Popping out of Gear

[dsnyder]

My 1978 Spider has started to pop out of 3rd gear. Are there any adjustments I can do or is this the beginning of the end of the tranny? Most of the time it does on on decel, once in a while on accell.

Dave

[laura79]

My '85 did the same and i had to rebuild the tranny; i hope your is better than mine. My car always pop out of 3rd gear, it did on decel and on accell

[TX82FIAT]

Most likely if it pops out of third and/or fourth when decellerating it is a bent shift fork and/or syncro rings. The brass syncro rings can get chewed up pretty easy over time or if the wrong grade transmission oil was put in the car at some point. Lowest price gamble would be to see if you can find a transmission pulled off a lower miles spider and swap that one in or have someone with experience swap that one in. PITA to do in a home garage. There are some reputable FIAT vendors that you can ship the trans to and they will rebuild or ship you back a rebuilt unit. I have seen this in the $1200 range depending on shipping. Expensive...but, you get a product back that is rebuilt and much more reliable.

[bradartigue]

My 1978 Spider has started to pop out of 3rd gear. Are there any adjustments I can do or is this the beginning of the end of the tranny? Most of the time it does on on decel, once in a while on accell.

Dave

You will need a rebuild at some point in the near future, but, go change the fluid with some Redline fluid (you can buy from vendors). It has prolonged the inevitable for many owners.

The cause - resting your hand on the shifter primarily. But third gear is a weird one to have it do it, it usually 2 and 4 since those are the popular hand rest positions. Other things, like "speed shifting" can do it. These trannys were made for 60 HP grandma cars like the 124 Sedan, so these 100+ HP cars we drive are lighter and encourage more aggressive shifting. The good news, you'll probably never have to do it again.

[dsnyder]

I have a 1982 parts car that the transmission is status unknown on. Would that one fit in the 1978? Anyway to tell if one out of the car (the 1982) and not running is in decent shape? I have cracked open VW trannys before and fixed the reverse gear and put it back together with positive results... so I have some experience but I've never totally rebuilt or set up synchros etc... I could carefully open up the 1982 and inspect....

[bradartigue]

I have a 1982 parts car that the transmission is status unknown on. Would that one fit in the 1978? Anyway to tell if one out of the car (the 1982) and not running is in decent shape? I have cracked open VW trannys before and fixed the reverse gear and put it back together with positive results... so I have some experience but I've never totally rebuilt or set up synchros etc... I could carefully open up the 1982 and inspect....

They are not particularly hard to change and it could simply be worn selector rods. One thing you can do is open up the 78 and inspect the rods. You can tell if they are worn, they'll be grooved rather nastily. But otherwise, not so easy to tell without getting the gear assemblies apart.