AutoEuphoria
Captain Slow
Quick background...my stock clutch was slipping under high load, so I decided I should upgrade to a stronger one. I don't have the time or the tools to do that myself, so I took it to a local shop that specializes in transmissions. We had some work done there before, and they seemed reasonable and did good work.
Dropped the car off Tuesday night, and it took a little longer than they had expected. Ended up picking it up today at lunch. Right away I knew something wasn't right, but I had to get back to work, so I couldn't take the time to really explore or figure out what what going on. Basically, it was really sloppy in the forward gears (1, 3, and 5) and really WAY too tight in the back gears (2, 4, and 6). Made it very difficult to change gears, and just had a really bad feel.
I figured it was just an adjustment...I had something similar happen before when I was doing something with the shift linkage, and a quick adjustment took care of the issue. Unfortunately, that didn't really cure the problem.
I got it to the point where it wasn't GOOD, but it was DRIVABLE. I had to go down to Detroit to pick something up for the weekend, and had to get down there before the store closed. So, I adjusted it as good as I could inside the cabin (there is a small spring-loaded adjustment right next to the shifter under the console plastic) and set off.
Got it into 6th on the freeway, but something still wasn't right. I shifted out of 6th at one point on I-75 (about 40 miles from home) and couldn't get it back into 6th. NOTHING I did would get it to go into gear. Luckily I was really close to an exit, so I got off (cruising at like 55 in 5th) and stopped at the gas station. I picked up a flathead screwdriver to pop the linkage ends off to see if the lines were binding anywhere between the shifter and the transmission...all seemed fine. I then checked the actual transmission...I could manually put it into all 6 gears without issue. So the linkage was moving freely...the transmission shifted fine...:wtf:
Another quick adjustment inside got it to shift into all 6 gears, and off I went again.
On the entrance ramp...first, second, third, fourth, fifth...NO SIXTH. Couldn't get it into gear at all, so I pulled off to the side of the road. Tried adjusting again, got it to click into 6th. Get ready to pull out into the heavy traffic...NO FIRST :banghead:
I had to set off in second (not easy with this new clutch) and limped it up into fifth...NO SIXTH AGAIN. Luckily I was really close to a rest stop, so I just limped it in there.
I finally figured adjusting wasn't going to fix the problem. Opened up the hood and after some rooting around found a loose bolt, just hanging out (fully out) on a bracket that wasn't secured. The bracket held the ends of the shift linkage in place. The other bolt was out, too.
Didn't have my tools with me, so I had to call my mom. Spent the next 45 minutes waiting for them to get there...did as much as I could with my flathead screwdriver. Ended up burning the shit out of my wrist and cut my hand. Sweet.
Tools finally showed up and I spent the next hour fixing the issue. Got the bracket bolted tightly in place, and everything was fine.
Couldn't make it down to Detroit before the shop closed, so I'm going to have to make another trip tomorrow. Had to spend 2 hours fixing a car that I just paid to have worked on.
Anyway, rant over. Just wish more people would take pride in their work and be sure that everything was perfect before giving it back to the customer.
Dropped the car off Tuesday night, and it took a little longer than they had expected. Ended up picking it up today at lunch. Right away I knew something wasn't right, but I had to get back to work, so I couldn't take the time to really explore or figure out what what going on. Basically, it was really sloppy in the forward gears (1, 3, and 5) and really WAY too tight in the back gears (2, 4, and 6). Made it very difficult to change gears, and just had a really bad feel.
I figured it was just an adjustment...I had something similar happen before when I was doing something with the shift linkage, and a quick adjustment took care of the issue. Unfortunately, that didn't really cure the problem.
I got it to the point where it wasn't GOOD, but it was DRIVABLE. I had to go down to Detroit to pick something up for the weekend, and had to get down there before the store closed. So, I adjusted it as good as I could inside the cabin (there is a small spring-loaded adjustment right next to the shifter under the console plastic) and set off.
Got it into 6th on the freeway, but something still wasn't right. I shifted out of 6th at one point on I-75 (about 40 miles from home) and couldn't get it back into 6th. NOTHING I did would get it to go into gear. Luckily I was really close to an exit, so I got off (cruising at like 55 in 5th) and stopped at the gas station. I picked up a flathead screwdriver to pop the linkage ends off to see if the lines were binding anywhere between the shifter and the transmission...all seemed fine. I then checked the actual transmission...I could manually put it into all 6 gears without issue. So the linkage was moving freely...the transmission shifted fine...:wtf:
Another quick adjustment inside got it to shift into all 6 gears, and off I went again.
On the entrance ramp...first, second, third, fourth, fifth...NO SIXTH. Couldn't get it into gear at all, so I pulled off to the side of the road. Tried adjusting again, got it to click into 6th. Get ready to pull out into the heavy traffic...NO FIRST :banghead:
I had to set off in second (not easy with this new clutch) and limped it up into fifth...NO SIXTH AGAIN. Luckily I was really close to a rest stop, so I just limped it in there.
I finally figured adjusting wasn't going to fix the problem. Opened up the hood and after some rooting around found a loose bolt, just hanging out (fully out) on a bracket that wasn't secured. The bracket held the ends of the shift linkage in place. The other bolt was out, too.
Didn't have my tools with me, so I had to call my mom. Spent the next 45 minutes waiting for them to get there...did as much as I could with my flathead screwdriver. Ended up burning the shit out of my wrist and cut my hand. Sweet.
Tools finally showed up and I spent the next hour fixing the issue. Got the bracket bolted tightly in place, and everything was fine.
Couldn't make it down to Detroit before the shop closed, so I'm going to have to make another trip tomorrow. Had to spend 2 hours fixing a car that I just paid to have worked on.
Anyway, rant over. Just wish more people would take pride in their work and be sure that everything was perfect before giving it back to the customer.
