mauls

Hello, I removed the engine in my 1965 Jetstar and now I can't put the car in neutral to roll it out of the garage. It is stuck in gear. The car was in park when I removed the engine from the bell housing.

When I try to change gears (automatic) the shifter moves real freely and no gears change.

Any advice would be appreciated

firefrost gold

pull drive shaft .

mauls

I was thinking that'd be the easiest way.

So next time, hopefully there isn't one, should i put it in neutral before I pull the engine?

Run to Rund

Yes. There is some pressure on the parking pawl inside the trans and the linkage is out of proper geometry because the engine is not orienting it. Once the pressure is removed by taking out the driveshaft, you can manually move the lever on the trans into neutral. Be careful because the car may move when you try to remove the driveshaft. I'd put the car on jackstands first so there is no pressure on park with the wheels off the ground. If you do that, you should be able to go into neutral even without removeing the driveshaft.

Olds64

If you don't put the car on stands before removing the driveshaft make sure you at least use a good set of wheel chalks.

mauls

My garage is pretty flat, I usually just use a shovel But I will have to put it on jack stands anyways so I can get underneath it.

Thanks

Olds64

I thought of this after I posted...

joe_padavano

Most likely the shift linkage has slipped out of position. If you don't want to pull the driveshaft (which usually results in a pool of trans fluid on the floor) then just crawl under the car (AFTER blocking the wheels or applying the e-brake or BOTH!) and manually move the shift arm on the transmission.

In a related story, I once had the shift cable seize up on the 1968 442 that I drove in college. It was my only car and I needed to drive it to the dealership for a new cable (Berejik Olds, in fact, and yes this was long enough ago that you could still get them from the dealership). I started the car and had a friend stand on the brake pedal while I went under the car and manually put the trans in drive.

mauls

Just wanted to update, i removed the driveshaft, it was real easy and only took 20 mins like you all said.


Thanks for the help guys