GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I have a 2009 Vibe 1.8 FWD with the 5-speed manual. At 136k miles, the input shaft bearing in the transmission went (got real noisy). So, I had it rebuilt at a local shop. The owner said they replaced all the bearings plus a few synchros.

It worked great for about 4k miles...shifting was awesome with Redline synthetic fluid. Then one day it started popping out of reverse randomly, and then got stuck in reverse! The shifter and clutch work fine...when I put the stick in 1-5, the car stalls when I let out the clutch. When in neutral, letting out the clutch results in the car going backwards. When the stick is in reverse, the car goes backwards like it should. I checked the shift cables and everything is connected and moving like it should.

What do you all think? Messed up reverse gear shift fork inside the transmission is my guess...the shop is refusing to honor their rebuild warranty and is telling me that nothing they did would have affected this part of the transmission. Is that true? I thought it all had to come apart to do bearings...including removing the shift shafts.

did you have a new clutch installed with the rebuild? could be a misaligned clutch, the pressure plate is broken, etc. nothing that can really be diagnosed without tearing it apart.

You'd have to read over the warranty pretty carefully to determine if the issue in question would be covered.

they obviously removed the transmission to rebuild it. however, you did drive it for 4 months after, so it doesn't seem as likely to be related to their work; potentially moreso due to your driving style.

The clutch was done by the used car dealer I bought it from a year ago and is relatively fresh. I have tried finding examples of this transmission failing in this manner and have come up empty. Regarding driving, I don't hotrod the car or anything...it's just a DD. I tend to try and maximize fuel economy...short shifting, not revving it up, etc. Have been driving manual cars for 13 years, always using synthetic fluid, and have had zero transmission issues before this. I know the input shaft bearing is a known problem on these 5-speeds so I was not surprised at all when that failed. It just seems super suspicious to me that I only got 4k miles out of the transmission after this shop went through it.

Or it's just a coincidence. If it were related to the work, it likely wouldn't have lasted that long.

Paragon900 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 11, 2021 11:11 am I checked the shift cables and everything is connected and moving like it should.

When you state that everything is moving like it should, are you implying that you physically witnessed the shifter levers moving freely in the proper direction with every move (all 6 positions ... 5 forward & 1 reverse) ? To me this sounds EXTERNAL , not internal. Setup a camera directly over the tranny where cables meet levers and VIEW all movement as you simulate shifting. You possible may have loose connections, stripped bolts, or other physical connection issues.

Yep, I had a helper run it through all the gears and the linkages on top of the transmission respond properly. We also took apart the dash and made sure the connections were good at the shifter. Trans shop owner did the same thing and concluded that something was broken inside the transmission but said it has nothing to do with their rebuild...

Update

Got the car back from the shop. They managed to get it out of reverse, but now it has no reverse (1-5 work fine). Thankfully they didn't charge me. There is a metallic tapping noise coming from the transmission case when the car is in neutral and idling. When I rev it up, the tapping noise increases.

As a test, I found a hill and rolled the car backwards down it with the stick in the reverse position. It actually engaged and I had reverse for about 10 seconds. But, at the base of the hill, it wouldn't come out of reverse and it stalled when I let the clutch out (stick in neutral). Rocking the car forward and back got reverse unstuck, and 1-5 + Neutral work fine again (just no reverse). The metallic tapping noise is still there.