Drove the car three days ago, no problems. Car has a 5-speed I picked up 3 years ago from Eddie Radatz in Atlanta, don't know what it came out of. I go to take the demon out for a spin today after ripping out the A/C and the tranny won't go into 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th. It will go into 5th, and when in the neutral position, it'll pull as if it's in 2nd or 3rd gear. It will go into what I think is reverse, and the engine will drag as if a load is being put on it, but the car won't move. i look under it and there is a small puddle of what may well be transmission fluid, about a half or 3/4's of a cup. Is the transmission dry? How can I be sure it came out of the tranny? I checked the clutch fluid and it looks okay.

What can I expect to pay for a rebuilt transmission? Should I just try to get another 5-speed from the shop it ends up at to be repaired?

Any help would be appreciated, my driveway is from hell and I shudder to think what it'll take to get the little demon out of the garage, up the driveway and to a repair shop.

I've seen a weird situation where the Z transmission will go into two gears at the same time. The issue has to do with the shift rods moving on their own. Mine went into 2nd and 5th and brought the car to a skidding halt, the a friend's was fine when the car was shut off but when she tried to drive home it was locked up solid.

In the case of my tranny, my friend was driving at the track when it happened. Came around a corner and just suddenly went skidding off the track very narrowly missing a concrete corner workers' stand. He just monkeyed with the stick a bit and all of the selectors luckily moved back into place, and off he went. We continued running the car for another 5 or 6 sessions that day.

On my friend's car the transmission had to be removed, then the little plugs that hold the springs and the detent balls were pulled and the shift rails were manually put back into the right spot. This happened to hers twice, and twice the trans had to be taken out of the car to fix it.

Your description isn't exactly the same, but it's weird enough that the transmission is in gear when the shifter is in neutral that I think it could be the same thing. Unfortunately you'll probably have to pull the transmission to find out. One solution to the issue is to replace or shim the springs on the detent balls to prevent the shift rails moving on their own.

What can I expect to pay for a rebuilt transmission? Should I just try to get another 5-speed from the shop it ends up at to be repaired?

Any help would be appreciated, my driveway is from hell and I shudder to think what it'll take to get the little demon out of the garage, up the driveway and to a repair shop.

Pete I just got in from another road trip to pick up a 72Z and just read your post. I found out it has a 5 speed in it.I don't know anything about it but I now have 4 used 5speed trannies. 2 I know came out of 78 280s.You are not far from me so let me know if I can help.

Ronnie, I may take you up on that. Right now I'm figuring I'll call a local transmission shop and see if they can quote me on a rebuilt 5-speed out of an '81-'83 ZX first and then out of a '77-'78 Z. I'll see what it'll cost to rebuild the one I have because I've had no problems with it up to this point.

I may take you up on one of yours just to have a spare in the garage.

If the costs are the same, would I be better off getting a 5-speed out of a 280Z or a later one out of a ZX?

If the costs are the same, would I be better off getting a 5-speed out of a 280Z or a later one out of a ZX?

Pete Other than different ratios I don't know of any difference.Maybe somebody with more experience could help answer that.

You should probly get one from somebody else. It would be a alot cheaper than rebuilding your. I would guess around 800 to 1200 for someone to do it at a shop. As far as the tranny you can tell which one is the early verses the late ones. If my memory is right the early tranny (77-78) has two ears under the shifter and the later ones have one ear (81-83). For the raito try this site. http://www.geocities.com/zgarage2001/z.html It seems to have some info on transmissions. Good luck and sorry to hear about the 5 speed. I guess this is why I keep the 4 speed.

If your 5-speed was working before, and sudenly went bad it seems unlikely it will need to be completely torn down. Much of the work is just pulling the tranny to begin with. You may as well check it out before giving up on it. I had a roadster 5-speed (no not in my Z) that had similar problems. It turned out to be a $50 shift fork broke. Once that was fixed, the transmission worked fine again.

I suggest checking to make sure the clutch is actually working properly before going out and replacing the tranny. it may be preventing you from shifting into the other gears. Perhaps this fluid actually came from your clutch slave cylinder or the hose attached to it? What color is the fluid? Does it smell really bad or not so bad. Tranny fluid is really stinky and brake/clutch fluid is not so bad.

You can check the fluid level in the tranny by removing the fill bolt on the side of the tranny and sticking your finger in there. The level should be even with or just below the opening. You can check your clutch fluid at the resevoir in the engine compartment.

The fluid on the floor is clear with a dark yellow tint to it. When I check the clutch at the reservoir, it looked like it was low, but not as low as the amount of fluid that was on the floor. I wondered if it might be the clutch too but when the car is in what I think is neutral, if I let out on the clutch, the car tries to move forward. I had a Centerforce clutch setup put in the car in '97 but it has less than 2K miles on it since that was done. I'll go inspect the clutch slave cylinder to see if it is leaking and see what I find.

My concern in getting another 5-speed is that I don't want to be in this situation again in 6 months because I don't know what the internal condition of the transmission I'm getting is. I may not have a choice as I really don't want to eat $800-$1200 for a rebuilt one if the one I have right now can be repaired for less.

Ronnie, I may be PM'ing you later this week to get contact info to get another 5-speed if it all comes down to that. I'll stick with the 5 speed because I want the overdrive, highway mileage and top end are what I'm after.