My obese MIL made our gearshift sink down

My mother in law is easily 400 pounds and had our car for the weekend. We think she used the stick shift to support her weight getting out of the car because now the stick is sunk down about two inches. Once I started driving it again it popped up again a little but it's still really loose and you can hold the stick and lift it up and down easily.

Does anyone know if it's the WHOLE transmission that is sunk down and possibly fixin to fall out soon?

The car still drives very normal and the gears work fine. There's no smell or anything except for trace odors from my MIL, jk. We learned our lesson about having a person that big use our small car.

I am whining but I'm also hoping someone knows a thing or two about cars. This was impossible to search for. :cheers2:

 

Four hundred fucking pounds?!?

 

year and make?....maybe it's just a broken transmission mount ...but probably not because it would drive different or clunk

pop the boot off around the shifter and maybe you can see something broken in the mechanism

 

Sounds like some damaged linkage. Transmission should be ok provided she can drive a 5-speed correctly. But damaged linkage will result in the syncro mesh grinding and will in time do damage to the transmission.

 

cool thanks. it's a Kia Sephia, '97 I believe. About 115k miles.

 

aight I popped that sucker open which is the handiest I've been in a while. AFAIK it looks like the mounting is broken. the gearshift is resting on the big important silver hardware below it, lol. maybe we'll just ask our handy neighbor guy to fix it for a few bucks if it's not too complicated.

I'm kinda pissed that my MIL pre-empted us by saying the tranny is bad even though it was considered fine by a mechanic a month or so ago so she could avoid acknowledging it was her massive weight that broke the mounting. I don't really want to fuck around with her deep denial by confronting her on the issue...

 

I think 2 engines in my chevy cavaliers were blown cause my ex was trucking 4 fatties to bingo up and down Pittsburgh hills.. and while the car had a bad water pump, what as fucking idiot she was..

 

most shifters get broke during car sex...jus' sayin'

 

I feel bad for laughing at this, but it reminds me of my middle school math and literature teachers. They were married, and they were perfect for each other... both being quite, ahem... large people. After school the kids would watch them getting into their car. The kids laughed, of course. I felt sorry for them... and the car. It was in audible pain.

 

Id send her the bill. Sorry, but for me, if you borrow my car, its coming back with a full tank, and if you break anything, your paying for the parts and labor. Seems fair enough to me.

 

Seems to me you have two choices; either buy a smaller car or purchase a big ass SUV (no pun intended)


Hotwater

 

no worries for laughing it is pretty funny.

we would be fully justified in sending her the bill. I wonder if she'll pay it. both she and FIL have the emotional maturity of teenagers

 

Its family...I suggest just forgiving...and next time you can't lend it because (make up an excuse)

 

what a fat bitch.

 

yeah i may end up just forgiving since i dont think it'll be too $$. or maybe i'll just ask for half the bill since we knew beforehand this person is accident prone b/c of her weight.

 

Your transmission mounts probably fell off, when you drive the shifter bobs up and down correct?

I had an old Camaro a few years ago and the same thing happened to it, in the case of the Chevy the friction caused from the transmission rubbing against the oil reservoir caused a hole to form and subsequent oil leak in the car.

Eventually it will begin to get more difficult to shift to the point where it is impossible, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if that's the case it should be fixed asap, I had to take my car to the garage and it cost close to $800 to fix, however the damage to the oil reservoir made up the bulk of the price I believe.

 

did you even read the thread?....

 

No.

 

haha. we're going to get it fixed asap. whatever it is it won't heal itself and will probably get worse if not fixed.