I'm looking at a 1985 GSL-se for sale. But there's an undiagnosed problem with it. when the engine is off you can shift through the gears like everything is fine and well. When you start the car you cannot put the car in any gear at all. It feels like you are trying to shift without pushing the clutch pedal in but, the hydraulic system is working fine, the slave cylinder and all. Now, when the motor is running there is alot of noise, I mean, a lot, of noise like the throw out bearing is destroyed or the internals of the tranny or disintegrated or something. The car is all stock under the hood, but I am thinking it may have an aluminum flywheel. It idles at just over 1 grand and when you just barely and I do mean barely tap the pedal like even rest your foot on it, it happily revs to about 4 grand. the motor sounds good, revs happier than any SE I have ever been in. But the problem with the tranny, what could be going on. I was talking with a friend and we came to the conclusion that if in fact it has an aluminum flywheel and the last person to have fun with it drove the crap out of it that maybe the clutch disc got welded to the flywheel therefore, not allowing the transmission to become free or disengaged when pressing the clutch since they're stuck.
Tell me what you all think.

 

im pretty sure that isn't the case as the clutch is made of organic material and wouldn't fuse with a metal like that. unless (jus throwing a wild guess here) maybe the clutch is totally gone and the metal part of it(the backing plate) where the marcel spring sits and/or the rivets got fused to it due to the spirited driving but i really doubt it

 

I would have to agree with the flywheel, but it sounds more like it is cracked. When cracked they make allot of noise. I will say that I have had a clutch fall to pieces. It was hard to get in gear, and when I went to replace it it fell apart.

 

I don't know about the revving, but the clutch issue sounds like a bad pilot bearing. If the hydraulics are indeed good.

 

Push it to a place where you have plenty of room and start it while in first. Then see if you can shift it into second gear without using the clutch. My clutch in my 94 eclipse shattered and that was the only way I could get around. If you can drive around, then the clutch is most likely gone. Just remember, the only way to get back going is to restart the car. just try not to go too far just in case.... Also in my eclipse I couldnt get into 5th. Highest I could get was 4th.

Just a thought....

 

The pilot brng shouldn't be grinding if the clutch is not engaged. He stated that with the motor running it was making allot of noise. He did not however say the clutch was engaged. I just replaced mine, a big f'n mess! It didn't make a sound untill I depressed the clutch, and there was nothing left of the brng at all.

 

okay to clear up the noise issue. It sounds exactly the same wether i have the clutch pedal pushed in or not. You all know how a throw out bearing sounds when it's going bad, you push in the clutch pedal and it quiets down well, that's not the case here. It makes the same noise, clutch in or out.

 

I pulled a '72 Z car out of a farmer's field after it sat for a couple of years. Had exactly the same symptoms. I believe it broke free eventually but it turned out to be the throwout bearing or the pilot bearing, I forget which. Try driving it without the clutch like recommended by IanS, at least that will tell you if the tranny is ok. My guess is its something simple, so I wouldn't worry too much about it costing big money, although you will most likely need to pull the tranny to fix it. Good luck...

 

If it is indeed the pilot brng be prepared for some work depending on how bad it is.

 

Sounds like a grenaded pilot bearing. Had the same problem with my 85 GSL-SE. The pilot shelled and the transmission input shaft and the eccentric shaft welded themselves together.

 

Ok I got the car. Even if it's only for parts I couldn't turn it down at the price I got it for.
I will be pulling the tranny off either saturday or sunday.
WE'll see what's up with this damn thing soon enough.

 

trannys aren't hard to come by.. just R2 the tranny and call it good. If the engine idles that nice, keep it and drive it!!!

 

Okay just to update this thread because we carely pulled the tranny down like 2 months ago.....
First of all not all clutches are made of organic material........What do you think a race clutch is made of????
They are made most commonly of Copper, like a 6 or 4 puck and there are also Carbon Fiber discs.
Well What we found when we opened this thing up was that the throw out bearing pretty much fell apart onec the tranny was out, so it was ground to crap.
Then the disc that was used was in fact a copper 6 puck on an aluminum flywheel, that was the reason it revved so freely.
Well I removed the 14mm bolts from the pressure plate and then I needed to knock it off with a hammer.
The disc seemed to have fused itself to the flywheel or the pressure plate.
I couldn't tell what it was stuck to. Both the flywheel and the pressure plate were goudged out fairly deep.
It looks like the racing beat style aluminum flywheel with the replaceable friction surface.......Well it seems that someone forgot to change the friction pad, yeah it was ground down reall low and rendered the flywheel useless.
As far as the tranny goes I still do not know what condition it is in since I never drove on it.