So, backstory was that I got transmission fluid changed at a shop here in San Jose, and the next few days afterward I noticed that the shifter wasn't locking reverse out while trying to shift to 5th. Noticed that when warm, the shifter wouldn't pop up without me having to pull on it. Wasn't too bad, so I erroneously left it alone because.... my wife had our first baby the next week!

After things had settled down, I looked up the shifter regrease DIY and felt it'd be a good opportunity for me-time, so I set out to get it done instead of calling Blacktrax about getting it fixed.

Fast forward to today, I removed the 3 bolts holding the shifter down, and the shifter didn't pop up like it should have. As hard as I pulled straight up, even with the shift knob back on, the shifter just won't budge.

Any ideas???

 

You removed boot bolts, or shifter bolts? First you have to unblot the boot, then under thay are the more difficult to get at shifter bolts.

 

Yep, everything's off. White ring, shifter boot, inner boot that covers the three bolts, and the bolts themselves.

 

Congrats on the baby!

Shouldn't make a difference, but is the shifter in gear, or neutral?

As a sanity-check, re-review all the steps and photos @ https://www.s2ki.com/2010/03/11/diy-regrease-shifter/

Apparently you're not the only person to encounter this (mine popped right out) -- perhaps due to moisture/rust:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-un...ifter-1031191/
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/florida-...l-out-1001575/
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-un...emoval-415443/

Gotta love people who don't post the solutions to their threads... Keep us posted on yours!

Perhaps screw the knob back on, open your top, stand up and pull straight up!

 

Ok, so I took the car back to the folks at Blacktrax, as I still couldn't take the shifter out, regardless of how hard I pulled. They called me back later in the day, and got the info on how bad it was: they had to lower the housing to get it out. There was no way I could have taken it out myself.

The culprit... water damage!




My hardtop was stolen over christmas break in the rain, and had been driven in heavy rain around that time as well, so water somehow got in the shifter box (there's no gasket). So imagine the gunk soup that was made from the hot water and grease. The tolerance gap between the fork and the shifter's ball assembly had rusted a bit, which made it so difficult to take out. They cleaned it up as much as they could, changed the parts with those I provided, and even threw in a new shifter.

Felt good as new, but still gets stuck in when depressed after getting hot, though it pops back up when cooled.

Be careful driving in heavy rain, y'all.

 

So did you have to replace the actual shifter rod? Also, did you have to drop the transmission to get this done? I have the exact same problem and need to fix this on the weekend. I can't drive my car because of I can't get into reverse. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

LeoA86 did you ever solve the stuck shifter problem?
I picked up an older S2k project car, went to rebuild the shifter and I too found I could not remove the shifter. I have another s2k and had no problem, so I know how to do it.
I even have gone so far as to not only removing all 3 shifter bolts, but also the 4 bolts that secure the top of the shifter housing in place, just to see if I could get the shifter to move upward out of position (a NO GO). I even resorted to using "significant" force to include a rigged up puller, and fear the force needed is approaching possibly bending or damaging the shift arm or the shift linkage rod. Nothing I have done, will free the shifter or even get it to lift.
All things point to the bottom shifter ball of possibly being "stuck" in the shift arm loop (probably due to significant crud or rust expansion, etc.). Note: there are obvious signs of water intrusion into the shift box/housing.

Just trying to see what solutions/remedy people found to this issue. Thx! JR