hey guys, this isnt a question about my GSR, but i figured this is the only place i could get some good tech info...

my little brothers cavalier is having clutch problems i think, it is suddenly REALLY difficult to shift into 1st, 2nd, and reverse...3,4, and 5 are worse than before but nothing like the other three...

also, it doesnt pop out of gear ever...i asked if he is ever just driving along and it slips out of gear and he said no...

is this simply a bad clutch?? or synchros or something?? any and all help is greatly appreciated, if you need any other info to help me just ask and i will ask him immediately...thank you

todd

 

Could be the clutch is dragging. Lift the front of the car, start it up, put in gear with the clutch disengaged (pedal all the way down). Does it make the wheels spin?

Does it have a hydraulic clutch? It could be caused by air in the system, or maybe a clutch cable that's stretched or starting to break?

 

any other ideas?? PLEASE!!

 

up

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tmekjian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">any other ideas?? PLEASE!!</TD></TR></TABLE>Does that mean you're sure his clutch is NOT dragging?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JimBlake &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Does that mean you're sure his clutch is NOT dragging?</TD></TR></TABLE>

well i know it is a hydro clutch for sure...we are checking on the dragging thing later tonight...

any other possibilities since it is a hydraulic clutch??

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tmekjian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

well i know it is a hydro clutch for sure...we are checking on the dragging thing later tonight...

any other possibilities since it is a hydraulic clutch??</TD></TR></TABLE>No, check to see if it's dragging. That's a big help. If it's dragging then look for something like air in the lines (bleed the fluid), or a bad master cylinder.

If it's not dragging then you gotta think about screwed-up synchros. But its not likely for3 or 4 of them to go together. Maybe transmission fluid level?

 

so you think its pretty unlikely that is a blown clutch all together??

 

well when was the the gear oil changed . try changing that first . if it was a blown clutch you would have to rev the engine alot to get it moving. and u would probably hear sum funky noises in the tranny. could be your synchros.
good luck man it could be the pressure plate also that would cause the hard engagement of the gears

 

i know even with a brand new clutch my wheels still spin, and i know its not dragging. so i dunno about that method of testing it

 

so how do i know if its dragging?? maybe it is the synchros, how would i know that???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tmekjian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so you think its pretty unlikely that is a blown clutch all together??</TD></TR></TABLE>No, I just think you'd want to check for the easy stuff first before you believe the worst.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vtekstorm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... if it was a blown clutch you would have to rev the engine alot to get it moving...</TD></TR></TABLE>There's more than one way for a clutch to fail.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by doublejz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i know even with a brand new clutch my wheels still spin, and i know its not dragging. so i dunno about that method of testing it</TD></TR></TABLE>I don't know - maybe it's just a matter of how much force it takes to stop them.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tmekjian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so how do i know if its dragging?? maybe it is the synchros, how would i know that???</TD></TR></TABLE>If you can't find anything wrong with the clutch. Instead of taking the tranny out to inspect the clutch, I'm trying to think of easier ways to check things.

One part of the synchro's job is to block you out of the gear until the revs match. If the car is stopped, a dragging clutch will prevent the input shaft from stopping. If it's dragging bad enough, and you get it in gear, it'll try to pull the car almost like an automatic tranny idling in gear. In between those extremes its just a matter of how bad it's dragging. You should at least be able to idle in gear with the clutch disengaged and NOT need the brake to keep from moving.

If it's dragging, then you gotta find WHY it drags. Air in the hydraulics, bad master cylinder? You can tell that stuff by how the slave pushes the throw-out fork. If the throw-out fork is moving correctly, then it must be something inside. Warped clutch disk or even something broken in the pressure plate.

You start with understanding how it all works. Then you check each step & look for something screwed up. At first you keep hoping it's something external & easy like a bad clutch cylinder.

 

bump so i can find this good info again.

 

I had a problem that was similar years ago. Was difficult to shift into any gear. Turned out one end of the spring had broken, but the other end stayed connected. The spring in the clutch actually wedged itself between the clutch disc and the pressure plate. If you're having trouble shifting into every gear, i think it would be a near impossible coincidence that all the sincros would go bad at the same time.