thyawi

I warmed up my car this morning as I do everyday before work. Temp gauge had three bars showing and I got in my car to leave home. Depressed clutch to put the car in gear and nothing. Clutch went down smooth, no weird noises but the shifter was stuck in neutral. Firmly stuck. Absolutely no play at all. Almost like the metal fused with something. The shifter usually has a little play when left in neutral.

I let the car idle another twenty minutes thinking maybe the shifter needed to warm up... After one hours of idling the shifter was still firm as could be. After work, eleven hours later, I tried again to no avail.

I went through the other threads and they all point in taking apart the shifter, thoroughly cleaning everything, greasing everything with the correct grease, replacing some white plastic thing, and putting the whole thing together again. I will go this route although I am worried that I will not be able to get the shifter disassembled because it is so firmly stuck now. Any ideas or suggestions before I attempt the fix?

The car is an 02' with an 04' engine/transmission. 63,000 miles on the engine/tranny/clutch. On a side note, it has always been somewhat difficult to engage reverse. When I did finally get the shifter to pop down to get reverse I would have to manually pull up on the shifter to get it to "pop" back up. Don't know if that has something to do with my stuck shifter now though...

I am a noob when it comes to working on my car but with clear instructions can usually manage to fix/solve simple things. I do my own oil changes and installed pads/stainless lines/strut bar on my car.

Thank you in advance for any help anybody can provide!

EDIT: I left out the fact that it has been uncharacteristically cold as of late. It was 18 degrees this morning and has stayed below freezing the whole day.

Thomas

Topless in Reno

Start here, I suppose...

thyawi

Thanks Reno. I was planning to take the shifter apart tomorrow. I hope it is an easy fix...

Themikewoo

When the vehicle is turned off. How easy is it to shift gears?

thyawi

The shifter will not budge if the car is on or off. I am setting off now to take apart the shifter. I'll update after a bit.

thyawi

I took off the console cover, boot and three bolts but the shifter would not pull out. After ten minutes with my wife's hair dryer blasting away the shifter finally came out. And what do I find? Ice everywhere.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resi...B6DBF97%212309

I am going to melt the rest of the ice and clean that well area as well as I can. Regrease, reassemble and hopefully that will fix my frozen shifter issue.

ScottyS2k

Sounds like the seal under the car isn't seated properly or is damaged, allowing moisture to get inside.

https://www.s2ki.com/stor/library/TSB/A02-046/index.htm

You're going to want to check #13 in that TSB.

thyawi

Shifter is good to go! It was the ice block underneath the shifter that was preventing it from moving.

I will be checking the seal from underneath later on this week but for now, shifter is smoother than before.

Thank you to those that helped.

Thomas