I did a stupid thing and tryred to take the plug on the drivers side out thinking it was the fill plug! Nope big mistake! Now I have to pull the tranny out. My question is how hard is it to put the parts back where they need to be?

 

Its hard to believr no one here has any answers?

 

not really a good explanation of what your asking. If you have to pull your tranny the hardest part is pulling your tranny. Working on the inside is easy if you have the right tools. Im not sure what your talking about by you pulled the plug.

 

there is a torx bolt on the drivers side of the tranny, It has something to do with reverse and 5th gear. I unscrewed it by mistake thinking this is where I put the fluid in and now have no reverse or 5th?

 

I wonder how many times I've posted not to do that.... it's REALLY a PITA thing to fix, for such a seemingly small stupid mistake.

You have to take the inspection cover off to fix it.

To get the inspection cover off, you have to remove the extension housing. To do that, you have to punch the roll pin out of the block that the shifter fits down into. Take a punch of the correct size (about 1/8", maybe 3/16", I forget) and tap the roll pin down; punch it down ONLY JUST BARELY FAR ENOUGH to where it clears the shift rail; slide the block thing off the rail. DO NOT try to knock it all the way through, it cannot go, it will merely lodge itself against what's underneath, and then you'll be severely farkled. There's a ball and a spring under it, don't lose those when you take it off. Then take out the extension housing bolts, and slide that off; then you can take off the inspection cover. You'll see a little clip laying in the bottom of the transmission. Put the link back together and onto the post, and put the clip back on, and re-assemble & re-install the transmission. Then put the fluid in using the pass side plugs.

The transmission has to be out of the car of course.

 

 

Thanks for the info I will be ripping it out this weekend.

 

cant you just fill it through the top where the shifter bolts in?....thats what I did, and no problems whatsoever (alot cleaner too)

 

Sure, no reason not to, if you already have the console out.

I don't take the console out to do a trans R&R myself; I just rmove the shifter from the trans and support it from above, and leave the interior intact. Much less work that way.

To fill the trans through the plug, you can either use a pump that screws onto a bottle; or a funnel and a piece of hose, from above; or a squirt type bottle like for rear end fluid, and keep re-filling it. Any of those are mess-free if done properly.

 

I shoudl have added I was doing a clutch swap so things were kinda torn apart

 

There's no reason to disturb the interior when doing a clutch, any more than there would be when taking the trans out but leaving the clutch in place. ALOT less work to leave the interior alone.

 

true, but I was having trouble getting at a couple bolts (no U-joint at the time)....and with a 4th gen console, it pops out pretty easily

 

For what?

I just break the shifter bolts loose with a 13mm box wrench and back em out with my fingers.... doesn't take 2 minutes. ALOT less work than removing an interior, even an easy one.

Maybe I've just done that job WAY TOO MANY times, and have found all the shortcuts and easy ways to do it.... I just HATE work. Especially EXTRA work, like tearing an interior out for no reason.

 

I think that might be it....I tend to take whatever route I can find

 

I took my car in today to get synthetic oil in motor and tranny, and after it was done the shifter was locked in place. The guy went down and turned a bolt on driver side out and that free'd the shifter, the tighter the bolt tighter the shifter would go. he backed it off until all the gears opened back up. now reverse isnt there it goes into the reverse slot but no reverse. so the guy must have thought that was the fill spot. on tuesday i'll see what tranny shop says to fix it , so what can i say needs to be done, my tranny has just been overhauled and i ran cheaper oil just to be sure it was ok and it was excellent, then this problem happened right at the oil change. so how much do you think a tranny shop will want to fix it and how do i explain this? i kind of understand but need to be clarified. why cant you just adjust the bolt back into place, we tried it andcantget reverse back but 5th is there. its an 83 TransAm 83 T5

 

sorry i guess my fifth gear doesnt work either, why does one plug control 2 gears and is able to lock shifter in place.

 

the bolt on the left side of the t5 holds the rail for the reverse idler. If it is removed, all the parts attached to it fall into the case and it will need to disassembled to repair. 5th gear is mounted on the same shaft as the Rev. so that is why it is affected as well

 

ok i understand that much, but why did it lock my shifter in place in neutral? or whatever gear it was in when it was tightened back up? and is there any damage possible to be done driving it with no 5th or rev cuz i need to drive it back to them then a tranny shop.

 

just wanted to say this post is very helpful, not only should every oil change outfit learn about this plug, any T5 owner should aswell. should even repost this as a must read. it can cost alot to drop the tranny for such a small mistake. This is exactly what happened to me at the oil change shop, good thing they are paying for it. i get it back tomorrow.