I kind of did something stupid last night, and I've got no other way to make it sound better, so I'll just tell the truth. I was at a friends house last night, we were having a little get together, and we were all drinking. My friend and I kind of got a little mad at one of the people there at the party, so we decided to jump into my Z and take it for a little spin around the block. I wasn't drunk, but I was definitely getting to the point where I was nearing the legal limit. I took off pretty fast in first gear and went to shift into second. The clutch was pressed in all the way to the floor, and the tranny didn't want to shift. My Autozone clutch is kind of crappy, and the hard shifts are normal, so I just decided to slam it into second. The shifter felt like it went into the second gear shift gate, but when I let out on the clutch, the engine just went back to idle, like it was in neutral. I'm bewildered with this, so I push it into third, and third grabs like normal. I try to shift back into second, but same situation, feels like it's in the shift gate, but no gear is grabbing. I live less than a mile away, so I just limp the Z home, driving between first and third. As I turn the corner onto my street, I tried to shift back into second again, and the gear was magically back! I had no idea what was going on, so I parked the Z at home, grabbed my truck, went back to partying and crashed on his couch.

I drove my truck home this morning, picked up the Z, and drove it to work. All the way to work, I'm not really getting into the throttle, and second gear is working just fine. I'm really confused at this, so I decided to rev first up, and then try shifting into second with a little higher revs. As I shift, second disappears again. Shift into third, and continue to putt my way to work.

On my lunch break, I came out and took the Z to go get food, and second was back again! I turned a corner, tried to shift down from third to second, and second was gone again. Parked the Z again, finished work. Drove home, and second gear was back again.

What is going on here? I'm just curious what I could have possibly done wrong, but would fix itself intermittently. I've got a lead on a type b four speed, so I'm not too concerned, but confused for the most part.

 

dang that sucks but good luck with that

 

Moral of the story... DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE.

 

i don't i just drive and drink...duh

 

Yeah, I was pretty stupid. It was late (no excuse) and I wasn't drunk, just pretty buzzed, but should not have been driving nonetheless. Guess it could have been worse, but still stupid.

 

so have you found a pattern yet that might help in diagnosing the problem

 

Not really. It just does it intermittently. It's only second though, it'll shift through all the other gears.

 

wow just replace your clutch with a oem one

 

lol, I'm going to buy the Centerforce Dual Friction clutch next paycheck, says it's 90% better than OEM

 

i got the centerforce II its sweet. only 30 miles on it break it in normally though nice easy driving NO hard shifts NO full throttle for 400-500 miles. also, sound like you coulda bent something. shift fork maybe. ive been inside the trannies but never studied them. when you have your tranny out to change the clutch break the tranny in half (the front case comes off easily try to get the rear off though to and look at the insides. could be time for a new tranny. finding one is tuff, but they arent expensive. speak of the devil though i have a 4 spd i can spare but shipping might make it not to worth it.

 

I've cracked open a few four speeds and been able to put them back together no issue. My friend has a four speed in great condition he's going to give me..the advantage of give a friend diZease.

 

Can you get it to go into second if you try it at different RPMs? I'm thinking your 2nd gear synchro is worn and can't compensate for different rotational speeds anymore. Just a guess.
Dave

 

Second is so intermittent. I'll drive it today to see if I can notice any more of a pattern. Sometimes it'll go in at idle, sometimes it won't. It has a mind of it's own.

 

Sounds like you sheared the pin in the shift rod, must come out but you can fix it yourself.

 

when you say you reved higher before you shifted in, do you mean that you tacked higher before you put the clutch in or that you reved while the clutch was in? i expect you mean the first of the 2, but i'm just checking. if it's the second, then your clutch is not disengaging all the way

 

when I said I revved higher, I meant I let the engine wrap out to 4500 or so in first instead of 3500 where I normally shift.

 

oh ok. that's what i thought.