Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 05:01:49 GMT From: "James Sweet" <jamessweetnospamail.com> Subject: Re: hard to get into gear
"Hans Lellelid" <hplnospam> wrote in message news:lmEhc.9411$2e6.5047nospamread01... > I have a question about the transmission on my '91 900S. I just got > this car recently (and have been avidly reading the newsgroup archives) > and it's my first manual transmission car. I don't have a very good > frame of reference clearly, but overall I would say it takes a lot of > work to get it from one gear into another. I saw Grunff describe the > transmission as "agricultural" which made me laugh; that's a good > description. > > But that's just an observation, not really the problem. The problem is > that sometimes it is next to impossible to get it into first or second > from standstill -- and shifting from first to second is always extremely > demanding & always rough. Also I often have to sit in the parking lot > wrestling with it to get it into reverse -- usually shifting into 3rd > and then down into reverse helps, but it could still be a number of > tries before it works. (Actually, the reverse lockout is > broken/disabled on my car so I could leave it in first and pull the keys > out, but my mechanic suggested I use reverse.) > > I'm wondering what this problem might be -- and if I should expect > expensive repairs around the corner. Especially for someone without > much shifting experience it can be frustrating to think that you've > gotten it into first only to discover it actually isn't fully in first > when the light turns green. Maybe a Saab 900 wasn't the best choice for > learning to drive manual :) > > Thanks in advance - > > Hans My first guess would be that your clutch is binding and not fully disengaging, does it grind if you stick it in reverse while sitting at a stop with the clutch in? Could be the linkage is out of adjustment too.