well, This is my first experience with a 1st gen. I've found a nice one for $500 in my area, engine runs strong start right up. BUt I can't test drive the thing sicne it will not go into first.

I gan get it to grind when I try to go into reverse, but all the other gears I can't even start to enter. Is this a clutch issue? any idea what the likely problem is here? I'd love to get the car, but need to know what the extent of this problem is.
The car is pretty much stuck in neutral.


I did search, and I'm going to continue searching. I hope i can get this solved!

 

How many miles are on the car? Did the previous owner tell you (like he would be honest) what kind of abuse he put the car through?

It could more than likely be just a clutch issue. And, generally, you won't be able to get that tranny into Reverse from a standstill and without going into a forward gear first to align everything to allow getting into Reverse. 10 to 1, it needs a new clutch.

 

Can you shift into all of the gears with the engine off? If so, then the clutch hydraulics are shot. Replace the clutch master and slave cylinders, along with the rubber hydraulic line.

If you cannot shift gears with the engine off, the clutch disc may be frozen/rusted to the flywheel, or the tob may be stuck on the input shaft. Worst case, the tranny is shot, but you can find replacements fairly cheaply.

 

Durn, he beat me to it, as usual. I was also going to mention the shift linkage may be trouble. But, as usual, trochoid shows up to aid anyone with "What the...?" distress.

 

+1 on faulty hydraulics

 

That's ok, you beat me on the short throw thread, and read it right, I didn't.

Just don't confuse these new guys with 'linkage' though. I guess we're even.

 

alright, I'm going to the guys house again tommorrow to check the hyrdraulics out fully. The car was a track and ice racing car, it's a 79 SA with everything modded it seems. The car has a rollbar in it whihc is pretty cool.

The seller is very honest and is a boss of a friend of mine.I'm really looking forward to buying it, so I hope it is simply the clutch hydraulics. I'll post back tommorrow night. I have some pics I took too I can post of the car to let you see what I found.

 

seems kinda simple, but is it out of clutch fluid maybe? I ran out of fluid once, and that's exactly what happens, you can't get it into any of the gears or reverse grinds. Just a thought...

 

If it's been a track car, plan on looking for a tranny anyway, and the SA one's are getting harder to come by. The FB ones can be modded to fit though. While roll bars may seem cool, do not drive it on the street without fully padding it. Driving it without a helmet is more dangerous than not having the roll bar.

Post pics and a list of mods after you look at it. Good luck on getting the car.

 

In my 94 eclipse when the clutch went out, it went all the way out and the clutch disk broke. Into 4 pieces lol. Anyways, I couldnt get it into gear when the engine was running, but I could when it was not running. I could also start it in first gear and shift clutchless once it got going. Obviously, this puts alot of extra strain on the starter.

Enthu - I have a tranny from an SA. No idea if it is 4 or 5 speed, but if you drive the 6 hours to come get it, it is yours.

 

I took as friend from NY last summer to the 1/8th mile track. He had upgraded the turbo in his VW Golf, or whatever the newer ones are, and had never been to the track before. Car was crazy fast, but his first run was over 14 secs. By the time the 3rd run came around, they had to push him off the staging area.

PP had split in 4 pieces, right in line with the rivets, and those were all that was holding it together. Never seen a pp like that before and the VW have a funky clutch setup anyway. Had he been able to launch the last time, we would have been picking up pieces.

Tranny shifted fine with the engine off, running it was a major pita. Did manage to drive it 30 miles back to my house so we could order parts and get him back together to head 1/2 way across the country. Haven't heard from him since, he was shortly called up to go back to Iraq. Still owes me for the labor, but hey, gotta support the troops.

 

the previous owner owned a transmission shop. The guy I'm buying it from bought it from the previous owner who is his friend and just parked it for like a year. The car has 130k on it. As for the roll bar, it seems too be wll behind the seat, and the seat is deep enough with a 4-point harness that I can't see ever getting to the roll bar in an accident but I suppose in an accident the roll bar could move.

What material should be used for a padding roll bar>?

 

Since it has sat for over a year, I would highly suspect the hydralics of the clutch system. It could be the clutch disc has stuck to the flywheel.
Padding for the roll bar, go to a home improvement center, and find some pipe insulation that will fit over the bars. Zip-tie and wrap with tape. Other choice, is paying way too much at a speed shop for basicly the same stuff, only sold as roll bar padding...

 

Rogue_Wulff Pipe insulation is not roll bar padding. I bought mine at the local speed shop for $2.89 for 3' stick. Jegs has it too. Roll bar padding has the center offset so it is thick on one side and thin on the other.Comes in a bunch of colors, even neons, oh boy.

 

Enthu,
This sounds really familiar. This car wouldn't happen to be located in Backus, MN or anywhere near there would it (north of Brainerd)? I know a guy named Tony just down the road that has a few SA's that he ice races and is a co-owner of a shop called F&S Transmission.

 

Finally ran across the pic of the pp I mentioned in this thread. I have never seen one this close to failure, that didn't.

 

Roundabout, strange you say that, the guy with the car bought it from someone who owns a transmission shop.

 

I went to check the car today. The hydraulics seem to be good and the plunger comes out of the slave.I bled the clutch as well. The car goes into gears with the engine off, and moves when hard started in gear. So, what could it be then?

I'm about to put the pictures up just resizing.

 

I have the exact same problem after leaving the car for two days. I'm suspecting replacement of clutch master and slave. It was out of fluid when I checked...filled didn't make a difference. There's most likely something wrong with the hydraulics. Exact same though, reverse grinds, will not go into other gears, start in first will make the car jump and no feeling at all on the clutch pedal.

 

The clutch pedal offers some resistance. I noticed a whistle/whien when I pressed it that got higher pitched the further I pressed the pedal. I can see the plunger pushing out of the slave and moving the lever on top of the transmission. so if it is hydraulics it just must nit be pushing it far enough out.

\The owner said it would work every now and then but gave him trouble.Now that it has sat, it won't shift at all.

Roundabout, The car is in Albertville, owned by a guy named Jerome.
That F&S sounds familiar. Jerome may have said that name.

 

a bad pilot bearing can do this also...(i ******* hate pilot bearings) mine did this same thing there was a little bit of bearing left in the e-shaft and it caused the bearing to binde on the trans shaft...well maybe not the same thing my car jumped forward when it was in N and i bumped the key

good luck...does it jump forward when in N??

cheers PaTricK

 

I was waiting for some one to mention pilot bearing. Mine did the exact same thing.

 

I had a Mustang do this to me. Worked fine when I hit the highway. I got into town and stopped at a stoplight and couldn't get the piece of **** back in gear. Ended up with a 50 mile tow bill on that one.

 

The guy in the picture is my friend Matnerg. He somehow was in every picture. Though I asked him to, he just couldn't get out of the way. So I cropped him out.