# ST300 Stuck in Neutral



## Joe Skelly (May 20, 2016)

Recently took possession of a 67 Lemans.

Previous owner (father-in-law) stated that 15 years ago, when he had it towed to his house, the flatbed had some sort of a metal peg / post under the car, and it supposedly slammed the transmission pan.

From that point on, the car has been stuck in Neutral. Not having a lot of experience with Transmissions, are there any areas (aside from checking for dents on the tranny pan) that I can check?

I haven't climbed under the car yet, but plan on getting under it this weekend to get a lay of the land.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

Welcome to the forums. :cheers

Does the shifter move at all??


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## Joe Skelly (May 20, 2016)

No. It's a column mounted shiftier, and it won't budge out neutral. I don't want to yank on it too hard. Afraid I might snap the linkage or something else.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

The dented pan may be jamming the shift linkage at the valve body. Might be as simple as pulling the pan and pounding the dent out. Test the shifter once the pan is off. Throw a new filer and gasket on refill, and go.


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## Joe Skelly (May 20, 2016)

Thank you! Having limited experience with transmissions (mainly 700r4's), and practically zero with the ST300, I didn't want to go digging around in there blind.

I will take the pan off and check to see if that is the cause.


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## GTOJUNIOR (Aug 7, 2011)

*While taking the pan off/out isn't a bad thing with the unknown history of the trans,
A quick removal of the linkage will allow you to see if the trans is indeed the issue.
With the linkage off and the car jacked/chocked you should be able to manually move the shift lever. 
May be bound linkage.*


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## Joe Skelly (May 20, 2016)

Thank you everyone. The transmission pan was dent free. It turned out that the car has aftermarket exhaust headers, and one of the linkage arms (I'm assuming that's what they are) rubs against the passenger header. 
It was rusted against each other. After breaking it free of the headers, I was able to get some movement. 
It wasn't I pulled the transmission pan and removed the filter (it looked like it was crooked, pushing into the metal gear the linkage hooks too) that everything started moving again. 

Thanks everyone! 

Sent from my AS985 using Tapatalk


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