1st gear shifting issue

Looking forwards to seeing this car in October. I finalized my reservations yesterday for this event.


Gary Parsons

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

Dan, your suggestion was very helpful for me as it pointed me towards a mechanical linkage issue instead of an electrical problem.  Today I removed the bumper and transmission cover on my Westchester and assessed the linkage adjustment.  It appeared that the transmission shift lever was not tight on the shaft and had some play that might have been effecting the reliability of the shifting.  I tightened the clamping bolt for the lever and then readjusted the power cylinder clevis for neutral.  After a brief diversion to address a Startix issue where the starter circuit welded closed causing the starter to run continuously (don’t you love it when extraneous problems arise when you are correcting an unrelated problem) I was able to take a test drive and the car now seems to shift reliably after warm up.  I have not replaced the transmission cover yet but hopefully the reduced cooling of the transmission will not significantly effect the shifting performance.

Thanks again to everyone for their help.  I look forward to reliable shifting in Cambria at the West Coast meet (knock on wood).
Bill

Back in 2011 when my Cord went on the road in Australia I had problems getting 2nd and 3rd gear when it warmed up. I removed the sheet metal cover and could not find anything out of order. Driving the car from cold with the sheet metal cover off she changed gears perfectly all the time.
Eventually I discovered wear in the cross shaft keyways. Nothing got out of synchronization unless it warmed up with the sheet metal cover in place.
The main vacuum cylinder had caused the problem with its brute force.
At the time my Cord had travelled around 300,000 miles from new.
The main vacuum cylinder has been fitted with flow restrictors.

Riley,
I recently had a similar problem with my Cord. After it warmed up it would not shift into 1 st gear reliably. My problem was that the main shift cylinder clevis was not quite in the center. I readjusted it and the problem went away! Hope this helps.

Dan

Hi Jim,
Thank you very much for the response, I will remove the bumper and cover and check how everything is functioning.  When I first got the car from Gail Shaw I don’t remember this issue occurring so it seems likely that something has gotten out of adjustment.

Also, thank you for correcting my nomenclature, 1st and 3rd are on the same solenoid but not on the same shift rail.

Hopefully I will be able to correct this before I take the car to the West Coast Meet in October.

Best regards,
Bill

Hi Jim,
Thank you very much for the response, I will remove the bumper and cover and check how everything is functioning.  When I first got the car from Gail Shaw I don’t remember this issue occurring so it seems likely that something has gotten out of adjustment.

Also, thank you for correcting my nomenclature, 1st and 3rd are on the same solenoid but not on the same shift rail.

Hopefully I will be able to correct this before I take the car to the West Coast Meet in October.

Best regards,
Bill

HI Bill,
You might want to check the cross shift. There may be some slop in the cross shift so when you shift from 2nd to neutral the shift doesn't get into neutral so when it tries to move to the left to go to first it gets hung up and can't move over. The same thing would happen if the clevis on the main shift cylinder isn't adjusted properly. 

The main thing is to pull the sheet metal cover off and see what happens when you try to shift and it doesn't go. This give you the clue as to where to start troubleshooting.

Also a note - the shift rails are inside the transmission. First and third use different shift rails.

JIm

Thanks Pat, I had not thought about that and will look into it.  It may explain why the problem occurs after things have warmed up a bit.

I have the same situation with S/C Custom Beverly. I think mine is because shift fork ends don't line up correctly. I just shift into 3rd before stopping and making final shift into 1st. It's possible a shift fork is worn or maybe the set screw isn't seated in the proper spot. You can remove the front shift housing assembly and check.
Pat Leahy

Hi everyone,
I have a shift issue with my Westchester and would like to solicit advice as to where to look for the problem.
The problem is that after some amount of running time the transmission will not shift into 1st gear from either 2nd or 4th gear, it will reliably shift into 1st gear when transitioning from 3rd gear.  When I first start up the car it shifts into 1st with no issue but after a few minutes of driving the 1st gear shift issue emerges.  I am able to drive the car by placing the shift selector into the 3rd gear position and then going directly to selecting 1st gear when I am taking off from a stop, this seems to work without fail.  Since 1st and 3rd are on the same shift rail it seems that would be a clue about the issue.
I have not yet gotten out my voltmeter to test for proper voltage to the solenoids in the various selector positions but plan to do so soon.  I have the transmission manual, both old and new versions, so I can use that to check the voltage to the solenoids.
Thank you all for your help.
Bill