LUVTruck.com

Hello there. I have an 82 Diesel Luv and I am somewhat new to working on a diesel. I bought it a little less than a year ago and have actually been driving it pretty regularly although it needs some work. Just recently it is starting to get really difficult to shift into first and second gear. Anyone have a clue what would cause this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

It could be low on oil in the trans, though that is something you usually hear as a problem. I'd expect to hear some whining bearings. It is worth checking and topping it off though if it is low.

If the clutch isn't fully disengaging that could cause hard shifts. Try this, put it in neutral, running, with the clutch pedal out. Push in the pedal all the way, count to 5, and then try to get it into reverse shifting it in a little slowly. If there is sort of of grinding feel in the shifter like the gears are still spinning, then the clutch needs to be adjusted. If that is the case, the cable may be stretching, signs that it needs to be replaced soon. It could also be the pilot bearing sticking, but that should whine or make a fair bit of noise when you have the pedal pushed in.


Besides that, the list gets bad pretty quick, worn syncros or gears in the trans, bad shift forks, etc etc. Hopefully it is something simple though that you can fix cheap and easy.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good

Pop the hood, and take a look at where the clutch cable goes through the firewall. The firewall eventually "breaks out" here, allowing the whole cable (including the sheath) to move. When this happens, you're not able to fully disengage the clutch, and the first place you notice it is in the lower gears.

Jack

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'83 Isuzu P'up Diesel LS - Original Owner
JoeIsuzu@IsuzuPup.com
IsuzuPup.com

Boy took both my answers away.

VW's A1's (Rabbits) will break the firewall like that. I always reinforce it while I fix it. It just takes a large washer to make it stronger when I weld it back toghter

VW's get hard to get into gear or shift gears when low on oil. It can burn the bearings up too.

Switch to a oil, like Red Line, or Asmoil. They will improve the shifting. BUT some can be incapatible with the metal inside too. bearings bushings too. I don't know about Luv transmissions and rearends

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

Thanks for the tips. The guy I bought the truck from actually put the cable through a piece of wood against the firewall. It looks strange but it seems to be working ok. One more really stupid question. Where the heck do you put the tranny oil in on an 82 diesel luv? (I told you I was new at the diesel thing) I wish I could get a Hayes manual or something similar for this truck.

Thanks again.
C Cast

Hi Chris, and welcome to the site. Yeh, another diesel owner too haha. A simple and quick way to add oil to the transmission on these Isuzu diesels is to pop the shifter off and pour it in from up top. It's not the way they tell you to properly do it in the factory workshop manuals, but it does do the job correctly (which is nice). The real way to do it is get underneath the truck and look for the filler plug on the passenger side of the transmission. When you add the oil here you'll somewhat need to use a hand pump to feed the oil in to the trans though because you can't rely on gravity to suck it down. Plus the floor of the truck will not allow you to hold the filler can at a height you need to get the oil to flow down and into the trans filler plug hole. You'll probably just find it best to pop the manual shifter off (just 3 bolts to remove) and then add the oil much easier. Good luck with it and feel free to post in the Diesel Forum if you have any other questions or problems. Glad to have ya by the way.

Salvy

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1982 Chevy LUV diesel
2.25" stainless exhaust
w/ MagnaFlow performance muffler

Note: The plug is a 15/16, also, if the fluid is bad and you go to change it, get the filler plug out first before the drain plug, sometimes the fill plugs gets seized up, even to the point were you have to double up the wrench (even with a 15/16)

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-Old ride-82 Luv diesel 5spd with some upgrades
-Past rides-82 Sierra, 78 Coupe De'Ville, 91 2dr Blazer, 86 RX7, 86 Porsche 944T (rear-ended and totaled)
-Curr. rides- 1970 Ford LTD 4dr, 390 4Bbl, 2nd owner! With a few Extras 00' Civic beater...

Hey my 80 4x4 is leaking out the end of the tranny and replaced the seal and its still leaking but not as bad? And my filler plug is seized up so ill have to go throug[*]h the shifter and how do I tell how much to put in? Do I have to drain it all then measure 1.35 qts and fill?

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1980 chevy luv 4x4

You may want to post this in a "New topic" rather than at the end of a 5 year old one that's unrelated. Sorry, if I knew the capacity I'd just say so--but I don't.

You've replaced the seal and it's still leaking...did you inspect the slip yoke while it was out? It may not be smooth enough to seal.

Jack

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'83 Isuzu P'up Diesel LS - Original Owner
JoeIsuzu@IsuzuPup.com
IsuzuPup.com