By
ct06511, July 16, 2014
My car is a 5-speed Toyota Corolla 2003. This morning when driving on the highway I noticed that 2nd and 4th gear were gone. I drove to a parking lot and realized that the reverse gear was also gone. However, 1st, 3rd and 5th gear were okay and I could drive ahead. Fortunately I returned home safely.
The gear on the car were like this:
135
24R
Do I need to replace the whole clutch? The cost would be $800-$1000. Could it be a less costly problem?
Thanks for any help!
Hard to say without seeing it - but that definitely doesn't sound like a clutch issue - or you wouldn't have the other gears.
Sounds more like either the shift cable is messed up, not allowing the shifter to move far enough to actuate the shifter arms on the transaxle. Simple as needing an adjustment, new cable, made need new cable bushings, or similar. Sometimes, something can physically block the shifter arms on the outside of the transaxles from moving correctly, usually shows up as either the top row of bottom row of gears non-selectable - just like in your case.
Does the shifter get kicked out of gear or just doesn't engage it properly? Does the shifter bind or stick in any of the shifter positions? Unusual noise when shifting? Try it with the car off, windows rolled down - see if you can hear the metallic clanging of the shifter cables moving the shift levers on the outside of the transaxle.
Could also be something more serious - could be a broken or loose shifter fork(s). I think they are held in place with a ball and spring - if that falls out, the fork will not move as intended. That could be a lot more expensive than a clutch job - looking at rebuilding the transaxle at that point. Another possibility are the synchros are cooked in those gears - might try double clutching and see if the gear will engage.
Many thanks for the reply! I already drove the car to a mechanic this afternoon. He will check tomorrow.
The shifter would not engage at 2, 4, R. It did not stick in any position. I did not notice any unusual noise. There was no smell.
Hard to say without seeing it - but that definitely doesn't sound like a clutch issue - or you wouldn't have the other gears.
Sounds more like either the shift cable is messed up, not allowing the shifter to move far enough to actuate the shifter arms on the transaxle. Simple as needing an adjustment, new cable, made need new cable bushings, or similar. Sometimes, something can physically block the shifter arms on the outside of the transaxles from moving correctly, usually shows up as either the top row of bottom row of gears non-selectable - just like in your case.
Does the shifter get kicked out of gear or just doesn't engage it properly? Does the shifter bind or stick in any of the shifter positions? Unusual noise when shifting? Try it with the car off, windows rolled down - see if you can hear the metallic clanging of the shifter cables moving the shift levers on the outside of the transaxle.
Could also be something more serious - could be a broken or loose shifter fork(s). I think they are held in place with a ball and spring - if that falls out, the fork will not move as intended. That could be a lot more expensive than a clutch job - looking at rebuilding the transaxle at that point. Another possibility are the synchros are cooked in those gears - might try double clutching and see if the gear will engage.
Yeah, definitely sounds like the shifter levers on the transaxle are not moving as far as they should be. Inspecting the range of motion on the shifter cables, make sure there is no slop in there - would be my first check. Mechanic will likely disconnect the shifter cables from the transaxle and see if the problem is on the shifter assembly inside the car or on the transaxle. Hopefully it will be on the shifter side and not the transaxle side.
Let us know what the mechanic finds out.
They found that a shifter cable was gone. It was fixed for $105.
Thanks for the update! Lot better than hearing $800+ for a clutch or something more expensive.
