Carl:
Ouch! You don't want to hear this:
My guess is that the 3 - 4 shift rod/selector assembly overshifted into 4th,
and 1 (or god forbid more) of the 3 sliding hub detent balls hung up and may
have popped out. Likely the little spring got broken when the gearbox went
out of 4th the first time after it locked. I've had some experience with
this problem!
This can be caused by wear, or more probably, the rubber bumper that
cushions the forward travel of all 3 shift rods has broken loose from it's
proper place in it's recess in the bellhouse. Sometimes this presents no
difficulty, sometimes it does - I guess that you just got unlucky.
You will be able to drive the car, but if I were you, I would expect it to
happen again - eventually it will not come out of gear. I'm afraid the only
fix will be to remove the gearbox/od, and do a rebuild - like I said, just
what you wanted to hear.
It's possible to diagnose this with the unit still in the car. With the
trans cover off, and the oil drained, if I'm right you should find 1 or more
balls lying in the bottom of the transmission case, and maybe a few bits of
cut up detent spring. (fishing around the bottom of the case with a pencil
magnet might help.) Then you'll know.
Sorry, hope I'm wrong and it turns out to be something easier to fix!
Earl Kagna
Victoria, B.C.
BT7 tri-carb
BJ8
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dr. Carl Rubino" <ruvino@ripnet.com>
To: "healeylist" <healeys@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2004 9:21 AM
While touring on a winding road the other day I moved to shift from 4th into
3rd and it wouldn't come out of fourth. Stoped and applied brute force to no
avail-started off in 4th-thank god for tourque and a good clutch. Tried
again
and it shifted out of 4th with a little grinding noise. Stuck in 4th one
more
time and has been fine every since.
Thoughts?
Carl
BN-4(L)
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