R154 1st gear problems

[grimreefer]

Hey forum, once again I seem to have an issue.. So my 1jz vvti swaps finishing up, just doing the intercooler pipes and exhaust, but when I drove it on the tow truck and into my garage I noticed my 1st gear doesnt want to stay in.. I should mention I was driving without intercooler pipes due to the extremely short distance, so it was just rich. I'm gonna try her again once the intercooler pipes are welded up, but when I drove out of the shop to the tow truck it didnt want to stay in 1st for more than 15 seconds, and sometimes I'd have to try to jam it into gear to get it back into first.

I should mention I got this tranny directly after it was ripped out of an MK3 with 140k miles, but second gear was so perfect and 1st was so bad Im speculating it shouldnt be so black and white. I replaced the flywheel and clutch for a chromoly FW and 6 puck ceramic clutch.

Is there any common swap mistakes or tranny issues that could cause this? or should I consider I got ripped off and try to rebuild the bitch? I have a mechanic who will gladly take a look but any info will be a great help..

 

[f00g00]

Pull the shift lever and make sure the bushing is installed on the bottom of it and the lever fits into a hat bushing, If any of those are worn and it causes a sloppy fit it will have a tendency to pop out in first gear.

 

[grimreefer]

Ok, because Im pretty sure the transmission I got is good, Ive seen the car it came out of drive before and it seemed fine, so Im thinking maybe a mistake was made in the install.. Also everyone tells me these trannies are pretty bulletproof i guess lolz

 

[hvyman]

Prolly the thrust washer in the trans.

 

[jonny87turbo]

^ agreed 1st gear thrust washer. Depending on how bad it is 1st gear may need replaced also.

 

[grimreefer]

Well I hope this can give some i sight on "how bad" butits difficult, but not impossible to enter first, but once in gear you can hold it in place easily, but if you dont, it almost immedeately starts to glide into nuetral, and once slidout of nuetral most of the time it wont go back in without some force and a nasty grind on the way in like its not engaging into 1st all the way, although all this is based on 3 drives that were all less than 150 feet w/o the ic pipes, but that should be ireleveant as long as were talking tranny ssues

 

[525gte]

i see that it has a new clutch in it? did u ck and change the fluid?.

 

[grimreefer]

yes it does, its got a new clutch, flywheel, and pp

 

[Mr Bojangles]

It sound like you're going to need a new thrust washer and a first gear.

 

[Rcks4me]

does it feel like the detent ball is locking the shift shaft in gear? It could be a weak spring on the detent ball...