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A losing gamble so far, 90' gst doesnt shift into 2nd and R

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SPCMarty

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
gambled on a Eclipse that now doesn't shift into 2nd and R

I'll try to keep this short, but no promises. I bought a 90' GST 5spd for $550, "only" needed an oil cooler installed. was empty of oil and had no battery to start it so i took his word on that and the tranny swap he claims he did. That was the gamble. I installed the oil cooler and filled it with oil and gave it a battery, nothing. Took it to a shop since i was simply too busy and lacked a garage. Now two months and $1500 later i have a car that doesn't shift into 2nd and Reverse according to the mechanic over the phone. It that time span, its had fresh tranny fluid Royal Purple 75w90, replacement used shifter and cables, new clutch, new axles, and i believe lastly replacement pedal assembly. They couldn't get the clutch to disengage, hence the pedal assembly replaced, and that is how i got to where i am now.
I'm gonna pick it up anyhow (tired of labor charges), and tackle the rest with the help of y'all fine DSM experts. they are good mechanics but i feel they don't have the unique underground knowledge that dedicated owners have.
 
#4 ·
Re: gambled on a Eclipse that now doesn't shift into 2nd and R

That really blows, if I were u, I would just spend some time searching and asking questions on this forum. You'll be surprised how much you can learn from this site, but I wish u the best of luck
 
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#5 ·
Re: gambled on a Eclipse that now doesn't shift into 2nd and R

Start with inspecting the slave and master clutch cylinders. If they don't appear to be leaking, bleed the system.

Inspect the cable bushings on the trans.

The cables may need to be adjusted. Look it up.

The bracket that holds the cables, may be loose. I had my car not wanting to go into 5th, due to this.

Check the clutch release fork. This is the part that the slave cylinder pushes against. If it is dead center of the rectangular hole that it sticks out of, or even slightly towards the drivers side of the car, you are good. I believe (someone else please chime in here) you can adjust where the fork is, slightly, by making adjustments on the master cylinder. This will be located inside the car. Take some motrin, or something of the like, move the seat all the way back, and the steering wheel all the way up. The adjustment is in a very fun place to get. To find it, while down there, press the clutch and look for the shaft that moves. You will want to bring with you; a flashlight, a small pair of pliers (to turn the shaft), a Bible, 1/2", 9/16" box or combination wrench (I forget) to break the nut loose, and tighten. Moving the shaft towards the driver seat will bring the arm towards the drivers side, and towards the engine, will move it towards the passenger side. Hopefully this will fix the issue.

If not, you may need to pull the trans to shim the fulcrum. The fulcrum is located under the fork, connected to it. If you get to the point of having to pull the trans, plan on purchasing a clutch. If the car is not going to be modded above an exhaust and boost controller, you can get away with a stock replacement. Preferably purchase an oem throw out bearing, though I and some others have had decent luck with aftermarket, as long as it is plastic sleaved on the inside diameter, if that makes sense. If you plan to be making any decent amount of power, purchase either a kit through ACT, with a 2100 or 2600 pressure plate, depending on how much power you plan to be making. You can go with a street disk for the clutch disk, but I advise a 6 puck sprung at a minimum, and if you aren't planning on driving the car in traffic, just jump to a 6 puck unsprung. South Bend is also another great company to go with, though I have no personal experience with them. I do plan to try out their product in the future though, after much research, if that means anything to you. There are other companies that make good clutch setups, though I will leave that to your own research, since self learning, is what got myself, and many, many, others to the point of knowing how to work on these cars in a more efficient manner, than most career mechanics.

I just re-read your post, and I noticed you have a new clutch, but I'll be damned if I am going to delete what I typed about clutches. This makes me think that it is possible that they didn't machine the flywheel, which would cause the disengagement issue.

I really wonder if they had to replace the axles due need, or if they messed up while pulling the trans.

