stranded HELP~

[bobafett]

ahh...... the wonders of used cars...
amber is stuck on the side of the freeway right now, she was cruising home from work when:

she says the car started acting funny and revving weird, so she pulled over.

once she came to a stop, nothing seemed wrong, the car can run, all accessories seem to run, car can rev etc. so it seems like the ENGINE is working well at least....

but when she puts the clutch in, throws the stick into gear (we tried 1,2,R) and tries to drive, the rpms drop, and the car will die if she lets the clutch all the way out.

she says that she can feel it start to "catch" but if she continues to let out the clutch, and give more gas, the rpms drop and it would die if she didnt put the clutch back in..

she's having a hard time explaining it, and shes not "happy" so i am not sure if that explanation helps, but thats all we are gonna get right now...


my guess is something with the transmission, but someone else i talked to said fuel filter? WTF? anyway, if it is FF, what are the model #s, and where are they located on 86lxi ?

i would look these up, but amber has my book!

[Nospeed]

shitty dude...you know id help if i didnt have to be a slave here...hope you get everything worked out...sounds like the clutch is slipping??

[bobafett]

thats what "I" would think.. but i am really no expert on cars...lol

my mom boyfriend thinks it could be the FF though, i dont see how, but we will see... i hope it could be something that easy! :P

[blazin3gen]

it sounds to me like its the cylinders dont know but maybe its your trans

[bobafett]

also, she says once it dies, or almost dies the stick is "stuck" into that gear until she shuts off the car and has the clutch in... i am not sure about this, it didnt really make sense, but thats what she said...

[bobafett]

cyl's? it runs, idles, revs, all fine, so i think the engine is working ok... hmm,.....

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Sounds kinda like the brakes are locked up or something. Hard to say though. Might want to try jacking each corner up just to see if the wheels are spinning freely (make sure it's in N and ebrake ON for the front, and in gear with ebrake OFF for the back). If that's not it, I'm not sure. Maybe the tranny is frozen up (?) ...sure hope not though, lol

[bobafett]

thats an idea, thanks, we will wait till it get towed home and try those things out!

[loco87]

its tha clutch! the shifter used to get stuck in the gear if i didnt pull it out before i made a stop,(86 lx sedan) i had to turn off the car and the pull on the goddam shifter until it popped out. my dad adjusted the cable up ontop of the tranny and it didnt do it any more but the clutch pedal had to be pushed all the way down. i never fixed it tho, i traded it in for my tahoe

[87accordlx]

i'm talking to chris and amber on msn right now, i seem to think that possibly 5th gear is stripped and pieces got stuck in other gears. anyone else think this is possible or am i just being mr. negative?

[Blue Impact]

I'm thinking it could be the clutch. This happened to my brother's Corolla. However, I don't know for sure if it's really the clutch, but like I've said, I'm guessing it's the clutch.

[bobafett]

ok, so if it is the clutch, what can we do to determine that it is the source of the problem?

loco said he just adjusted the cable on top of the tranny? whats the deal with that? can i just tighten or loosen it?

[LX-i Girl]

ok here's my story. ...i'm going on the freeway home about 70-75mph when all of a sudden (no weird or unusual noise was heard) the car wasn't pulling. almost as if it was thrown into neutral because the rpm's went high. So, i threw in the clutch and started downshifting but nothing was working so i coasted over to the side of the road. i stopped the car then started it, it starts fine and engine runs great i can rev and everything. i throw it into first give it some gas let out the clutch a little, when i feel that it should be catching i start to give it some more gas and let out the clutch some more and after i let the clutch all the way out it dies. by now i'm panicking! i call chris and he's having me try a 2nd gear start (same results as first gear) and then he had me try reverse and that wouldn't work either. The car started having a hard time shifting from gear to gear while doing this. After I let it sit for a while and the car wasn't running, it would shift in to gear fine. i hope this helps some...the tow truck guy said that it felt stuck in gear because he was having a really hard time getting it up on to the flatbed.

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Ouch....that doesn't sound too good. When you guys look it over you may want to open the tranny fluid filler hole (it's a bitch!) and stick your finger in there to see if it's full of fluid (the car has to be sitting level to do this). If it's not then, well....you can guess the rest

I just thought of something too -- check the shifter linkage. If she was cruising down the highway in 5th gear and something in the linkage went bad, then it would still be in 5th gear no matter where you moved the stick. That could explain why it wouldn't move and died trying

Good luck!

