3rd Gear power loss
 

Hey guys I need some help. I've done a bit of searching and couldn't find much that fit my situation so here it goes. Yesterday my car ran fine, but for a while now I was feeling a slight "jerk" at low rpms in 3rd gear goin about 35. So today I start the fb up just fine and ran it for a couple of mins just fine, but when I tried to shift to 3rd gear the tach and engine suddenly dropped. As if I dumped the clutch.

I tried easing it in gear and giving it more gas but it still didn't work. I usually idle at about 1.5k and make sure when I clutch that the tach is at 2k for the next gear and usually ease out but it dived down to 1k as soon as I tried.

It happened randomly during my 20min drive at times taking the gear completly and other time dropping, even if I gave it more gas between shifts and eased out.

The winter's comming up and I'd hate to garage my baby in this condition. What could it be? Trans? What part?

TII Trans. linked to a 85 13b 4port conversion engine.

No one?

Is it dropping going into gear, or while it's in gear, or both?

Try shifting without the clutch... Sounds like a bad syncro or a clutch problem to me. =\

Does this happen when going hard through 1st and 2nd gear? It may be a clogged fuel filter if that is the case.

This doesn't happen when in 1st and 2nd. Only in third while it's kinda in gear. I didn't wanna force it to go in gear when the engine sounded like it was dieing. 1st and second gear work perfectly, even when I go hard on it.

Shifting without the clutch? While the car is off?

I think he means try a clutch-free shift. It's a pain to do, but completely possible if you know your car well. What he means (i'm assuming) is when you are cruising in 2nd, don't push the clutch, leave your foot on the throttle a little bit and you should be able to ease it out of gear without any effort. Assuming you know your car well enough, and you know what RPMs your car is at while at the speed you are shifting, you can match those rpms and GENTLY push it into gear without touching the clutch. There should be little to no force required to push it in if your RPMs are matched to the gear correctly. I did this in my old car all the way home when my clutch went out, didn't grind a single gear :)

I havn't tried that yet but I'll see if it'll work. I was cruising home today and it was still doin the same thing. It seems to happen randomly.

I'm not sure if I can afford a new trans right now so any help is GREATLY appreaciated. If, in the long run, I can't avoid it then I'll squeeze a bit out of the budget to do so.

Thanks again and in advanced for any help guys.

Well, the problem was easily solvable. My father gets in the car and it acts like nothing was ever wrong with it.

So it wasn't the car..it's the driver. Since this was my first car and I'm still learning to drive stick. I got the 3rd and 5th gear mixed up. The gears are so close together I guess I just got them mixed up. Problem solved.

Thanks for the help.

I have a question to all you. My tranny has been acting weird. The car is not running, I can shift through all gears fine. I turn teh car on, the stick wouldn't go into any gears. I managed to get it into 3rd, and 4th. After much fighting i got pissed, and stomped the clutch to teh floor several times. Then it worked fine.

Can anywone tell me what teh heck is going on???

bad clutch hydrolics? check your master and slave for leaks. sounds like its not building pressure, maybe try bleeding the clutch system.

Dumb question, buthow do I do that?

One key to smooth shifting; don't grab the shift knob and don't force it to go anywhere. When shifting from 2nd to 3rd, just place your palm against the shift knob and gently move it upward. It will go where it needs to on its own, just as long as you don't try to force it. Don't give it orders, just make suggestions and you'll get along great. :)