Hello Everyone,

I have a 1986 Monte that I inherited from my Father and he took really good care of it. It has a little over 322,000 Miles on it and has had the intake manifold gasket replaced due to a leak but runs strong and steady. The transmission developed a leak from the rear seal, at least that is where it appears to be from, so pulled the car up onto ramps for repair but the guy who was going to work on it didn't come by before winter hit and so it sat like that for over 6 months. Used a jack to remove it from the ramps as it would not go into gear at all and checked the fluid levels which are good. I have ran the engine and shifted through the range of gears several times and for more than 30 minutes and still won't engage. Any Ideas would be appreciated.

 

I am assuming it drove on to the ramps (so it was able to get into gear at that time)? Off hand, I am not sure. Perhaps follow the gear shift cable, see if it is firm on the gear selector on the transmission is the first thing that comes to mind.

 

Yes it did drive up on the ramp without any issue. And yes the cable is connected. I cannot get far enough under the car to actually try to move the linkage now that it's not on the ramps.

 

If the car was leaking from the tail shaft seal , it would have leaked more fluid as it was on the ramps. Can I assume that you are checking the fluid level while the car is running on level ground ? Unfortunately if you're shifting through the gears and it won't engage forward or reverse there is no quick fix.

 

I owned an 85 MC and the trans went out at 150k I had it replaced seems like they always go just when it gets cold. I got the car when it only had 5k on it and was nearly new.
Always did the maintenance but it was just weak I think.
Might be smart to have a specialist take a look at it.
I would never want to leave a car on the ramps for more than a day.

 

Thank you for all the great information, I don't normally leave it on the ramp for more than a few hours but the guy who was going to buy it from me and backed out was going to come work on it. Yes it is on level surface for the fluid check. I am thinking it is going to become a parts car now. Price for transmission replacement is over $2,000

 

As mentioned the car must be running to check the fluid level. Only other possibility is if your car has a floor shifter. If this is the fact pay attention to the steering column at the dashboard when you shift the gear's. It should rotate when you shift gears with the floor shifter. If it doesn't that would mean there's a mechanical problem which is usually the shift cable has broken.

 

Thank you Joe. It is a floor shifter but the gear selector needle for the dashboard is no longer there as the tip did break off years ago. I will need to get somebody to watch whether the linkage moves when attempting to shift. And yes it does run great still so it is running when checking the fluid levels.