Update to my massive saga

[curt93t/t]

As you may remember, back in Jan (yes Jan) my car just started idling weird, wouldn't do anything but sit at idle speeds. Then troubleshooting that doing compression cks all cylinders were bad and then then engine would barely turn with starter. Figured the valves were all leaking (as in all cylinders) and took them off only to find massive amounts of buildup

Anyway, after waaaaaay too long I finally got the heads back from the machine shop ($488 lighter in my wallet) I put everything back together with the help of Valmar (Taylor). Let me start by saying if I have to do something like this again I'm pulling the engine because it was way easier. Pulled the crank sensor plug and turned it over a few seconds and it turned like it should, not like it was. Hooked it back up and it fired up first try! Didn't sound too healthy, but what do you expect on the first start up. Not to mention all the crap that shot out the exhaust.

Luckily I was watching my temps because before I knew it the needle was at 3/4's, so I shut her down. I guess I didn't get enough coolant/water in there the first time because once I filled it up the needle wasn't even in the middle. I messed something up I think when I disconnected the shifter cables to get to the thermostat housing stuff because it's hard to get in some of the gears (not syncro's, they're basically new and I know what the symptoms are) and it won't even go into reverse.

[BaadVR4]

I assume you've checked the shifter cable brackets and cable install. If it goes into some gears but not others, it isn't likely to be the shifter cables. Check the gate selector counterweight. Sometimes it will hit the lower radiator hose/stock IC hoses/FMIC piping to the throttle body, if you have a FMIC. Counterweight interference can affect all gears that move the gate selector up and shifter to the rear of the car: 6th and reverse. It is often the cause of the trans popping out of reverse or being hard to get into reverse. While it's possible it could affect 2nd and 4th, that's less likely than 6th/reverse. Have somebody move the shifter with the engine off and watch the counterweight. If it his something, move it until you have clearance and the shifting problems should be gone. Just something to check.