Sticky gear shifter on a 2001 SL1

Recently my gear shifter has gotten noticeably heavier to move -- it
used to pop into neutral when released from a gear, for instance, and
now it has to be moved with some force. The car still drives fine, but
I'm concerned this is the beginning of more serious trouble. What could
be causing this?

Peter

 

Some more details -- manual transmission of course:

Year/Make/Model: 2001 SATURN SL (delivery date 05/13/2001)
Body Style: SEDAN 4 DR
Engine: 1.9L L4 SPFI SOHC
Fuel: GASOLINE
Driveline: FRONT WHEEL DRIVE
Manufactured in: UNITED STATES

 

Mileage? Do you drive it pretty hard? Without more details, I'd suspect
your clutch is wearing and may be going out soon...

 

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the hint -- it has about 73,000. But it may be simpler than
that -- I checked the oil and saw it was low, so changed it and the
transmission fluid; it seems to be fine now. I've just not come across this
symptom of low oil -- or could the transmission fluid be too thick or even
low?

Peter

 

Certainly if the transmission fluid is low, it's not being lubricated as well
as it should, and (among other things) the shifts can be kinda hard.

 

Agreed. Hope that the fluid change does the trick for you. At 73K miles,
assuming conservative driving habits, then the clutch should still have
quite a few more miles.

 

Yeah, probably, but that depends a *lot* on the driving cycle. City driving,
particularly in heavy traffic, is very hard on clutch linings.

Highway driving, on the other hand... I used to drive a Mazda RX-7 commuting
to work about 45 miles daily (round trip), almost all of which was highway. At
about 80K miles, I had to drop the transmission to change the clutch pilot
bearing (a notorious weak point in the RX-7) and found that the clutch disc
had more than 90% of its original thickness left.