twiggelf

I went and test drove a 92 six speed convertable earlier.
When I was on the highway I couldn't get it to shift into sixth, and it was very hessitant to get into fifth. When I tried to go to sixth it made the grinding gear sound, despite the clutch to the floor.
Is this just me having trouble adjusting to a car manual vs a motorcycle manual, or is this a deeper problem?
I didn't have this problem when I went and test drove a 94 ZR-1.

Thank You

BADDUCK

It's a problem. 5th and 6th gear shifts should be simple and smooth.

Baldfart

twiggelf

That's what I figured. What might cause something like this to happen? FYI, the car had 123K on it.

BADDUCK

Wear and/or abuse. I would look elsewhere.

mike100

5th and 6th shouldn't be ragged out, you'd expect 2nd to be gone. That sounds like about $2500 in trans and clutch work.

SJW

This fault sounds like it might be a problem with the reverse lockout mechanism. The shifter could be traveling too far to the right, and getting into the reverse gear gate, instead of the fifth/sixth gear gate. That would explain the gear clash you heard when shifting into "sixth."

I suggest you try it again and fish around a bit to see if you can locate the fifth/sixth gear gate, and also see if what you think is sixth is really reverse (shift it into this gear while the car is not moving, and see what happens when you ease out the clutch).

Live well,

SJW

twiggelf

I susspect that the missing the gate is more like it, given that the owner talked about using sixth on the highway. I can believe that a person would have the mussle memory to shift to the right spot, and not take it too far.
Probably unrelated, but the shift boot was loose, and I could feel heat comming up from the gap in the boot.

How much of a fix would this be?

cv67

Shift boot is fairly simple. they can tear from age.

If he said the boot is loose there may be a reason meaning he had things checked out by a shop and given a $$$ estimate on teh trans prompting him to sell. Check it out real close.

ZFs are rebuildable but not cheap to do.

mtwoolford

123 K miles is nothing. That trans should shift as smooth as butter. There could be smomething simple like an inner shift boot interfering...moving up the scale, the shift mechanism can be removed and serviced off the transmission...I would look at the aft end of the transmission shifter housing; there is an S shaped aluminum bracket containing a rubber bushing; this holds / supports the main shifter rail that goes into the trans. It is not uncommon for the rubber to deteriorate or the aluminum to crack. This piece is replaceable.

If its a clutch or internal transmission issue....well thats gonna cost some money. Of course lot's of people like to upgrade their clutch too.