No 2nd, 4th or Reverse...

[kidyubyub]

Possible problems? Broken cable, clip, etc? Thanks for any and all replies. My wife is most likely gonna kill me if its an expensive fix. She tells me to sell it at least once a week. But I love my 2 seater!

[al]

But you can get 1st, 3rd and 5th - (and they are actually 1st, 3rd, and 5th - no just the stick going forward into what you think are 1,3 or 5 locations) ?

Normally a broken selector cable/clips manifests itself as the stick going free or 'sloppy' either forwards/backwards or left/right depending on which cable went, if you really can select 1, 3 or 5 only then it suggests something else to me unless it's some odd pre-failure mode of a nearly snapped cable (call pull but folds when pushed ?)

if you pop the bonnet you can double check by moving the selector levers by hand on the gearbox itself - you'll find it deep inside on the left-hand side (if you were sitting in the car) near the coolant header tank.

There's a diagram of the levers you're looking for on this page:
http://wikilec.9600.org/index.php/Gears ... eplacement

a.

[tweetdriver63]

You need to describe how the shifter moves/feels. It's possible for slipping/bad adjustment on the fore/aft cable to make it so you just can't physically move the lever far enough to get into 2/4/R. I had a similar situation when installing new cables. In my case, I couldn't get 1st or 2nd. It was the cross-gate cable adjustment preventing mine. Once I adjusted it properly, no more problem.

When you put the shifter into 1/3/5, what is its position? It should be leaning forward about 10 degrees (I think. I'm not looking at the manual right now). If it's leaning toward the rear, it needs adjusting. It may not be able to go back far enough to get into gear.

[kidyubyub]

I can drive it using 1st, 3rd and 5th. I am quite positive that I am in those gears while driving. It happened last night on a trip home from Laughlin, Nevada. I was in 5th and downshifted to 4th. It was then that I lost the gears 2, 4 and reverse. I think I heard a slight pop, but not sure as I had the stereo going. I can actually feel the "resting slots" for the gears 2, 4 and reverse, but they will not engage. My feeling is that a clip broke or perhaps a cable.

As far as how it feels: when I shift into the gears that are not working, I can feel that the stick is moving into the slot for the gear, I just get no engagement. The stick just goes all the way in until I cannot get it back any further. When I select 1st, 3rd or 5th, it feels like normal everyday shifting. Perfect engagement, no weird sounds, etc... except the normal "bog" when moving from 1st to 3rd on acceleration. 3rd to 5th produces very little to no "bog".

I will have to look and see what the heck happened. Please let me know your further thoughts.

Thanks.

[tweetdriver63]

When I had the OEM cables, my fore/aft cable started slipping. That plastic locking clamp that is used to adjust it was wearing out. When I shifted agressively from 1st or 3rd to 2nd or 4th, it would slip, so I would pull the shifter as far back as it could physically move, but I got no engagement in those gears. Because of the design of the cables, and their length, I still got full engagement in 1st, 3rd, and 5th. The cable didn't slip when I moved the lever forward, only when I pulled it back, and only when I pulled it back relatively hard. The problem had started when I (mistakenly) allowed my son to drive the car once or twice. He had trouble finding reverse, so he went hard aft on the lever repeatedly trying to get it in that gear. In doing so, he started it slipping, and rapidly wore down the little plastic ribs on the inside of the locking sleeve. The more he did it, the worse it got, and it got bad fast. The difference between what mine did and what you describe, is that I could still drive using all gears, as long as I was gentle shifting into 2, 4, and R. I do think, however, that you could be having a similar problem. Does the shift lever move a lot farther back than it used to when you try to go into 2, 4, R?

BTW, check out this thread. It may help.
http://lotuselancentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9483

[kidyubyub]

Chris, thanks for the reply. Yes, you are correct in assuming that the shifter goes back farther now than before. I am beginning to think that it is the plastic clip that has "gone south" on me. Oh well, now what? replace the cables? The clip? ???

[Enright]

I think that you'll find that one of the plastic cable ends has sheared where the E clip secures it to the bracket behind the engine. If that's it then it's a case of replacing the cables.
Therefore please can you ask any further questions in the other thread that was linked to earlier (if it doesn't already answer them)? I'm going to lock this one as I'm pretty sure that it's a duplicate of the same issue.