[BoredRec]

Well, I think it's the clutch. Sounds to me the middle of the disc went tits up and a spring mighta popped out. That spring could be wedging itself against the pressure plate and disc, causing the hard to get in gear symptoms. But usually you can at least drive in first gear (just can't shift cuz it's stuck and won't release). But you say it won't drive, which also sounds like maybe an axle popped out. Did you recently do CV boots or an axle? If an axle popped out then no torque is supplied to the other axle, making it feel like its in neutral in all gears. Except you say it wants to stall if you let out the clutch, which wouldn't happen if it's an axle. Honestly, I'm not sure what it might be. It COULD be the 5th gear blew up, but I don't know. If you pull the end cover off the tranny you'll find yer answer real quick (5th gear will NOT look like a gear anymore). Wish I could be of more use, but I would hafta see the car to make further guesses. Good luck.

[bobafett]

ok, heres the update, after we got the car parked back in our apartment.

first off it will still "run" fine... idles great, so its not stuck in a gear (because it will idle without problems, clutch in or out) if we have the shifter in N.

with the car off, i could get into 5, and R. but no other gears. started the car, reved a bit. shut it off. and then with car off i could only get into 5. not sure if this means anything, but basically i could not get it into any gears.

with car on, and clutch in, you can try to shove it it 1st. and if you put it in gear, (i wasnt the one trying this, so i dont know which gear it was in) when you start to let off the clutch there is a weird rattling sound and the rpms bog down. as soon as you depress the clutch again it goes back to idle.

also the wheels are locked up. it cannot be pushed at all... so something has definetly seized up! any pointers? i think my moms boyfriend is going to see about rebuilding it or at least tearing it out and seeing WTF is wrong sometime next week... not cool...

[anchovies]

Wheels are locked up either directions? Either way, doesn't sound good.
You guys just bought this car right? that sucks

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Awe, man that suck's she just got that car. I sware chris if you were close to me I'd give you what ever parts you need out of my wrecked hatch for free, nothing wrong with the engine and tranny (you could beat the syncro into 2nd through). Kinda ironic that I arranged for it to go to the junkyard tomarrow after all this time. I feel for you guys, I really do. Wouldn't it be nice if it's only a minor repair for her, sure hope so.

[cruznz]

bummer man,...but it sure sounds like the tranny to me.......1st and 2nd synchro shit itself maybe

[BoredRec]

Hmmm....5th gear and reverse are somewhat connected...don't know if that helps any, but they are.

[Greg]

I'm thinking it's not the clutch but something messed up in the tranny.

The first thing I would do would be to jack up the front & put it on safety stands and check to see if there's any tranny oil in there.

Then I'd have someone try to shift between gears while looking underneath to see what happens w/shifter linkage while trying to move betw 5 & N or R & N or trying to force it into 1.

It sounds like your car is stuck in some gear -- like something in the gearbox came apart -- and that's why you can't push it.

But check your gearbox oil and linkage first. Oh, ALSO check your clutch cable!!! If the cable broke and the car was in 5, maybe for some reason you can go betw 5 & R or N but not into other gears... I don't know enough about the gearbox layout, but just make sure that your clutch is actually doing something and the cable is actually engaging the arm connected to the throwout bearing.

[Tim Yoak]

Check the linkage first that would caiuse the car to be stuck in fifth gear, or maby you blew up the transmission.

[socal3rdgen]

Originally posted by Nospeed
shitty dude...you know id help if i didnt have to be a slave here...hope you get everything worked out...sounds like the clutch is slipping??

when the clutch slips the rpm will only go higher then normal never will they just drop.

[socal3rdgen]

definetly check the clutch cable. it happened to me my clutch cable came of the release arm. you can tell if the pedal is fully depessed at all times. no return in the spring. probably not it but just a pointer.

[goldyaccord]

It's has got to be the tranny grears messed up or syncros are messed...

If u cant shift gears with the car turned off.. then it's gotta be that.

maybe 5th, R syncros are fine but.... I really dont know.

Best bet Chris is to open up the tranny. Make sure the linkages are connected.. and the clutch lever is adjusted.



Josh