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So my '05 Civic EX 5 speed was driving just fine and suddenly refused to go into any gear. I had to shift without the clutch to get it home. When I did, I could put it in gear with the clutch pedal in but it would have a weird whirring sound. Now, it will not go into the gears at all. Any ideas? I'll try to upload some vids.
"Marge, anyone could miss Canada! All tucked away down there."
Joined: Feb 2016
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From: Barrie, ON Canada
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Re: Transmission will not go into gear
You can see the slave move the clutch fork?
Maybe the clutch blew apart?
Can you roll the car with the trans in gear? (Engine off, parking brake off obviously)
I have had this happen to me in a 91 Civic, a mustang, and a PT cruiser. I'm writing to kill time so if you prefer to skip storytime, just read the text in bold. it will sound like i'm telling you to do something stupid, so i felt like a little backstory might be useful.
In all three cases, the cause was my abuse.
THE CIVIC:
I don't remember what I did to break the Civic, but I beat it hard enough that I killed quite a few trans's, clutches, n axles. Not racing, just general abuse to amuse myself. Powershifting, offroading like a rally car, etc. Anyways... The Civic would go into gear with the engine off and the parking brake released. At idle it would not go into any forward gear and it would grind if I tried to get it in reverse. I reeeeeallly wanted to get the car two blocks to my friends house. I got a bright idea and thought maybe I could yank it into reverse, and drive there in reverse. I pressed the clutch pedal to the floor, and quickly yanked the shifter from neutral to reverse. It went in andthe car stalled. I tried it a second time, and the car stalled again. i restarted the engine and as i was playing with the shifter, for some reason it went into gear like normal. after that The clutch felt fine, it shifted fine, and after a really confused test drive, it seemed fine. The problem never came back.
THE MUSTANG
the mustang was a lightened car we street raced. It ran 12.3 na with 300hp and 10.8 with a 175 shot. countless 6000 rpm clutch dumps on slicks never broke it. It had a center force df clutch......that locked up randomly in a gravel driveway. I remembered the Civic, so I pressed the clutch, yanked it into reverse, and it was shifting like normal again. The clutch was not as grippy though and I could hear/feel a slight vibration. When I looked in the bell housing inspection cover, i could see friction material and gravel maybe i had a tiny rock in there or the friction material failed from abuse and stacked up between the pressure plate and the disc so there was no air gap. I ordered a new clutch and baby the car until it arrived. When I took it apart to install half of the organic side of the clutch disc was missing. from driving like that the vibration never went away even after installing a new clutch. me driving it like that threw the mainshaft out of round enough to damage the trans beyond cost effective repair.
THE PT
with the PT, i was getting on the highway and i went to shift quickly into 4th and i hit 2nd instead. the clutch locked up and i drove 20 miles home not able to use the clutch, luckily like you my skills allowed me to shift without it. i have a pic of the cause from that one. the "reverse yank" fixed the PT as well. so 3 for 3 on this working as a fix for me.
full PT thread if anyone is reeeealllly bored. lol http://www.ptcruiserlinks.com/forum/...-i-killed.html
if your car is behaving like i described above in bold and you aren't afraid to try it, yank it into reverse at idle once or twice. it'll probably clear whatever is wedged in there. you wont harm the trans. i never did
