Here is the situation: the other day I was getting onto the freeway and my car made a nasty 2-3 grind. Ever since then it has barely been drivable and wouldn't go into any gear without a lot of elbow grease. Today I went and put some more fluid in the clutch mc reservior, which appears to be slowly losing fluid and it got even worse.
It won't go into any gear at all. It makes a loud grind when I try to force it into 3rd and it will go into reverse but makes a horrible metal- on metal grind. If I start the car with the gearbox in first, it will go into gear but soon freezes up again, along with making a horrible screech when I let out the clutch.
I'm just trying to pinpoint the problem so I can get it fixed. I don't know if it's my clutch or my slave cylinder or possibly even the pilot bearing. Any knowledgeable answers will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

i had similar issues last year and it turned out that i blew one of the springs on the clutch disc up and it was a biitch to engage...so my money is that you need a new clutch...

 

sooo your clutch master is leaking???

is the pedal pressure light or fading?

if the master or slave start to fail the clutch will stay halfway enguaged causing hard shifts b/c the gear shafts are staying at normal engine speed and not decelerating and allowing you to shift.

if the clutch springs go it is normally still drivable but it will have a harsh enguagment and a bad rattling noise at all rpm's

and if the clutch was worn it would have been showing signs of slippage prior to this.

look around your clutch pedal area inside the car and see if there is brake fluid dripping or slightly pooling in small amounts on the firewall or behind the carpet

 

ya i had the same problem one night, could barely get the car into gear, and it grinded almost every gear and it was real hard to get it in.....obviously the first thing i checked was the clutch fluid, and it was extremely low...so i filled it up and bled the line about 10 times and replaced my master cylinder....never had a problem since

 

^ you bleed and replace master cylinder? lol..should be other way.

anyways. i'd check for easy thing. leaking master cylinder? leaking Slave cylinder? Air in the line? then. hard ones. release fork? Pressure plate? disk?

how many miles? and was clutch replaced before?

 

after you get everything fixed (master cylinder,clutch,tranny....whatever the problem is) just for advice..go to a local GM dealer and buy GM synchromesh tranny fluid (3quarts) and go to a mechanic and have them fill it up. My gears go in too smooth..it sometimes feels like i have no gears. oh yeah and it cured my nasty 3rd gear grind i had in high rpms.

 

I have reason to expect that it's the slave cylinder since the fluid level in the mc reservoir dropped. The clutch was replaced by a brand new OEM unit like 20k ago and it has not been slipping before. Couldn't find any leaks, but I'd be willing to bet that it is an issue with the m/c or slave cylinder because it was like a night/day difference between smooth shifts/ hard shifting.

Oh well prob going to take the car into the local Acura dealer since I can't seem to pinpoint the source of the problem. Thanks guys

 

no acura...money collecters.

was cluch bleed after installed?? if not, do that. its PITA to do it right. but worth of try

 

I know someone who works at the dealer so I shouldn't get ripped off too bad. Besides, getting any major maintenance done at the dealer is worth it to me. I don't think there's air in the lines because the clutch pedal pressure is still normal and not limp. I'll be sure to mention that when I take it in though

 

Update: went and checked the fluid level in the clutch mc reservoir: it dropped about 1 inch in 12 hours. There wasn't any fluid around the clutch pedal so I'm going to assume that it's the slave cylinder and get that replaced. Thanks for your help everyone.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by akstunt600 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if the master or slave start to fail the clutch will stay halfway enguaged causing hard shifts b/c the gear shafts are staying at normal engine speed and not decelerating and allowing you to shift.
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That's what I'm thinking because when I try to put it into gear the engine rpm's go down halfway. Good call

 

Update:
I got the master cylinder and the slave cylinder replaced and the car is still not shifting smoothly. It goes into gear now,and shifts like butter if I shift early at like 3-4000 rpms, but I have to force it into gear with some elbow grease shifting at higher rpm's. It still grinds third at above 4000 rpms too, ouch. I'm thinking maybe one of the springs on the clutch is loose or broken off? Any tips/ tech advice would help.

 

bump.

 

bump. what should I do, put some syncromesh in or get a new clutch? Aargh.

 

nah, sychromshit aint gonna help.

broken clutch spring, if gets stuck every once inawhil at low rpm's

otherwise it could very easlily be the end of your synchros

btw, use 10w30 its the same as honda mtf.
you can try synthetic too, less power loss

 

from my experience, GM synchromesh is the best tranny fluid ever. i used oem honda mt fluid and it didnt help for ****. my gears go in like butter on a fry pan. my 3rd gear in high rpms would grind so bad you can hear it 1 block down the street and the GM synchromesh after 2 weeks driving with it stopped the grind. take my word for it use it once you get your tranny fixed.