My 122's gear that were stuck in neutral when I tried to start it the other morning did indeed shift easily when I tried it with the engine off, and does roll in gear, and so the stuck gears are "not engaging" the tranny as Ron and Tim pointed out in response to my previous post. Thanks for the tip there, as it's a relief to know that the problem doesn't lie in the tranny. I was in a hurry to run errands when I encountered the problem (as often happens), and it did not even occur to me to obviously try shifting with the engine off. So will turn next to Shayne's tip of bleeding the slave cylinder tomorrow and adjusting the clutch. I read my Hayne's manual and it seems pretty straightforward, have bled my brakes before, and the weather's supposed to be good tomorrow, so will only need to round up "the services of an assistant" as the Hayne's manual suggested (who writes the text for these things?!).

I'm assuming I can use the brake fluid for the clutch or do I need something diferent (I didn't install the new clutch master cylinder).

And out of curiousity, why is a slave cylinder called a "slave cylinder?" I'm guessing because it functions only according to the operation of the master cylinder?

Thanks very much to all for the tips and info; hopefully I'll be up and running tomorrow afternoon,

Holly

It's a slave cylinder because it only does what the master sends.
Did you try pumping the clutch 2 or 3 times when you shift?
If you can shift that way for a couple days it will probably bleed itself as
the bubbles of air slowly climb the (mostly) vertical line to the master
cylinder. I don't think I have actually bled one in 20 years.

To assist in this you can pump the clutch 5 or 6 times and then hold it down
for a period of two or 3 minutes while the bubbles rise. Then when you let
it up the spring on the slave cylinder/clutch fork will push the fluid
back up and probably expel the bubbles back into the master cylinder and
reservoir. You may have to repeat this several times if the slave cylinder
was completely empty when you put it on.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

I'm with George all the way on this one... pump the clutch pedal and see if that helps.

I will say though that I have had to bleed that system if the seals are in very good shape... But if there is a minor fluid leak, I've never had to.

My 1800 used to lose all its fluid overnight when cold. I found that if I stretched a little bit, I could open the bleed valve and get a finger over it, and pump the pedal with the other hand... Took me about 30 seconds to bleed the system every morning.

And yes... regular old brake fluid.

--
-Matt I ♥ my ♂