I got my 164 back from the shop and had it for about two weeks. The manual transmission is fantastic, as I said.

However, the other day we were driving around and we got stuck in traffic. Probably for about 20 minutes. I noticed a smell coming from the car like a whiff of burning rubber. I thought perhaps the brakes were stuck or something, but they weren't. My girlfriend was driving as it is her car, and finally we broke out of traffic. She went to shift into second gear, but there was no second gear to be found. She tried to get back into first but no first. I grabbed the shifter and couldn't find any of the gears, then I got behind the wheel and still couldn't find any gears. It's like the linkage got disconnected somehow.

I do not know what the smell was. The car is now back at the shop ath swapped out the transmission two weeks ago, and I suspect they will blame us for being "rough" with the car.

Any suggestions or hypothoses? I suspect they did not fill up the trans properly with fluid.

Mike

I think the large nut that holds the shifter lever ball in the socket has backed off and the lever has popped up and out of the shift rod gates. Easy fix.

My guess is that the clutch was adjusted with the cable too tight (barely engaging)
and that your 20 minutes in traffic, slipping the clutch, wiped it out.
A new clutch plate MIGHT fix it but you may also need a new pressure plate
and a little surfacing on the flywheel.
It DEFINITELY sounds like a clutch problem (with the smell) and not a tranny problem.
You need to have at least 3/4" of free travel in the clutch pedal before it hits
anything to make sure you get full pressure from the pressure plate on clutch engagement.
If you have no play, your clutch is not engaging fully and it WILL slip.
It doesn't have to slip very long before it burns and then it wears MUCH faster.
BTW US (left-hand drive) 164s come with a cable clutch, not hydraulic.
If the clutch throwout fork is properly installed it is nearly indestructible
but the arm that the cable hooks to, that turns the throwout shaft, is welded to
the shaft and I have seen that weld fail after several years with an extra-heavy-duty
Chevrolet clutch (which did NOT slip!). After that I went back to the standard OEM clutch.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

My first guess is a cracked / failing clutch fork.

If it is a hydraulic clutch, my second guess is a bad slave cylinder or clutch master cylinder.

--
Tom - '60 544, '68 220S, '70 145S, '86 745T, '06 Mazda MPV