HELP!! 308 GTSi Shift Lever Won't Work

Thats the exact way I adjusted mine.The first time I lost a few gears,2nd and reverse from memory.Luckily I was only a few Km's from home when it happened.Then the second time Ialigned it without taken the cover off was when I attempted to remove the front header thinking that it would come out without removing the right side fuel tank.Again I aligned it in the same way.It would have been a lot easier and quicker had I had a helper

 

One of two things, or both, happened. You rotated the shaft 90* and lost contant with the fingers. Or, you rotated the shaft 180* and its pointed entirely the wrong way and is poking out there in space doing absolutely nothing. In any event you "got out of the groove". When you commented the rod would slide 6 inches back and forth you probably seen this yourself.

You have two options. You can disconnect the linkage at the crossbolt in front of the gearbox under the car, and manipulate the rod around by "feel" trying to get the finger back in the groove, or drop the pan and see it visually.

But one last thought you can use before you give up. If you didnt loosen the adjusting connector under the car, the "basic" positioning of the lever to gearbox should be intact. If you remove the crossbolt and place the gear lever in the third gear position, you "should" be able to manipulate the shift rod in the gearbox to realign with the mating end in the correct position. But because you installed new bushings etc., you will still need to readjust the linkage. The first trick is to get that finger back between the others.

 

Would this procedure work?
1. Put the car in third gear go under the car and mark the position of the gear lever rod where it connects to the transmission. Or the adjustment place under the car, etc . Undo the linkage.
2. Then work on the bushing inside the car?
3. reconnect linkage.

What happens when you remove the drive train from the car. The shift linkage gets disconnected and when you reinstall the drive train the shifter works.

Not looking forward to replacing the shifter bushing

 

Not necessarily. The shaft that sticks out the front of the gearbox (or oil sump) can be rotated so far it moves out of the shift fork fingers into free space. There are three fingers, one for first and reverse, one for second and third, and another for fourth and fifth. Because the shaft rotates opposite of the lever, fourth and fifth would be to the right of center (clockwise) as your looking at the front of the gearbox, second and third would be in the middle, and first and reverse would be anti clockwise. With the crossbolt in a horizontal plane, the finger (should) would be in between the second and third gear finger.

But lets say the shaft rotated to far counter clockwise, up out of the three fingers, and was pushed rearward and lost all contact. Now you could twirl the shaft and move fore and aft and not be in contact with anything. And its possible you could pull from behind and knock a finger into a gear and make it difficult to find your way back inbetween the three fingers.

So to answer your question, first you have to disconnect the linkage in front of the gearbox by removing the crossbolt, and place the gearbox in second or third. The second and third gear position has the cross bolt horizontal, not rotated either right or left. If you can pull the shaft forward into gear, then click it back into neutral, then click it further back into gear, while the crossbolt stays horizontal, you have to be in second gear, and the fingers inside the gearbox are in the right orientation. Now reconnect the linkage to put the gear shift lever in the second gear slot, and your just about there.