Manual Won't Go Into Gear

Well I got a good one for you guys. On the road I had an issue where I couldn't go into gear. Pulled in my driveway and now my transmission won't go into gear at all! I have limited side to side movement on the shifter. Won't even touch the gears no grinding at all. Clutch works and moves fine (as far as I know) plenty of fluid. Could this be air in the clutch piston? or something much worse since the shifter won't even move around freely.

:emotions133:

Throw bearing maybe? I just did a new clutch and my throw bearing was shot to hell and back.

Throwout bearing and or check the gear box itself due to limited motion of the stick itself.

Can you shift gears with the engine off? You don't even need to touch the clutch pedal to do this. If it acts the same, you have a mechanical issue inside the trans.

I can shift fine when it's not on. Phew lol thanks for the help guys I will be driving real slow to the mechanic on monday

CzarKJ said:

I can shift fine when it's not on. Phew lol thanks for the help guys I will be driving real slow to the mechanic on monday

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Sounds like a clutch engagement issue, ie clutch master or clutch slave. Could still also be a throwout bearing or pilot bearing issue as well

Well I was able to move it and change gears while running. Made some noises I didn't like. I'm thinking it's the bearing. Hearing a rotational squeak.

Throwout or pilot will make one hell of a racket in failure, and will not stop clutch function unless pilot has fused input to crank shaft, ot throwout has grenades, leaving nothing to push the clutch fingers....unlikely, as you would hear the pieces being tossed around by the flywheel.


Your slave cylinder has failed. It's more often the slave than master. They come as a prebled set and are not cheap.

Well I just dropped her off at a ****** shop. Was able to shift fine on the way there but just wasn't acting the way it should.

CzarKJ said:

Well I just dropped her off at a ****** shop. Was able to shift fine on the way there but just wasn't acting the way it should.

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Hopefully they get it working for you, I just had my NV3550 completely rebuilt, New clutch kit and the who works, 270,000kms was a good life for that ****** seeing as what I put her through lol.

Ya I'm looking at 1200 minimum. Just spoke to them on the phone and he is thinking clutch. I gave him the go-ahead to take it out and figure out what's going on. He is also going to crack open the transmission to make sure everything else is fine. Well I guess I needed a transmission fluid change anyways....

Update: Pilot bearing went and decided to rip apart the rest of it. New clutch and a refurbed transmission will be in order. Flywheel survived thankfully. Oy that's an expense I didn't see coming.

What was wrecked in trans? What you are describing means only the input shaft can be damaged, which is considerably less expensive than a complete trans

JeepCoMJ said:

What was wrecked in trans? What you are describing means only the input shaft can be damaged, which is considerably less expensive than a complete trans

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I am going tomorrow to take pictures and look for myself. By the way he described it, a bunch of stuff got loose and did further damage elsewhere. Unable to rebuild this trans. But I have to see this for myself.

Post the pics. I doubt that it's that bad. A rebuild kit is always good, but unless you sat there grinding gears, I doubt it's that bad.

Ok here is what we got going on inside.

So throwout bearing is shot. Clutch is low but not an issue. That will be replaced since I only want to open this once. Pilot bearing is missing (dust and pieces). Flywheel is recoverable. Shaft is grooved badly due to pilot bearing and then it rattled around a bit.

That does NOT mean you need a new trans. They haven't even opened it, how can they say it's bad.

Above and beyond that, how can they say that the "grooves" in the input are not really excess material melted to the shaft from the pilot bushing?


They should be using emery cloth to smooth the input again, and I bet a new pilot bushing will ride just fine on it.

I actually asked them why it can't be rebuilt. They said for the less labor and cheaper cost its better to get a re-manufactured one. Plus the warranty on the reman is longer. I agree that when I looked at it I was not really convinced I needed one but I think it will work out better for me cost wise.

Is it at a transmission shop, or a general repair shop? Some general repair shops are reluctant to sublet trans work out, and will push for a reman unit instead. You might call some of the ****** shops in the area and see what they would charge for a new input shaft. Tell them yours got scored from a pilot bearing.