5 speed shifter will not engage

Gandalf79 · Jun 14, 2023

Ok I have a 79 cobra 5 speed
It was shifting fine yesterday as a pulled in to my spot and then all of a sudden with clutch pressed down, I could not move the shifter into any gear. I am hoping it’s the cable that needs replacing. Any one else have this issue in the past and how did you work it out?
Thank you!

General karthief · Jun 14, 2023

Welcome to
I moved this to the fox tech forum, a couple questions:
can you change gears with the engine off?
Can you 'phone a friend' to push on the clutch peddle while you observe the clutch fork for movement?

Specracer · Jun 15, 2023

Does the clutch pedal have any "weight" to it (is it the effort to press it down as when it was working properly)? Inspecting clutch fork movement as outlined above is honing in on the same issue, that the clutch cable has failed.

Gandalf79 · Jun 15, 2023

General karthief said:
Welcome to
I moved this to the fox tech forum, a couple questions:
can you change gears with the engine off?
Can you 'phone a friend' to push on the clutch peddle while you observe the clutch fork for movement

No I can not change gears with engine off either and yes I am going to get someone to press the clutch to check if fork engages. I am truly hoping it is the cable. Never had this problem with my '89 but I was never hard on my clutch aside from a few mis shifts

Mustang5L5 · Jun 15, 2023

You can't get it into any gear with the engine off? What if you roll the car back and forth a bit and then try?

If not, check the shifter. Even with the clutch fully engage, you should be able to get it into one gear, especially if you roll the car back and forth a little

Gandalf79 · Jun 15, 2023

Mustang5L5 said:
You can't get it into any gear with the engine off? What if you roll the car back and forth a bit and then try?

If not, check the shifter. Even with the clutch fully engage, you should be able to get it into one gear, especially if you roll the car back and forth a little

I will try that after I have checked the clutch fork movement. I will try rocking it back and forth.
I believe I am stuck in a gear and not in neutral because I can start the car but it wont idle. It shuts off once I take my foot off the clutch.

limp · Jun 15, 2023

Gandalf79 said:
I will try that after I have checked the clutch fork movement. I will try rocking it back and forth.
I believe I am stuck in a gear and not in neutral because I can start the car but it wont idle. It shuts off once I take my foot off the clutch.

Sounds like your stuck in two gears.. Can this happen in a T5? I know it could in a muncie or T10 with bolt on shift linkage?

Mustang5L5 · Jun 15, 2023

'79 was originally a 4-spd, so if there's a 5-spd in it now, we are assuming it's a T5, Yes, it can get stuck in gear for a number of reasons.

Car doesn't buck or lurch or move when you let the clutch out and it stalls? If not, sounds like something inside the trans jammed. I do not think a clutch cable would cause this

Gandalf79 · Jun 15, 2023

Mustang5L5 said:
'79 was originally a 4-spd, so if there's a 5-spd in it now, we are assuming it's a T5, Yes, it can get stuck in gear for a number of reasons.

Car doesn't buck or lurch or move when you let the clutch out and it stalls? If not, sounds like something inside the trans jammed. I do not think a clutch cable would cause this

No it doesn;t which is surprising as well. I really hope this isn't a major issue. I just got this car and supposedly clutch was recently put in. at this point I may just see what I can do to fix the issue and sell it if this is going to be a continuous problem.

limp · Jun 15, 2023

Gandalf79 said:
No it doesn;t which is surprising as well. I really hope this isn't a major issue. I just got this car and supposedly clutch was recently put in. at this point I may just see what I can do to fix the issue and sell it if this is going to be a continuous problem.

Its a 1979.. If you don't like working on your cars I would say a Honda is your best bet....

Gandalf79 · Jun 15, 2023

Gandalf79 said:
No I can not change gears with engine off either and yes I am going to get someone to press the clutch to check if fork engages. I am truly hoping it is the cable. Never had this problem with my '89 but I was never hard on my clutch aside from a few mis shifts

limp said:
Its a 1979.. If you don't like working on your cars I would say a Honda is your best bet....

