Shifty Character

[asalnick]

My daily driver Series 3 has decided that it doesn't want to go into third gear. I can not get it to move the shifter fork at all whether the car is on or off. It is as if there is something preventing the synchro from moving. I can still shift into 1,2 and 4th so I can still drive it to work. The fact that I can shift into 4th is surprising as I belived that this is the same synchro hub. A similar thing happend to me last year in my TR6. When I tore into gearbox, I found the sychro ring was jammed with a piece of a gear (note to self, less stop light drag racing). I have yet to pull the trans tunnel off, but before I dig in, I thought I would see if anyone else has had a similar issue.

[SalemRover]

Sounds like the dreaded synchro spring clip failure, if your lucky. If you are not then out comes the transmission for a rebuild. It might be possible that the spring did not simply fall in but rather one or more have failed in the direction of third gear. You are correct in that 3rd and 4th share a synchro asembly. Time to drain the oil and see what comes out. Pay attention to the color / brass content of your oil. I am just finishing up my rebuild on my SIII at the moment so if you do go down that road I can offer some advice. If the oil does not offer any clues then pulling the shifter cover will expose the 3/4 sychro asembly nicely and that will answer what is going on in that part of the transmission.

-Jason

[knac1234]

I agree with Jason, although when it happened to me it was both 3rd and 4th gear (drove home-fortunately a short way down a country road-in 2nd w/ OD!!!!).

If it is the synchro clip, let me know.....I can point you in the right direction as I managed to miraculously replace it with the tranny in place (not easy, but doable).

Cheers,
Julian

[scatterling]

ditto for what Julian said. Take the top cover off of the tranny and take a look at the 3rd/4th syncro. It is doable to replace the springs in place. Let me know, I could talk you through it.