Well I was on my way to work this morning, and was at a light just before going on the highway. I pushed my clutch in and tried to put it in first but it wouldn't go!! I got honked at, and told them to f*** off lol. Then i released the clutch, pressed it again and it was fine. I don't understand?? Maybe it's because I just started my car and it was cold?? I have no idea. Besides that, when I got to work and parked my car, I shut it off right away and I noticed the gauge needles went down then back up and down and up and then down and didn't move anymore, all when the car was off!! One of my friends said it could be the supercharger and engine decompressing and getting all the air out. I've never seen that happen before, unless I didn't look. Just wondering if that's normal... Thanks all!!

 

The not going into first sometimes is a common problem... I have it happen to me, just let the car roll slightly, and you should be okay. You can always force it in too if you want, just not that good for the syncros.

Can't say I know what you're talking about with the gauges, I've never really paid attention to them then.

 

Gauges are fine, its been posted before. Could just be some electrical noise for all we know. As well if you search you might find something about the first gear thing, I know I've seen it, just don't remember what it says.

 

yea, it happens to me sometimes...just either release the clutch and try again, or go into second, then into first, and it should be fine.

 

Okay that's wierd... Thing is, with the guages and electrical problem, i was reading that some people had an electrical faliure and their whole car just turns off. I'm scared about that!!

 

haha, never seen that.

 

The gauges will sometimes twitch when you kill the car, much the way a dead person twitches in the movies. That's normal.

 

ah yeah, i never thought of it that way. makes perfect sense!! lol thanks! :-)

 

I talked to a GM Tech about this...

He said first gear has no synchros...

Even in his pickup trick... getting into first is a bitch...

He suggested... second into first... when at a stop.

-Rich

 

first has a syncro, but only between 1st and 2nd. it's sort of like an old borg warner box in an alfa romeo, you have to "clear" the gears out. usually moving it through a few gears keeps it from happening

 

I used to have this happen to me. I think I may have found a cure for the "not going into first" problem. When I drive I always downshift as I slow down, I just simply downshift all the way down to 2nd. Since I started doing this, the problem hasn't and it's be about a month.

 

This happens sometimes when the gear "dead heads" where the teeth of the gear/slider on the input shaft side of the trans line up so perfectly with the teeth on the gear/slider on the output shaft side of the transmission that they bump into each other instead of sliding together in engagement. Simply letting the clutch out to turn the gears on the engine side of the trans will fix it (or just letting off the brake and letting the car roll a little will fix it as well).

Also, first gear has to have a synchro or else how would you downshift from 2nd to 1st without a lot of grinding and rev matching the downshift?

 

Yeah I posted about that before too. The gauges on our LS will twitch sometimes when the car is off and we're putting in or pulling out a CD. Not sure why it happens. All we know for sure is that it happens on the in-laws 2004 Impala SS Supercharged as well occasionally. My only guess is that the entire electrical system is integrated in these cars, including the stock stereo systems, and it has something to do with that.

As for the gearing, I used to have this happen on my '97 tercel too, again, it's not uncommon. When it was being finicky I just popped it into second and back into first, usually fixed the problem.

 

try to rev when you put it in first, it helps

another thing, when you slow down, but your foot on the clutch and cycle down through the gears, starting from the highest, all while your foot is on the clutch ie 5 4 3 2
when you stop, you will be able to get it in first, it helps with the syncros spinning or somethin
just like how if you are in 5th and you want to go to 3rd, you need to cycle through 4th to save your synchros

 

Really?
I drop from 5th to 3rd all the time like butter...

-Rich

 

You don't need to go through 4th to go from 5th to 3rd. Sure, the synchros have to "work" harder but its not like its particularly bad for them. If you're concerned, let the clutch out and give it a little gas in neutral(double clutch) and the synchro will have to do virtually no work since the engine speed will be more in line with the tire speed in 3rd gear.

 

i will give you some advice... if your car randomly starts shuting off take it to the deaker immediately i know a girl that had an ion that did the random shut off only when she turned left though and ended up getting killed in a car accident possibly because of that problem

 

mine does the same thing
the dealer didnt do **** about it because they 'couldnt duplicate the problem'

 

if you can afford it trade the car in it isnt worth dying for or see if you can leave the car at the dealer for like a week to see if they can duplicate and diagnose the problem

 

Yeah! I'd rather trade the car then keep it and die, no matter what car it is!!