Today, right after a third gear blast around an uphill left hand sweeper my transmission refused to move into the "1st & 2nd gear" shift gate. The car shifted normally in 3rd through 6th and reverse. In frustration I smacked the lever to the left a few times, moderately hard, once I was stopped and I was just barely able to get it into second gear but not into first. I drove the sixteen miles to Acura of Brookfield. Right before getting there I punched it in second to get out into busy traffic and the problem went away. The dealer hadn't heard of this problem before and recommended driving it gently for a few days and see if the problem comes back. I'm guessing it's an issue with the shift linkage. Anybody have any ideas? I can't afford to grenade my transmission. Thanks!

 

The first several things that I would think of would be the shifter linkage, shifter forks, or shift sleeves. There is one other thing but I doubt it: blocker rings.

Take it ease on your car. Remember, it is a FWD which means it is not as strong as a good RWD design. It is not going to be able to take the abuse a good RWD can take and that includes the shifter and its linkage and the rest of the drive train... minus the engine.

 

I drive quick but I don't really beat my car. I lift throttle on all shifts and don't even shift the gear lever all that fast. The more I think about it the more I'm thinking it's something mechanical in the shift linkage or mechanism, I just hope it's something external to the actual transmission case. I'll just keep driving and see what happens.