So I was driving my car and all of a sudden after stopping at a light I noticed that it was kind of hard to get into third then it started getting worse. I could get into gears and it was hard to get it out of gears. By the end it would shift into any gears, I had to start it while in first to go and had to drive a few blocks home while in first gear.

So basically the clutch wont disengage at all and the clutch pedal feels fine what could this be? Oh and to top it off I have to have this drivable by the 26th this month because I have a scheduled tune with steve kan and have already sent my deposit.

Any help would be great, thanks guys.

Chance

 

update

I pulled my slave cylinder it seems to be working I had a friend push in on the clutch and it went out.

 

search for clutch fork

 

also I had a rattling noise previously when the clutch was pressed in. I dont know if that has anything to do with it.

 

It sounds like a clutch fork IMO. It may have not completely broken, and when the arm is depressed (pushed) by the slave, it's not enough to release it.

 

ok I will check to see if I can tell tonight without taking the trans out thanks guys

 

Take the inspection cover at the bottom of the bellhousing off. Have a friend push the clutch pedal in while you look at the clutch fork with a flashlight. It'll be obvious if it's broken.

 

ok I checked the clutch fork seems to be fine the only thing I can think of if it was the fork is it is bent or my slave cylinder isnt extending enough.

Does anyone know how far the fork is supposed to move???

 

The fork is cast so it won't bend. If anything it will crack. Could be a broken diaphragm spring, problem with the slave hydraulics, or even a loose e-shaft bolt causing the whole shaft to walk.

 

Okay so the car has a new motor in it. I have put about 3000 miles on it. So the things that I know where wrong with the car that may have something to do with it are

1. when clutch is held down it would make a rattling sound. it would do this before I had the motor done.(why I replaced the throw out bearing and pilot bearing)

2. when driving the car at low speeds(25-35mph) the car would "wave" back and forth. I guess a better way to explain it would be it felt like I was pedaling a bike with the back wheel in the air and a weight on one side of it.

I appreciate any input but it seems that I just have to tear it apart and hopefully get it fixed by next friday or I am out my dyno deposit and tune deposit.

 

this sound you speak of is a bent throughout/release barring.
You just replaced these ?? Could something else be causing the release barring to go bad so fast?

It is grinding the pressure plate fingers. it is driveable however and will last quite a few miles as is. You will need to eventually replace the pp anyway so drive it until you buy a new pressure plate.

 

I replaced the throwout bearing and the pilot bearing. The car is not drivable as I cannot shift at all the only way to get it running it to crank it while in first lunging it forward till it starts and then I am stuck in first gear.

 

is the clutch still stiff? or does it drop to the floor? if it drops to the floor or is very easy to depress, its most likely a slave cylinder, mine did the same thing, replaced the slave and its fine. Make sure you diagnose it correctly as parts wont be cheap to just be throwing money at it hoping the next part works... good luck

 

Unfortunately, if your confident the hydraulics are working, all the speculation is just delaying the inevitable. The transmission will have to come out.

 

i'm having a similar problem..
it's hard to put the car in gear! itll go with some force. the clutch pedal has some weird vibrations in it when i try to press it down..

sounds like a worn out clutch?

 

have you pulled the service peek ports off on the trans to see if you have an obvious problem?

There are also adjustments on the clutch pedal that changes when the clutch engages. You could try adjusting this, when i put in an aftermarket clutch, pressure plate, and had my flywheel resurfaced i had to adjust all this because the clutch wouldnt move until the last 2 inches of the clutch pedal.

Also im sure you could shift into other gears by rev matching, though it probably isnt the safe thing to do, because coming to complete stops would be a tricky endeavor.

Maybe you can some how get your car to the dyno and still manage to get it tuned. At least the car will be stationary, you would just have to rev match to 4th gear or whatever gear they choose to pull with. Though it might be kinda awkward and they may not want to with the car like that. IDK, but im sure it's possible and steve kan has tuned alot of cars so it probably wont take much for him to put a decent tune on there. A few runs like that shouldnt be so bad.

 

Yeah I thought about that the thing is I have to drive it about an hour to the shop it is getting tuned at and with my luck I would hit stop and go traffic he he.

I have looked in there everything looks fine so I am either gonna take it to get it checked out or start taking it apart myself.

 

lol I know, I was just worried it was something stupid and I would go and take the trans out and realize that I didnt have to but at this point I dont care I just want to make my tune date.

 

It sucks when this happens.... but, do the following.... get a magnet, one that telescopes and stick in the Inspection Hole on the the Bell-Housing.... I suspect you find one of the "Ears" for the clutch-fork sitting in the bottom of the Bell.

Same exact thing happened to me.... and the broken peice flew around a bit and scared up the interior of the bell, put a nick on my pressure-plate... but that was pretty much it. I had to take the engine out anyway.... so it wasn't a really big deal.... but do the Magnet thing and see whatcha get...
BTW.... Clutch Fork failure is pretty common with the third-gens... especially if your running a stiffer pressure-plate.... That was Ray Crowe's opinion when it happened to me...

Good luck... post again when you find out the cause of the problem.... As these cars age, and get modified, this problem will re-occur with more frequency... unfortunately...

 

great idea! will do! thanks

 

Exactly what came to my head once I started reading what you have checked already. What clutch did you use? That and maybe a broken finger on the pressure plate... Or something wedged between the fingers making it impossible to dis-engage.

Chris

 

it is a centerforce clutch, I really appreciate the help guys I will report back

 

Ok got the tranny out and it was the pilot bearing causing it to stick in gear. I put my finger in it and pull out a bunch of ground up metal. Woo Hoo looks like I am gonna make it to my tune thanks guys!!!

 

Thats exactly what I was going to tell you to check, I got all the way down and saw your post. Thats good that it wasnt too serious. GL

 

is that your FD in your Avatar? if so do you have any more pics... well hell if not do you have any more pics?