I was on day 3 of learning stick and day and day 2 were fine to where I am comfortable driving around a 3 mile radius. Everything was fine until I had to go a bit uphill over a bridge. I was trying to shift up and I guess I grinded it for a quick second and shortly after some smoke came out the boot and some burnt smell. I panicked for a bit but quickly recovered by going into neutral and shifting 5th for some reason and then coasted for a bit then downshifted until I came up to a red light.

I had about another mile and some change to my destination and it shifted fine even after that little heart attack. I finally reached my destination and it even went in reverse fine.

I had it parked in gear like normal and a few hours after, I needed to head home. It started right up, HOWEVER, it would not move in ANY gear.

it would be in any gear, Id take the clutch off and it would not stall at all. It’s like it’s in neutral in all gears. I finally had it towed back home a day later.

My main question is, what would I need to check or mess with prior to the diagnosis of replacing the whole clutch? I am personally not experienced enough mechanically but I also can’t help but feel helpless seeing her on the driveway just sitting pretty.


thank you everyone for any input!

edit: added more information

 

With the engine off, you should be able to slowly move the trans into a neutral without the clutch being depressed. My guess is that a shift fork is misaligned or jammed.

 

I just edited my post to add more info. I was able to tow it home now she is on my driveway

 

The smoke was the clutch lining burning a bit. Not usually fatal and not unusual if new to a stick. Sounds like your clutch is not disengaging or the tranny fork is not shifting gears like KC said. Either way you probably will need to drop the transmission and sort it out.

 

I bought a second gen RX-7 (1986) that had this issue. The problem was that the previous owner glazed the clutch disc so much that it would not grab. You could rev it all you wanted and let the clutch out in gear, and it would not move. Not even a little regardless of how much I tried to slip the clutch. I say at the very least you need a new clutch disc. When I inspected the 1986, they got it so hot that the flywheel had heat marks and tiny cracks. Had to replace the flywheel and entire clutch disc/clutch plate/throw-out bearing.

 

The finger leaf springs on the clutch cover are likley overheated and lost their temper, allowing the clutch cover tolerance to open up to the point that the clutch disk is never engaging. This is due to allowing the clutch to slip too much, increasing friction in the system and with a lot of shifting - like while learning - it never had time to cool down, hence the overheating.

Your transmission is likely fine as long as you're not hearing grinding of the gears when the engine is spinning and the clutch is lifted when attempting to engage any gear. Likely, you need a new clutch disk, clutch cover, throw-out bearing and pilot bearing and it's seal. The While-You're-In-There parts include a new Clutch Actuating Fork to goes over the Throw Out Bearing, and a new Transmission Front Cover and seal, as these are probably worn out if the car has any miles on it at all.

Not a particularly difficult job, but expect a competent shop to charge about $1k plus parts.

 

Just a quick update on my car, and thank you to everyone who responded:

It turns out the clutch is BURNT! It was extremely thin and it was just about done. My fiance and I (mostly him lol) were finally able to replace the clutch! We replaced it with the Exedy one from Rockauto since I don't expect to do some extreme driving with this yet.

The pilot bearing was a PITA. I had to go through the Dremel route and it came out in like 5 minutes. The 450lb transmission jack from Harbor Freight couldn't handle the tranny for some reason. Or we just abused it to hell lol. The dirty gear oil made me nauseous every time I had to go down there.

After the new clutch and other parts have been replaced, the shifting alone felt like day and night difference. She luckily started right up, but we created some vacuum leaks so it idles at around 2000 rpm now lol. The idly was at a good 750 prior to the clutch replacement. That's something i'll be checking tomorrow, no big deal.

I can finally feel the clutch engagement point and just learned how to really feather it in and out. I had to literally floor the clutch aggressively prior to this.

Regardless - the OEM clutch has lived its life at a full 102k+ miles!

I will continue to ease into it and learn how to drive her every day!

@t_g_farrell @KansasCityREPU @LongDuck

 

Thanks for the update on your previous post, and it sounds like you guys "rolled-up you sleeves" and got it done. Props to you, and fiancé, for taking on the challenge and fixing your "RX7."

 

It was definitely a challenge and not the first "mod" i was expecting, but really happy that it's out of the way. Id rather have a done for clutch than a low compression 12a