OK, my car did this goofy thing about a month ago where I was backing out of a parking spot in reverse, and when I threw it back into first gear, the car would NOT move at all. I could let out the clutch and it would engage properly (would start to die), and I could feel the drivetrain load up, but the car behaved like the brakes were on HARD - the car would not move an INCH. I tried putting it into and out of various gears and I got the same thing over and over. Eventually I got it going somehow and it has behaved normally since then, until today. What follows is a detailed description.

I was in a real tight spot in a goofy parking lot - I was trying to back straight out from the parking lot to the side street so I wouldn't have to pull out onto Bluemound and do a u-turn. I threw it in reverse quick and started backing but someone came racing over the hill on the side street so I decided to go out on Bluemound instead. I tried to throw it back into first and it didn't feel like it wanted to go into first, so I threw it into second, then back into first (so I KNEW it was in first) and it still didn't feel right, like it wasn't really notching into gear. Then I tried to get moving as normal and it did that same thing - car acted like it was being held in place by a super strong brake. I had set the e-brake when I had parked so I tried yanking it and releasing it again - no change. I also tried hitting the brakes a few times.

I tried giving it a pretty strong amount of gas (not WOT or anything but enough to spin the back wheels if I was trying to do a brakestand) and all I got was burning clutch. What ended up getting me going was throwing it back in reverse, then back into first. Weird huh? My first thought would be that the stopper on the shifter is somehow adjusted too far out, meaning the actual lever receptacle thing inside the transmission isn't always moving enough to put it in or out of gear properly, but that doesn't make sense because the car should still at least MOVE (even the tiniest bit) even if I had it in 6th.

 

ttt

 

weird, I'm sure someone on here will have some input on this.

 

Back in the day I had a '65 Chevelle with a 4-speed. Shifting linkage is on the side of the case, but the idea is the same. Anyway, my shifter was worn and I managed to get 2 shift levers engaged at once. The net result is you have more than one set of gears engaged internally. This locks the transmission up solidly until you can get one set of gears disengaged.

Sounds like you have a similar problem, I would suspect the shifter, forks, or some part of the shifting linkage is either worn or out of adjustment allowing you to get it into gear without getting it out of the previous gear first.

The quick reverse to first may be not getting the transmission completely out of reverse then when you move the shifter into first it engages those gears as well, causing the lockup.

Hope this helps

 

So how did this turn out for you, still having the problem?