Posting this here in the unlikely event someone else has this issue. This is a very unusual problem but was asked to post this here just in case someone does come across this.
This will be a long read. This is about a 6-speed shifter issue I had with a Crossfire I bought recently and I have never seen this problem before on the forum and I doubt anyone else will have this problem but it is interesting, at least now that I solved it.
Three weeks ago I bought a 2005 Crossfire coupe with a 6-speed. When shifting into second gear it would grind terribly and the only way to get around it was to shift very slowly and feel for the slot to go into second and pull it back gingerly. The other problem was that it would not go into reverse unless the car was rolling and then it would slide in. I had flown from Phoenix to the Seattle area to purchase the car and this problem had not been disclosed by the seller so I did something I normally don’t do and I renegotiated the price of the car. I had no idea what was wrong but figured it was going to cost a few bucks to get it fixed.
I drove the car to Phoenix and once home I started investigating. After consulting Josh Chase, we both thought it might be a clutch engagement/disengagement issue and I thought that might be caused by the old brake fluid in the system. This car sat for a long time in the humid Seattle climate so I figured the fluid had absorbed a lot of moisture over the years. So I took the car to a local shop I trust and had them flush the brake and clutch lines and install stainless steel brake hoses that I supplied. Afterwards, the clutch and brake pedals felt much more stiff and normal but there was still a problem with the transmission grinding when going into second gear.
The mechanic told me he thought the shifter linkage cables needed adjustment so he tried his hand at that but it was a no go. When the cables were adjusted, we lost 1st and 2nd gears so that wouldn’t work so I had him adjust them back to the way they were so at least I had the gears, even if it was grinding going into second.
That night I found a complete shifter assembly online at a salvage yard in CT so I ordered it. I didn’t know if the transmission synchros might be damaged as well so I was prepared to replace the transmission as well and I found a used 6-speed at a salvage yard in MI for a great price and ordered that. Meanwhile, I took the shift ****, leather boot and the two lower rubber boots off to take a look at the shifter assembly. I knew something didn’t look right but it took a couple of minutes before it hit me.
At the bottom of the shift lever is a plastic collar. On the left side of that collar is a rectangular nub that protrudes about 3/8” and there is also a small metal gate attached to the lower left of the shifter assembly, right on top. When you shift into second gear, the nub hits the metal gate and that prevents the shifter from going too far to the left and the nub then slides along the gate and it guides it into gear smoothly. Below the plastic collar, the shift lever is a round ring and that ring rides on a horizontal shaft that is connected to the shift linkage cables.
Well, either the previous owner or his mechanic had had the shifter apart at one point and when they reassembled it, they put the shift lever on backwards (180 degrees out) when they slid it back onto the horizontal shaft. That meant that the 3/8” nub on the plastic collar at the bottom of the shift lever was on the right side of the shifter instead of the left. That, in turn, meant that the nub wasn’t hitting the metal gate when going into second gear. So there was nothing to prevent the shifter from going too far to the left when going into second gear so it was missing the gear and grinding like heck. I didn’t want to tear the shifter assembly apart in the garage so I took it back to the shop, showed the mechanic exactly what was wrong and asked him to take the shift lever off, turn it around 180 degrees so the nub is on the left side like it is supposed to be. He did that and boom! The universe came together. Now the shifter slides right into second gear very smoothly (as well as all the other gears) and it goes into reverse without issue. Go figure.
Here’s a pic of the shifter assembly on one of my other Crossfires. This is the way it is supposed to be put together. I didn’t take a pic of the one that was backwards but just imagine that plastic collar with the nub on the right side and you can easily see why it would then miss the metal gate/guide.
