rotate also?? this is the key question i need answered.. if that shifter shaft is supposed to rotate then there must be a loose or broken set screw on there and thats my problem....
The shaft should only be able to rotate when the transmission is in neutral. If I remember correctly... the forward back cable rotates it... and the left right cable pulls the shaft in and out.
When you rotate it.... it should take a little force (not a lot though) and you should hear it go into a gear and then it should stay there on its own. Its hard to explain without showing you.
It honestly sounds like you have a broken cable...... you cant usually tell by looking at them because they break on the inside like a bicycle brake cable.... Disconnect the cables from the transmission and then pull on the wires (inside wire) and see if the shift lever moves.... If you have a broken cable you'll know pretty quick that way because the wire will come completely out of the sheathing if it's broke.
Do that first (it's the easiest to do and the most likely problem) then go from there.
BTW when I say pull on the inside cable..... I mean pull on the metal wire inside the rubber sheathing.... from the engine bay side (at the tranny)
no man u are wrong about the cables but u have given me valuable information.. i needed to know if that shaft rotates... thanks!
definitly not cables... i got my brother to move the stick around and i watched the levers move the shaft... the one for back and forth is lose on the shaft....
i just got finished and extensive search and found this picture of my tranny
you can clearly see a set screw on that lever... must be underneath and out of my view.... this is culprit, i have no doubt now
actually, weeble is right about the cables.
moving the stick left and right moves the selector assembly in and out. moving the stick fore and aft rotates the selector arm.
and none of the pictures you're trying to post work.
the pictures arent working?? odd........ and i dont know what you are talking about.... i am saying hes wrong about the cables being my problem... i am not disagreeing with what cable does what... i obviously know what does what..... thanks for stating the obvious though
I got your picture to load. For everyone else, go to this url:
http://www.sudburyrocks.s5.com/images/CAVTRANNYISSUE.jpg you might have to click reload to make it work, then it should show up.
Your transmission is a Getrag F23. It's found in all manual 00-05 Cavalier and Sunfire cars.
If your brother (or whoever) is sitting in the car moving the shifter into positions.... both cables should be moving on their own and it should click into each gear. If only one cable is moving, then you've broken one of them. It's a very common problem on these cars, and GM used really cheap quality cables... the plastic fittings on the shifter end are usually the problem, which is why you'll see many of us (who have been here for years, BTW, and know these cars VERY well!) suggesting to take the centre console out and check the cables.
So, the next time you decide to come in here and start ripping on us for "not knowing what we're talking about"... check your head. Then your cables
...j
I would also agree it is probably the cables, or a cable. One thing if someone is moving the shifter and you are watching the transmission where the cables connect what is it doing? Is the cables movinv the levers at the transmission? If so are you hearing any noise?
FU Tuning
im starting to get pissed off with you people and your "cables"... try reading the rest of the post and you will see what the cables are doing!
I've torn everything outta my way and found that there is a spring pin on the lever on the transaxle.. the pin was fatigued and sheared.... got a new one today at CT. thanks for nothing though!
Dan Romanowski wrote:im starting to get pissed off with you people and your "cables"... try reading the rest of the post and you will see what the cables are doing!
I've torn everything outta my way and found that there is a spring pin on the lever on the transaxle.. the pin was fatigued and sheared.... got a new one today at CT. thanks for nothing though!
Look here @!#$. GO climb in your hole and never come back!
FU Tuning
i would... but i cant... must be the cables...
And people wonder why its sometimes hard to get help with an issue
You just joined on Apr 18
People are trying to help you and you act like a complete Douche Bag
im an apprentice and ive had that pin in the assembly break 5 times now its to the point that i keep one in my car and the tools to do it too you cant replace that pin with any old cotter pin you need to get the right one or it will brake the next time you shift to hard.
It's a double-roll split pin. I've snapped one, and also the bolt installed to replace it. So just replaced the whole assembly!
14.330 @ 96.37mph