Royal Purple is not a choice gear lube for our transmissions. Though not the worst, not that great for the syncros. I would go with Mitsu Diaqueen for any and all power levels, but you can get away with Mobil 1 SAE 90 for low power applications.

If all else fails, time to pull the tranny and get it to a shop. More than likely best to ship it to a shop that specializes in dsm transmissions. Looking at around 1000 for a rebuild. About 5-6 hundred if you ship the gearsets out and reassemble yourself, but I just pulled my trans apart to replace a shift fork, and it wasn't the most fun getting it back together. Though now I know some tricks to make things easier, I DO NOT recommend this route to someone without much experience.

Welcome to Diamond Star Motors, its a love hate relationship raised in the Heavens, and fermented in the depths of Hell.
 
#6 ·
They probably don't know that the cables, shifter, and linkage are different on the 90 than the 91-94. They'll be offended if you tell them they don't know what they're doing, especially since they don't know what they're doing.

Also, I merged your two threads. Try not to make multiple threads on the same topic, especially with the same post.
 
#7 ·
DSM Loki said:
They probably don't know that the cables, shifter, and linkage are different on the 90 than the 91-94. They'll be offended if you tell them they don't know what they're doing, especially since they don't know what they're doing.
Click to expand...
Great call!

I forgot the 90's have different cables, along with all the other bastard stuff.

Now I feel like a dunce for typing out a bunch of crap in his other thread. I almost think you need a refund on some of their work, since you'll have to put back in the correct parts.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
I can't be certain it was 90' transmission that was swapped out, but i bought the cables myself from dsmparts on ebay for a 90'.
What is so unique about the bleeding procedure?
I'll know more once i can pick it up Monday.

Gas prices are on the rise, I really want this car operable soon.
 
#11 ·
SPCMarty said:
I can't be certain it was 90' transmission that was swapped out, but i bought the cables myself from dsmparts on ebay for a 90'.
What is so unique about the bleeding procedure?
I'll know more once i can pick it up Monday.

Gas prices are on the rise, I really want this car operable soon.
Click to expand...

The 90 transmissions have a different number of splines. I forget how many it is for a 90, but for 91-96, the spline count is 20, I believe.

The bleeding procedure is so important because, in short, any air in the system will cause the clutch to not want to fully disengage.
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
Well these mechanics are pretty competant. I was wrong, 1,3,5 gears work just fine and the shifter can't reach far enough to engage 2,4 and R. It just grinds those, but it can be pulled hard into 2 or 4 before starting. It shifts into them all by hand under the hood. The cable is maxed out.
The transmission rattles in neutral and subsides some putting it into 1st. I can get a 90' tranny for $400 plus $200 labor.
 
#13 ·
SPCMarty said:
Well these mechanics are pretty competant. I was wrong, 1,3,5 gears work just fine and the shifter can't reach far enough to engage 2,4 and R. It just grinds those, but it can be pulled hard into 2 or 4 before starting. It shifts into them all by hand under the hood. The cable is maxed out.
The transmission rattles in neutral and subsides some putting it into 1st. I can get a 90' tranny for $400 plus $200 labor.
Click to expand...
You need to fix the cables first. A new tranny is still going to have the same problems if the cables don't do what they need to. I'd be leery of spending any more money on a place that's at the same point as they were when you brought the car in, but $1500 richer off of your coin for doing every unnecessary thing they could think of EXCEPT fix the car. Or at least that's how it sounds from here.
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
Well there is the issue of the internal rattling of the transmission.
The gears seat nearly in 2,4,R they're just right on the grinding point.
Could I perhaps need 1991+ cables or what do y'all think is the issue? Can the cable be extended at all?

That car didn't start, clutch didn't work either. They've done pretty well, it's just expensive paying the labor
 
#17 ·
Pull the cable off of the shift selector, shift it by hand into 2nd. Have a friend shift it in car to the 2nd gear position and see if the cables are long or too short. This will let you know if it is cable related.
 
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