No 4th Gear??

My '75 308 GT4 won't shift into 4th. I shift from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to 4th, but what I get is 2nd... 5th gear works fine, but I can't ever get 4th gear. Downshifting from 5th to 4th also seems to only get 2nd gear. I'm judging this by the RPMs when I select what should be 4th gear.

This is my first Ferrari, having bought it from a cousin-in-law a few months ago, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim

 

You (or someone ) may eventually have to get into the gearbox, but your first suspect could be a shift shaft bushing (when you move the shift lever L-R, it should be rotating the shift shaft, which swings the actual selection fork over the three selection levers). Try a search on "shift shaft bushings" -- should get you a lot of relevant information on the whole subject with pictures (the two stock ones have rubber elements in them so needing to be refreshed every 30~40 years isn't unexpected).

If you had "nothing" when trying to select 4th that would be a very bad sign for the internals, but mis-selecting 2nd, when wanting 4th, doesn't sound catastrophic, and has to be upstream of, or in, the selection fork system -- Good Hunting!

 

Steve, Thanks for your reply. I haven't had a chance to take a look at the linkage yet since my jack stands are being used by my daughter/son-in-law for an original domestic rebuild. I plan to start looking for solutions to my problems in the early Spring.

 

Looks to be a linkage problem that doesn't require a gearbox service.

Ciao

 

And the long suffering readers will be aware that this is one of the many jobs I am undertaking right now...
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/518962-split-gear-linkage-gaiter-easy-job.html

 

Guys, honestly if nothing more than the linkage is no longer in perfect adjustment, changing silent blocks and changing out oil/tranny sump sealing rings is dead easy (still a PITA) even for this moron who never did more than change oil and plugs in a '74 Mustang II.

Have a little faith in yourselves, think and ask questions.

You will be JUST FINE.

 

+1. I had the same downshift issue and chasing out the bushings fixed it. You can get them from verrell.