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MG MGB Technical - MGB stuck in Gear

I am in desperate need of some help. I have a trailer coming tomorrow to take my MG to Texas and I need to drive it up onto it.

I just finished the rebuild of the engione and I have the engine running, but when I withdraw the clutch, I move forward. When I put it in reverse or any other gear and let go of the clutch, it just stalls, and I get no motion at all.

I just bled the Clutch fluid and I'm getting travel on the lever for the throw-out bearing.

The problem is that it won't go into neutral so I can let it sit while I set the timing.

While the engine was out, I didn't do anything to the transmission other than have the flywheel and clutch assembly balanced. Is there anything I could have screwed up when I put it back together? It seems that there was only one wway for it all to fit back.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

-Dan
Dan Scharpf

That is odd. Thinking out loud, You press the clutch and put it in first and you move forward. You press the clutch and put it in any other gear and the car stalls (or cuts off?) Is the clutch slipping or is the car choking out? You say the car will shift through all of the gears, but you can not find nuetral? Is that correct?
Brian

I can't understand why this is happenign either.

I put in the clutch to start it, and it fires up. When I put it in neutral and let go of teh clutch, I go forward. The acceleration from this makes it feel like starting off from 2nd gear.

If I put it in any other gear and then let go of the clutch, it stalls, adn it doesn't feel like there is anything trying to drive it forward or backwards either.

I just took off the shifter and it's engaged, so I don't know what to do at this point.

The first question is how to get it into neutral so I can run the car without having to hold the clutch in.

I am at a total loss on this, and I'm afraid that I may have to pull the engine again and take a look at how I installed the clutch. Unfortunately, I'm running out of time,a dn this will be an all night affair. If I don't get it fixed now, it will haqve to sit in my garage in Texas for at least 7 months until the rest of my house gets moved down there. :-(

-Dan
Dan Scharpf

Sounds like it is in one gear when in neutral, and two when in any other gear. Therefore when in neutral you should be able to drive it forwards onto the trailer at the very least. If it is stuck in too high a gear to drive, crank it on with the starter (coil disconnected) instead.
Paul Hunt 2

You may have something jambed between the trans input shaft and the bushing in the crank, this is putting enough pressure on the input shaft that it is binding against the 3rd motion shaft in the trans. Did you have any problem pulling the trans up against the engine when re installing it. The trans should freely slide onto the engine until the bellhousing meets the block.
A broken shifter fork can allow the trans to go into two gears at once which will stall the engine, although if you shift into the gear with the broken fork it would move. You could also have problem in the shift gates. Since you didn't change anything in the trans I believe that the first item may be your problem.
John H

I now have the engine out and the transmission disconnected (again). The fit is firm between the transmission input shaft an the crank. It doesn't really slide "freely" since there's some resistance against the splines.

Is there anythign I can check while I have this dismantled to help point me in the direction of the problem? - I can shift through all the gears pretty easily, but I don't know if there is anything I should be looking for to indicate a broken fork or shift gate. Do I need to take off the tranny cover plates to do this?

Thanks,
-Dan
Dan Scharpf

Dan,

All else failing could you use a come-a-long to winch the car up onto the trailer?

BH
BH Davis

With the gearbox disconnected from the engine, can you get neutral and turn the first motion shaft without the third motion shaft turning?
Dave O'Neill 2

Dave,

I don't what happened between taking everything apart the first time and now, but I can barely turn the tranny shaft. Fortunately, I have a spare tranny from a donor car I bought last year when I blew the engine. - Moral of the story: If you save enough parts, you'll eventually use them.

I don't know the condition of this mystery tranny, but it spins nicely, so I'll check out a few things and then go with it. In the meantime, I'll keep the one that's bound up and rebuild it for use at a future date.

Thanks again to everyone for the help. Hopefully this is the end of the problems for now.

-Dan
Dan

As Paul says, your car is already in gear when neutral is selected and you hint that it feels like second. The transmission then locks up solid when you select another gear as it is effectively in two gears at the same time. It looks to me like the first/second gear selector fork has become detached from the rod in which case it is only necessary to remove the gearbox side cover, relocate the selector fork on the rod and tighten the pinch bolt securely. Whilst you are at it make sure that the third/fourth and reverse selector forke are tight on their rods as well.
Iain MacKintosh

This thread was discussed between 02/08/2007 and 03/08/2007

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