Hello! I am new on here. My girlfriend's son owns this Saturn. He has been having problems shifting into second gear, a little grinding etc. Today, it won't shift into 2nd at all, running or turned off. I got the car home by going 1st to 3rd. Makes no noise ethic you pull extremely hard, shifter isn't going far enough back to engage. Rest of the gears work fine. He did mention that in the past it has popped out of gear. Any help is very much appreciated!

 

Could be the shifter cable. I have replaced one before on my son's car. I was able to buy a factory nos cable. I'd have him move the gear stick while you watch how the shift linkage moves under the hood.

 

Welcome to the forum.

Please hop on over to the new member area and introduce yourself.

Pull the center console off and get a look at the shifter, shifter bushing, and shifter cable ends.

Over time and shifts, the shifter cables are know to stretch When this happens, the cable ends (loops) exert lateral pressure on the shifter bushing, which usually fails before a cable end loop.

Saturn/GM won't sell just the bushing due to the nature of the described problem. Whole new bushing and shifter cable kit.

There are many opportunists who have developed "solutions" to the bushing issue that ignore the cable situation. I think saturnbushingman on eBay has the best of the rest solution if you insist on ignoring the cables

If your shifter bushing has not yet broken, I think you set some kind of record or there are not a ton of miles on the car. I'm fairly confident you will break the bushing trying to remove it (not really designed for that as you would just destroy it to get it out if installing 2 new cables and a busing)

Do NOT buy Dorman cables. They are the wrong length, flex too much, and, well, they are more problematic than whatever you took out.

A used set of shifter cables is better than a new Dormans. (People buy Dorman cables, some cheapo flimsy knock off plastic piece for a bushing, install them, drive two weeks and snap new bushing because the cables are too long.

Saturnbushingmsn also sells replacement cable ends which I think are somehow held on by setscrews, which I don't know how I feel about. I guess it has a chance of working as the cables are not really under extensional tension very much.

Anyway, you'll find the pjillips screws that hold the whole center console down. Window switch just pry up edge gently (very gently as plastic dry rot is a big issue on these older cars and it pops out. Shifter and boot remain attached to the vehicle---I think----I had a 92 SL2 but never needed to pull the cover.

And check on the tranny end as already suggested.

Please let us know what you find.

And no, I am not Saturnbushingman nor do I share any of his DNA (hopefully)

 

I pulled the center console and looked at the bushings and ccable ends and they are okay. I am able to shift into all of the other gears but 2nd. when I try to pull it into 2nd gear, you can see the end of the cable (right bigger cable) flex upward.

 

it flexes upward when pulling it toward you?

I think one of the only ways that can happen (since you'd expect it to flatten out in any other circumstance) is that you're pulling ok at the tranny end until the shifter gets to a certain position and the cable is indeed too long and starts to buckle upwards.

However, even so, that by itself shouldn't keep it out of gear -- the cable is too long, not too short.

Messed up synchro from too much grinding?

I do not know anything about the internal part of the M/T, so might be a problem in there.....

 

Hi there Marka! If you can get all the gears except second, it's not a cable problem. A cable problem will effect either up and down movement, or side to side movement. If 2nd and 3rd are okay, then up and down cable is alright. If 1st and reverse are okay, then side to side cable is okay. If you can't get it into 2nd with the engine off, it's not a clutch problem either.

I would say the 2nd gear synchronizer is stripped out. They are made out of brass, and do wear over time. If it was the only gear grinding, that was a sign it has worn down enough to start causing problems. Second gear is usually the first to go, since 1st is always engaged at a lower speed or at a stop, second gear gets the most amount of torque, and abuse since you are trying to get up to speed, or slow down on a down shift.

A weak hydraulic clutch master cylinder, or sticking slave cylinder can also cause the synchronizers to grind and wear down, but will effect several gears, not just 2nd. If there was also a problem with it popping out of gear, that could also be an internal slider-fork with an ear-tab worn down, or broken off. Either of which are internal, so the transmission will either have to be rebuilt, or replaced. I would check your local salvage yards, most give at least a 30 day warranty, which is enough to see if it's going to hold up, or have any problems. I would also recommend replacing the clutch disk and pressure plate, also have the flywheel resurfaced so the new disk will have a fresh new surface for better operation of the clutch assembly. With the trans out, there should not be that much more labor to replace the clutch, mostly just the cost of the clutch. If it's the original clutch, jumping from 1st to 3rd most likely got it pretty hot too, so now would be a good time to kill two birds, so to speak. If nothing else, at least have it inspected to see what kind of shape it's in. If it looks good, drop it back in, but better to find out now, than have to do it all over again in a few months...(pull the trans back out to replace the clutch) So, now the question becomes, is this something you would like to do yourself, or take it to a repair shop?