Looking @ 90 200TQ FS & won't go into gear.....any ideas or advice

[Huw Powell]

seing no replies, I'll put my .02 in...

> The local Ford dealership recently took a 1990 200TQ sedan in on trade.  It
> has 129,000 miles and is in relatively good condition.  It was burried
> pretty deep in the snow but from what I could see, the body looks relatively
> good and has leather interior with the usually worn look to the drivers
> seat.
> 
> I was told be the sales manager that the car runs fine and drove well until
> it was sent to the auction to be sold (what a shame)

why does everyone freak out about auctions?  They are how used cars get
from where they were traded in to where they will be sold...

> and then it wouldn't go
> into gear.  The Ford techs say it's the input shaft.  

I'd say that if no one has removed the tranny yet, no one knows what is
wrong.  And if someone has, it should be fixed.

So assuming you are still looking at the car, there are several places
to check.  

The ball housing thing that the shift lever is held in (under the shift
boot).  These do go bad and can make engaging gears tough.  Symptoms -
lever wiggles all over the place wiht no real sense of it doing
anything.

The linkage to the tranny shift input - could be loose or broken. 
varies in difficulty of replacement (4kq - 10, 90Q - 1 on the usual
scale...).  If that is the "input shaft" they mean, do they mean it does
not shift the tranny or that it just isn't being affected by the shift
lever?

Then there's the tranny itself.  Unlikely, and if it is, the car had
better be real cheap!

Now, if gears can actually be engaged, but the car does not move, clutch
related parts are likely I suppose.  Still gotta pull the tranny to
diagnose/fix.

>  If it is
> this input shaft, what exactly does it do and what is the repair procedure.

The "imput shaft" usually refers to the splined shaft coming out of the
front of the tranny that engages the splined hole in the clutch.  i
doubt it could be broken, or even matches the symptoms - they probably
do mean the shift linkage part.  heck, I don;t even know what to call it
to distiguish it from the "real" input shaft!

I would say it should be fixed before buying, how else can you determine
if the car in question is still a "car" and not a nice "pile of parts"?

-- 
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi/

http://www.humanthoughts.org/