DeTomaso Mailing List: April 1997, Message #14
     



From: nobbie@concentric.net (Nobbie)

Subject: Clutch Woes Be Gone!

Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 02:51:45 -0500 (EST)



Greetings all. Man! The list couldn't have gone down at a worse moment.

Just when I was popping out of third, then first, and finally fifth! Had to

limp home in second and third.



Luckily, Jack DeRyke allowed me to indulge his expertise. I thought I'd

share our communiques while the list was down.



Jack!



I've noticed recently that occasionally my Pantera will "pop" out of third

gear. It

wasn't a big deal, I just shifted back into thrid firmly and it was fine.

But on the drive home today, it was popping outof first while sitting at a

light or coming to a stop. Trying to get it back into first would grind the

gears! I resorted to going into second and driving off. It seems to be

intermittent and pulling into my uphill driveway, first worked fine.



Am I doing something wrong? Hopefully, this is just operator error and

nothing mechanically wrong with the car.



Nobbie

#3766



Nobbie, I hope you got the Pantera Shop manual with your car. It's the big

white loose-leaf one. In it, there are detailed instructions for setting and

adjusting the shift linkage, all of which is adjusted at the left rear of the

tranny. It sounds like the clevis in back has loosened (there's a 10mm

pinchbolt), so when the shift lever is moved, the tranny shaft isn't

following it exactly. Basically, the pinch-bolt is loosened, then the trans

is shifted to neutral by the stub sticking out of the box. The shift lever in

the car is set for equal spacing to the front & back of the console cutout

and the pinchbolt is re-tightened. Sometimes when this is done, you'll have

trouble getting 3rd or reverse so you gotta play with the setting to split

the difference. Of course, if something is broken, all bets are off! Let me

know how it works out, but be careful shifting until it's set right- those

gears & synchronizers are unbelievably expensive. J DeRyke



Jack,



Thanks for the reply. I do have the shop manual, as well as a couple of

parts books. While I'm not sure what a clevis is, I think I solved it.



The rod support bearing was super-loose!



Here's what I think happened. (Please tell me if this makes sense.)



When I was trying to throw the shift lever into any of the "rear" gears,

the support was "waving" out to the left. Hence, the shift linkage was

unable to fully extend backwards into the transaxle's shift box to fully

engage 1st, 3rd, and, on my way home tonight, 5th! Reverse, 2nd, and 4th

were working fine because when I threw the shift lever forward, the shift

linkage pulled everything forward.



It took me a good two hours to get the rod support bearing tightened. It

could have gone faster had I jacked the car up, but I'm a stubborn bastard

and did it by sticking my face in the wheel well and using long wrenches!



I haven't test-driven it yet. Don't want to piss off the neighbors anymore

than the GTS headers and my aftermarket-piped Harley already do when the

sun is up!



I noticed that before I tightened the support, the shift lever had about an

inch to an inch-and-a-half of freeplay at the gate's level. Now it has

maybe an eighth of an inch at the most. I took some measurements and it

looks like the shift lever is about a millimeter or two closer to the back

of the gate than the front. Close inspection of the shift rod adjusting

turnbuckle reveals that it hasn't been adjusted in some time. I guess a

test drive will show if it's fine or not.



Now, if you'll indulge me again, could you answer a couple of questions?



Why does the fasten seat belt warning light and buzzer go off for a

millisecond when I throw the shifter into first?



I also noticed that while the GEN light flickers when I hit bumps, it

really comes on strong when I'm braking and coming to a full stop. It

usually goes off when I've come to a full and complete stop, or at leat

when I let off the brakes and start accellerating again. Any ideas?



Jack, I really appreciate your help on this. I owe you big time. Whenever

we meet, the first round's on me. Unfortunately, I won't be at Vegas this

year. Part of the deal of getting the Pantera was spending more time with

the wife and our three kids! (I can't complain.) But, I hope we can meet in

person.



Thanks again.



I'll let you know tomorrow if the support rod tightening solved the problem.



Nobbie

#3766 (beginning to love it again!)



UPDATE: "Test drove" the car to work today (heck, it's my only car), and it

ran BEE-YOO-TI-FULLY!! These things really are easy to work on!