I've been driving my camaro now for about a month, and no major problems so far. One annoyance, however, has been a very loose shifter that tends to float around a bit, and is difficult to shift into and out of reverse. Well, this weekend, the problem went one step further when the ransmission locked up in my friends driveway.
I parked on a very slight downslope (facing down the hill), and set the brake, and left the car in 2nd after i shut it off. When I came back out to go home, I wouldn't seem to wrestle it into reverse, and so i thought I'd roll it forward a bit and try again. Well, i couldn't get it into first or second, so I just tried to let it roll by pushing the clutch, and letting up on the brakes. The car wouldn't roll at all. We got a couple guys to rock it back and forth, but we still couldn't get it to free up.
Ended up getting it towed back to my place, and will have it towed to the transmission shop down the road when on monday or tuesday, depending on the work schedule.
Any thoughts or advice as to what's happened? Something I can fix without having to pay for towing & shop fees?

 

Yea it sounds like it might be the shifting linkage. I have the same problem in my 68 M-22 with a 4 speed. It locks up shifting it into/out of reverse and into/out of 2nd gear. It happens to me almost every time I take it out. It does get annoying but it is a very easy fix. Just to double check look under the car on the drivers side of the transmission where you will see the linkage. It is two bars that you will have to jiggle. Take each bar and push them back and forth and if they move, try the shifter. Usually this is easier with two people. Have one person in the car to jiggle the shifter softly, but not too softly. While the other is under the car, moving the linkage. It should free up by pushing it and pulling it, to the front, and rear of the car. Once the assistant in the car feels the shifter free up, you should be good to go!
*Remember when jacking the car up to use jack stands and make sure it is stable so you dont get hurt!*

Just to explain what exactly is wrong with it, IF that is the problem. Which I am guessing, is the linkage does get out of alignment typically, reverse and 2nd gear, in which it will stick and NOT move. Just a quick push and pull at the linkage under the car should straighten it up. But it is not permanent. If you don't want to fix it you might have this problem occur more and more. Any way you look at it, it either must be straightened or replaced.

Hope this works! It usually should, if it doesnt just let me know.

 

Yeah, that's what I had hoped was the problem, cause it had slowly been getting worse the more i drove/shifted. I was able to reach the linkages just by crawling under the car as far as i could get, but couldn't get them to move at all. I could jiggle them a bit, but there was no forward or rearward shifting movement to be had, just a little bit of wiggle side-to-side.
Bent or broken linkage maybe? I guess we'll find out when the shop opens after the weekend

 

When was the last time the tranny fluid was replaced?

 

I dunno. I WAS going to change the oil this weekend, and check everthing else out while i was under there, but now i can't move the car.
The whole thing was kind of an impulse buy, and I didn't properly check everything beforehand. Based on what i've seen so far, I'm gonna bet it needs to be changed pretty badly. I checked the oil the day after I bought it (told you I was stupid when I got it), and it was well below the FILL line, and black as soot. I immediately put about 3 quarts in it, because I had that much at the house, but I haven't had time to get to the shop on base and properly change everything out.

 

It was just a thought and it will be the cheapest thing to do by far. Sometimes if the tranny fluid gets low you wont be able to shift. It wont hurt to try it before paying a shop 200 bucks to tell you to add fluid.

 

Disconnect the linkage rods and move all the shift arms into neutral position. Sounds like it is hung in between gears. If that is the problem, get a new shifter or have yours rebuilt.