Got a really strange one. Did not know this could happen. The Haynes manual nor the Dodge Service manual even cover this one - at all.

When I was rebuilding my engine, we took out the whole shebang and separated the two. While we were removing the output shaft seals to replace them, I inadvertantly bumped the selector shaft lever and "changed" the gear it was in. I then tried to shift it back to where it was and did not think much about it at the time.

We put it all back together, and for whatever reason, I was able to put the car into reverse and drive out of the garage. I then put it into neutral and made some quick checks to see if there were any leaks, etc. and when I got back in, it would not go into reverse - when I put the gear shift where reverse should be - it would still go forward.

I decided I did not need reverse to drive around the neighborhood, so I pushed the car into the yard so that I could drive out forward and did so. I noticed that first gear was NOT first gear, but I could get the car to go, so I did. As I drove around the neighborhood, what should have been 3rd gear was downshifting instead.

OK, how do I get the shifter and the MT tranny back in synch? I don't believe there is any damage, but by now, I don't assume anything about this car anymore. FYI, the clutch is new, it shifts fine - no shuddering, grabbing, slipping, etc. It worked just fine before I tore it down the 2nd time, it just seems to be out of synch with the shifter, and nothing in either manual says how to put it back. What do they do when they rebuild a tranny? How do they put it back in synch?

I notice that the selector lever moves three clicks forward or back, and the crossover lever will move back and forward only - but I cannot figure out how to get 1st to be 1st, etc. HELP!!!!

 

make sure the shifter cables are in there proper positions. the one with the whitish/yellow big end goes closest to the engine, the one with the black end goes on the side closest to the drivers side fender.

 

Hey thanks for trying, but no, the cables are not backward. I know which cable was which and that is not my problem.

For whatever reason, I cannot get the car into reverse or 1st gear. 1st feels like trying to take off in 2nd or 3rd, Reverse takes me forward and kind of feels like 1st - but I'm not sure.

I put a new clutch kit in and it has about 400 miles on it and still looks like brand new. I just rebuilt the engine for the 2nd time due to other issues that happened during my 1st rebuild. Now when I had to park it and take out the motor again, I was not having ANY problems shifting, etc.

Somehow, someway, I managed to get the tranny out of whack with the shifter and no manual coves it at all. Not even after a tranny rebuild. I read the Dodge Neon Service manual mtx rebuild section and it says nothing about this problem.

I guess what I am looking for is something like:

a) Have a friend push in the clutch and put the shifter into the 1st gear position b) push the shift selector lever on the tranny into the 3rd position (push toward the firewall - until you can't click it further) and then reconnect the selector cable. c) hold the crossover in the center and reconnect the crossover cable. d)yada yada yada......

My fear here is that a) I am the first person this has happened to. b) no one has ever heard of such a thing, so no one has any idea how to fix it and by far the worst one - c) I have to remove the @$#%@#$ thing to fix it - and that is IF I was not such a boneheaded fool for trying to drive it anyway knowing that something was not right and tore it all to @#$@#$ internally!!

I don't believe this is the case, but something just ain't right here. Could it have something to do with the gear oil? I used Castrol Full Synthetic Gear Oil. It's not Mopar fluid, but is supposed to be better.

 

im going to say this now i have no idea how to fix this but i would try this. tahe the cables off the transmission, have a frieng hold the shifter in first than reconnect the first cable you can than have your friend move the shifter till the other cable is used than reconnect it after that have your friend run through all the gears to se if everything looks correct. when i replaced the transmission in my neon this is how i put the cables back on and never had a promblem. again this is just what i would do.

 

What condition are your shifter bushings in?

 

Fine.

 

Try adjusting the cross over cable section 7A in the Haynes manual. I can't think of what else it could be.

 

These cables do not require adjusting. The shifter cables are mounted to the cable brackets on the transmission. If the bushings are good, the bracket secure, the proper 1G shifter cables are being used, and you have always had the correct type of mtx fluid in the transmission; the mtx is going bad.

 

The cross over cable is adjustable, There is an indexing hole in the shifter lever and in the transaxle housing. It is adjusted by inserting a 1/4" bit to line up the shift lever and then adjusting the cable under the console by the gear shift.
I'm not saying this is the problem but it's worth a look.

 

The only thing I have done that I would consider out of the ordinary (and quite possibly wrong) is to put Castrol Syntec 75W-90 Gear Oil in my tranny.

http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/bp...C_GEAR_OIL.pdf


I am going to consult with the Dodge Mechanics at my local dealership. Maybe they can offer some insight. I also want to visit a local junkyard the area that may have a Dodge Neon with a mtx tranny and still have the linkages attached to see if there is something I am overlooking on the connections.

What I would like to know from somebody out there who would not mind pulling the battery box, has an mtx tranny, and may be willing to disconnect the cables, is find out what shift position the tranny is in when the car is both in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and Reverse.

As far as I can tell, the tranny has three shift positions. I'll call Position 1 the one where the shifter cannot go any further toward the physical front of the car. Postion 2 is the middle one, and Position 3 is the one closest the firewall.

Have a friend shift to 1st and tell me that tranny is in Position 'x' and the Crossover is shifting forward or back or not at all. Repeat for all gears including reverse. Maybe this way, I can see if MY tranny is doing that. If not, then maybe I can get it to do that.