Gearbox locked in Neutral

I checked with Ryan at Exotic Auto Recycling. He did not have any of these cables at this time but said if he could find them, that he would sell them for $500 to $750 for the pair. Still very expensive but reasonable if they are $2000 each new.

 

You gotta love Fchat when a guy in Nova Scotia can help a guy in Connecticut like this!

 

I have sent an email to JEGS to see if they can make these shifter cables. They carry a lot of push/pull shifter cables. If they can make them, it looks like they will be less than $100 each. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

Well, I crapped out with JEGS.

 

No problem at all.

 

Sounds like you are close to the issue and indeed it is likely welded cables. In that case I am puzzled which route the current went. How is the battery connected to the engine?
The battery is out front and the engine in the rear, does it have a separate ground cable or is it all through the chassis and some ground straps? If the battery is connected to the chassis with a short strap to battery (-), then I would not expect a short at the positive lead to the chassis to cook your shifter cables. A badly grounded engine could do that when starting though. Moral of the story: check the ground straps.

Another question, does your car need new rear suspension bushes as the rear wheel is quite close to the front of the wheelarch in the picture?

 

Its an earlier 348 with the rear mounted battery. The ground strap attaches directly to the gearbox...see the picture in post 33.

Mikey, I don't have much time available or I'd be there with you bud. I'm liking the fact that the problem has been isolated to something in the linkage. The tranny's get expensive fast.

 

This is good news verses tranny problems.

 

Hello Mike, I just sent you a pm.

 

Glad to hear you're getting closer to finding it...hope to see you on the road soon!

 

Any update on this? Still curious as to what caused the problem. Here's hoping it's all OK...

 

Hey Tom,

Mikey has been out of town for the past week. Not sure when he's due back. I think its tomorrow. I feel your pain. I'm so friggen curious. I thought about breaking in to his garage to figure it out but I know he would have some type of booby trap set up. Punji sticks with curare or something similarly hazardous. He loves those Asians.

 

Hi mike, I have a 355 on 2.7 and not sure if your 348 gear box controls are the same as a 355, but i had a similer shifting problem, I found out it was part 44 and 42 (see link below) and i too checked the shifting box like your self but found no fault. What you need to do is go under and check all the linkage to the gearbox. it's worth a try. All the best . Kahar

http://www.eurospares.co.uk/partTable.asp?M=1&Mo=691&A=1&B=40985&S=

 

355 is quite different from 348.

 

^ The 348 controls are cable based, which the F355 is a rod system. Not much direct correlation.

 

I thought so, thanks

 

Funny, my Alfa still runs like a champ. Guess I win that bet I made with you about a year ago However, you've already been kind enough to buy me dinner recently... maybe you sensed you were going to lose?

 

Ohhh Snap!

You better get some wood to knock on Mike.

 

If the cables are moving and the shift control lever does move side to side, than the cables are probably ok. if so, unfortunatly the problem may be internal.

Possibly control lever #29 came loose.

Regards, Jim
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I'm sure you checked, but I'm not going to recheck the posts cause I'm lazy, but did you make sure the cables are properly placed in part #25, (see post #4). They are known to slip out of the groove if not properly tightened or the bracket breaks, then the cables don't work properly.