Okay... here's a real riddle for all you Fiero gurus...
Transplanted an Isuzu 5 speed from an 88 4 cyl onto an 88 V6. Trans shifted fine in the other car, sat without getting beat up at all, went in just fine and now...
Wont come out of gear at all. Not at all!!! It's like it's stuck in maybe 5th?
The shifter will move from left to right HALF WAY and will not move up or down at all.
Funny thing is, the trans disengages fully and completely with the clutch and and turns the tires/motor while engaged.
Won't come outa gear? Disconnect the shift cables at the transmission & try to move the levers to the middle of their range by hand. (Try the 'select' cable first. This is the one that goes through the firewall on the driver's side.) This should put the transmission into neutral.
What you don't tell us is why you made the swap in the first place. Were you having shifting problems?
When I bought my '87 the seller told me that it had a bad motor mount, and that was why the car wouldn't shift into fifth or reverse. This would've made sense, except the Fiero uses shift CABLES instead of rods. This diagnosis is a holdover from the days of three-on-the-tree column shifters, where any shift in the motor's position might throw the shifting rods between the transmission and the column out of adjustment. Cable-shifting systems are unaffected by motor/transmission position.
To make a long story short (Yeah, too late!!) it turned out that the shifter assembly up in the console was cracked. The crack was spreading open under the pressure of the shift & failing to push the 'select' cable far enough to reach 5th & reverse.
Let us know how it goes!
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05:13 PM
DKOV Member
Posts: 1564 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Mar 2001
The Fiero is an 88 4 cyl to begin with. We swapped in a 2.8 V6. The tranny was the tranny that was in the donor chassis to begin with and it ran perfectly.
So, the only thing that is "new" in the car is the V6 motor. Nothing else changed.
The cables are all in correctly and move freely inside their perspective sheethes. The problem is in the tranny.
The shifter levers on the tranny housing will not move completely. The select will move out but not in and the shift wont move at all.
When the clutch is depressed, the tranny spins freely and when the clutch is engaged, it will turn the motor over when pushed.
But still it won't come OUT of gear. Of course, that goes without saying, we cannot select any other gears either.
Thanks for the input so far... let's hear some more.
I think your shift cables are out of adjustment. Disconnect them at the tranny and get someone to hold the clutch in and see if you can move the levers. Good luck!
Phil
------------------ GTDude OVER 25 years GM experience
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08:56 AM
rockcrawl Member
Posts: 2528 From: Lehigh Valley, PA Registered: Jul 2000
You can remove the top cover where the shift rods come out of the trans. You'll be able to see how it all works. Something could be jammed up in there. I worked on one that had eaten a plastic VSS gear and parts of the gear were jammed up in there. pull it apart and check for debris. It's like six bolts and it pulls right off.
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10:49 AM
DKOV Member
Posts: 1564 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Mar 2001
It's stuck at the tranny. The Levers won't even move. It has nothing to do with the cables. Thanks though
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Rockcrawl...
We thought of taking that off to look in there but didn't know how "involved" that might be. Thanks for the tip!
We'll check it out and se if there's anything stuck in there. How far DOWN was your "Wedgie" and did you end up having to rebuild the tranny because of it?
I know you dont think its possible but my izuzu to v-6 on my 85 gt did that same thing and it semmed like nothing was right but then i found out i had the shift cables reversed. It is possible! and It will make it seem likethe tranny wont come out of gear. Swaped the shift ables at thed shifter end (did nothing to the tranny) everything worked fine. ALSO I found out that havening thembackwarks on the tranny will mkae it seem like the tranny wont move with your hand ether but if you tkae the ables off completely they still move completely freely like you said. Still if you taker the cables off COMPLETYELY and you know the way the shifters lever should work and go concepually then you should be able to move the shift arms by hand with the engine off. ALEX
------------------ Silver 85 GT modified 5 speed Black 87 GT Getrag 5 speed 7 speaker sound Black 85 coupe parts car (any need parts?) SOLD! Blue 87 coupe
RIP 86 white coupe 49k miles (Unrecalled) Burned to the ground :-(
EMAIL : Anaverin@juno.com
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08:11 PM
Dec 1st, 2002
DKOV Member
Posts: 1564 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Mar 2001
not to steal the thread, but does anyone have pics of the isuzu cables they can post. And can u tell me which is which too cause I'm in the process of doing the swap and dont want to make the same mistake. thxs and good luck dkov.
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02:42 AM
Fierobsessed Member
Posts: 4782 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 2001
Alittle information on the Isuzu transmission that may help. If you took the shift linkage box off the transmission, this is the part with the shift levers. Underneith it is a rectangular hole with 3 pieces of metal, they are the 1-2 the 3-4 and the 5-Rev shift selectors, they go directly to the shift forks, make sure all of them are lined up, have a person hold the clutch while you carefully try to move the stuck one back to center. It might work, at the very least you could tell what gear is stuck, the one on the engine side is 1-2. If 5th is stuck, the cover on the side farthest from the engine gives access to 5th gears shift fork and gears. (this fork is known to break) Maybe you could find the problem in there. Only problem with that is, any part you take off the isuzu, you'll probably destroy the gaskets. So this is a nearly last resort option.
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08:22 PM
Dec 2nd, 2002
DKOV Member
Posts: 1564 From: Portland, OR, USA Registered: Mar 2001
Alittle information on the Isuzu transmission that may help. If you took the shift linkage box off the transmission, this is the part with the shift levers. Underneith it is a rectangular hole with 3 pieces of metal, they are the 1-2 the 3-4 and the 5-Rev shift selectors, they go directly to the shift forks, make sure all of them are lined up, have a person hold the clutch while you carefully try to move the stuck one back to center. It might work, at the very least you could tell what gear is stuck, the one on the engine side is 1-2. If 5th is stuck, the cover on the side farthest from the engine gives access to 5th gears shift fork and gears. (this fork is known to break) Maybe you could find the problem in there. Only problem with that is, any part you take off the isuzu, you'll probably destroy the gaskets. So this is a nearly last resort option.
I was just coming to post this very answer to the forum because that was EXACTLY what was wrong!!!
Took the top off, lines up the three "notches" and BINGO!!! Everything is perfect!!!
I guess it just got out of alignment somehow. Anyway, everything is fixed and working like a champ!!!
DKOV beat me to it. I had to drive home. Anyway, like it has been said before:
THANK YOU Fierobsessed.
And something else. The 4cyl return hose can be mated to the V6 return port by removing about 8-10 inches from each end of the steel V6 crossover tube. It still runs behind the motor, just above the exhaust manifold, not under it.
Said hose will attach to the rubber 90 degree V6 return hose. The only 4cyl part left, aside from the Isuzu tranny, is the return hose just behind the drive seat.
Things are really looking up.
FJ
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01:28 AM
Fierobsessed Member
Posts: 4782 From: Las Vegas, NV Registered: Dec 2001
