I've F%$#@d up.
Changed the backup sensor in my 84 Z28 T5. Some fluid came out upon removal. That was the easy part.
Like an IDIOT, I didn't check where the fill plug was and partly unscrewed the bolt above the sensor until I realized "this isn't the fill bolt"
So I screwed it back in and pulled out the proper bolt adding the required amount of fluid to the transmission.
After a few other maintenance details I put her back on the ground. Nothing related to drivetrain.
The stick will not move from 1st gear.
I have not started the car.
It rolls when the clutch is engaged but nothing seems to loosen the shifter.
I have not tried to force it out of gear.
WTF have I done.
WTF was that bolt I tried to take out.
God give me strength.

 

The "bolt" was the pivot pin for the reverse/5th linkage. It has a little clip on it that holds the lever on. When you try to back it out, the clip pops off. Here's what the clip looks like.



Once you've popped it off, it's laying in the bottom of the case. At this point, it is what it is; gotta pull the trans, take off the top cover, find the clip, and put it back. Not much else to say or do about it. Yeah it sux; yeah it's hard; yeah it's alot of work; yeah I hate it for ya; unfortunately, too bad. Sorry (not sorry) for the tough love, but it is what it is. All the P&Ming in the world won't put it back on, no other choice than to do it yourself.

Hopefully you didn't destroy the clip itself, as sometimes happens. No idea whether it's still available from Tremec. Who of course, OWNS the transmission design and all that now, and has now for lo! this many decades; GM is merely their customer and can only sell you what they can buy from Tremec, as was once the situation with Doug Nash. But it's Tremec now (some kind of acronym/abbreviation for something that might be translated as "Transmissions of Mexico", in their language).

Crappy I know, but it is what it is.

 

Well....... crap......
Thx for the quick reply.
Figured have to drop trany.
Found cpl of your replies to other similar threads posted earlier.
some much earlier.
Nice to know I'm not the first idiot.

 

Need some wisdom.
Why is she locked in first gear?
Is the C-clip or the shift lever sitting on/in my gears??
The pivot pin didn't come all the way out.
I realized my mistake when the pin got hard to move but it did come out about 3/8 inch.
Where is my time machine.....
Did I bugger the shift lever wrenching the pin back in or force it out of position?
Should I try to put her in nutral or leave it?
I have to move her to work on her.
Am I gonna bugger the tranny if I engage the gears?
Is it best to leave her as is and use the clutch or drop the drive shaft to move her?
Lotsa questions I know but better asked than guess and do more damage.

 

It's stuck in [whatever] gear because the 5th/reverse lever is now bozhye only knows where, and the lockout feature of the shift rail is now preventing the shifter from moving into any other gear.

Observe my photo. See that part up toward the top that has a little squarish notch cut in it? That's where the shifter goes to move the linkage into a gear. That particular notch is 5th/reverse. Depending on where that lever happens to be dangling now, the shifter may "think" that it's stuck in [whatever] gear and can't get out because all that stuff doesn't align anymore. If it doesn't align, it can't move to another. Each of those things inside the transmission (there are 3 of them) has just such a feature. To shift into a different gear, the 3 have to be aligned. If they're not, ... it won't go into another gear. Butt when that piece that you disturbed, falls off, nothing aligns anymore; it's stuck in whatever gear it's in now. It's possible that you might be able to get it into the gear that's on the same vertical axis of the shifter (1-2, or 3-4) that it's on now, but maybe not. Since that "gate" feature is now defeated, it might be just stuck in some one gear or another. It's certain though, that since the 5/R link is now laying in the bottom of the case, that if it happens to be in one of those 2 gears ATM, it'll NEVER be able to shift out of it, and therefore will NEVER be able to shift into any other.

Not much sense in posting on the Internet about it anymore. No matter how much you post, that clip won't jump back up onto that pin of its own accord. Pretty much is gonna require human intervention. YOURS more specifically. Yeah it sucks, yeah it's ALOT of work, yeah you hate it, yeah it's gonna take like 2 hours if you're slow like me (you can probably do it faster than that though), yeah you gotta lay on your back on your driveway, yeah you're gonna get hot dirty nasty oily greasy tired whatever. Too late to worry about that now. You gotta do what ya gotta do. Quit posting and get out there and just do it.

 

You can't put it in neutral. You can't put it in any other gear. You can't "engage" the gears, any different from what they are now. They are STUCK. The shifter is disabled.

Yes you can disconnect the drive shaft to move it if necessary.

Note: cars don't have gender. They are not female although at times and in ways it can seem so to inexperienced males. A car is a manufactured mass-produced consumer product made of metal plastic rubber glass and so on without reproductive attributes. It's an "it", not a "her" "she" etc.

The transmission is stuck in whatever gear it's in now. You can drive it in that gear indefinitely if it will get it to where you need to get it to so you can pull the trans and take it apart so you can put the clip back on. That won't damage anything anymore than it already is. Which is minimal except for the minor inconvenience of having to set it straight... a few minutes of annoyance at the worst.

 

 

​Got the shifter thing figured. It's not gonna move and I ain't gonna force it.
Not gonna engage it either. No point in grinding metal unnecessarily.

Sorry. (Not really). But she's my baby and I've had her since she rolled off the line.
Some people like boats. They even give them names.
At least I didn't name her. Take some comfort in that.
Don't assume a level of experience either. That's just rude.
I've spent more time on rubber than most and torn apart more than the rest.
Even them foreign jobs.
But, it has been a few years which explains the reason for this thread.
Oops. Dumbass stuff happens.
So suck it up buttercup and thanks for the knowledge.

Got her rolled into a garage bay and jacked up high enough to work on safely.
Been a few years under a car going this deep.
Lunch and tea time totaled about 4 hours. I'm old see and need breaks.
​​Transmissions out.
Cleaned the crap off looks as good as a 38 year old car part can.
Get into it tomorrow.