I want to learn but my knowledge and skills are limited
Funny thing but I checked the fork action with my daughter pushing the clutch
It does have action but is a bit creaky
I tried rocking the car back and forth from one of the earlier posts and it now I can shift soooo now what?
I change the cable anyway ?

Mustang5L5 · Jun 15, 2023

Nothing I’ve read so far makes me think it’s the clutch cable. I think something else happened. What? I don’t know.

So does the car operate normally now?

Gandalf79 · Jun 16, 2023

Mustang5L5 said:
Nothing I’ve read so far makes me think it’s the clutch cable. I think something else happened. What? I don’t know.

So does the car operate normally now?

Gandalf79 · Jun 16, 2023

I am going to drive it today and check.
I’ll check the transmission fluid and tighten the cable.
I know I’ll have to have the tranny checked out but I have to take care of a few other items to make it road ready first. I do agree that this may be a temporary fix.

limp · Jun 16, 2023

If a " clutch was just put it" I personally would take out the transmission and the clutch to inspect it... I always like to start on the last place something was done... You don't know if they did a half a$$ job or what parts were used to make the car sellable.......
Just saying......

Gandalf79 · Jun 16, 2023

limp said:
If a " clutch was just put it" I personally would take out the transmission and the clutch to inspect it... I always like to start on the last place something was done... You don't know if they did a half a$$ job or what parts were used to make the car sellable.......
Just saying......

I agree. Thank you all for the advice.

General karthief · Jun 16, 2023

45 year old car, how many miles?
If you bought this for a daily driver it needs to be stock with no modifications. Unmolested. It will make fixing any issues much easier to deal with, so give us some background on it.
Oh and how bout a pic? Actually it's required, animal pics are accepted if there is a good story included.
All of us started out with limited knowledge in the automotive world but we learned and if you hang here long enough you can't help but learn something.
We can even turn this into a 'progress thread '.
The good news is you have the earliest of the fox mustang platform so lots of swap parts. The bad news is it's the earliest of the mustang fox platform so so stuff will be hard to find.

Gandalf79 · Jun 16, 2023

General karthief said:
45 year old car, how many miles?
If you bought this for a daily driver it needs to be stock with no modifications. Unmolested. It will make fixing any issues much easier to deal with, so give us some background on it.
Oh and how bout a pic? Actually it's required, animal pics are accepted if there is a good story included.
All of us started out with limited knowledge in the automotive world but we learned and if you hang here long enough you can't help but learn something.
We can even turn this into a 'progress thread '.
The good news is you have the earliest of the fox mustang platform so lots of swap parts. The bad news is it's the earliest of the mustang fox platform so so stuff will be hard to find.

It is a 79 cobra with chamois interior so yeah that color has been to find. According to the seller, the body has 63000 miles on it and he put in a 304 that supposedly has 3k on it. I think he was pretty hard on it and liked to do burnouts and whatever but overall it is in fair shape. right now it needs dumb stuff done to it like the tilt steering replacement, e brake cables, reverse/brake lights not working but otherwise it starts right up and sounds nice but im worried about the transmission issue.
I had an 89 that I sold. ended up having to put about 2k into that and still made profit so we'll see with this one.

FastDriver · Jun 16, 2023

I'm not following at all what this could be with the clutch. Car was starting with pedal depressed. So, clutch successfully disengaged, at least enough to let flywheel spin.

Something in transmission is all that makes sense with a functional clutch that unloads the trans.

rednotch · Jun 16, 2023

Only time I've seen what I think your describing is a broken shift fork and being stuck in that gear.... If rocking it got the shifter to move I would let the clutch out slowly make sure the shift lever matches the gear your in or put the shifter in neutral and see if really is.. When I had it happen on a t5 it broke in 3rd and did not want to come out of gear with the handle.... Managed to manhandle the shifter but the trans was still stuck in 3rd until I pulled it apart to fix it shift fork was in 3pcs and fubar.

5 speed shifter will not engage

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wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

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That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

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That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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Member

wrap a little cheese around it and its a done

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wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

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