[T3] tranny oil and shifting

[Bryon Garvin]

Appropriately for Halloween, I made a ghastly discovery today.  My tranny
was low by 1 quart of oil.  Before I found this list or owned the Bentley
manual, a friend helped me get the car running.  I watched him drain the
tranny and put new oil in.  I saw it overflow out the fillup port and we
were done.  I am wondering now, as I read the Bentley, if we didn't go too
fast.  It says to pause every now and then to let the oil flow into the
final drive.  Do you suppose that is what happened?

How much damage might I have done in 3000 miles being 1 quart low?  (I am
afraid of this answer...)

I have been having trouble shifting into first here and there and I wonder
if the low oil has caused some wear that makes this happen?  I don't know
much about transmissions, but I suppose just about anything is possible when
you don't have the proper lubrication in there.  As for the other
possibilities on the shifting, I have inspected the shift coupler at the
tranny and that is fine.  I am going to inspect the bushing the next chance
I get but based on what others have said about that being their problem in
the past, I am not so sure that I have that problem....but I will definitely
look into it.  I did replace the clutch cable, lubed it well and adjusted
it.

If anything, after adding the oil and driving around, the shifting into
first issue seems a bit better.  The trouble is not occurring as much.  But
my gut says that if the low-oil situation caused an issue, I would have that
problem shifting ALL the time.

My last question is about the shift lever and parts underneath the boot.
 When I have trouble shifting from N to 1st, there seems to be some
resistance.  Whatever that resistance is, once I get past it, there's kind
of a "thunk" sound and a feeling that makes you certain you are in the gear.
 It's not a bad "thunk", but rather just sounds like something is popping
into place.  It's the same sound you would get if you were cruising along
under a light load and you pulled the gear shift out of gear.  You would
feel it in your hand thru the shift lever.  What is it that makes that
sound?  Does it have something to do with the spring located under the
lever?  The mechanisms that are at play in this scenario is what I think I
need to concentrate on.

I am sorry for my lack of knowledge in this area and consequently my
inability to describe this accurately, but maybe someone knows what I'm
trying to say.

Thanks and Happy Halloween !

 - Bryon, '71 Fastback
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