zach83rx7

Today I replaced my oil pan seal because I had a leak. After replacing it and letting the sealant dry I put oil in and started it up....now the car wont go into gear. When the car is off it goes into gear perfectly but when turned on it wont budge and trying to throw it in reverse grinds the gears. Again all I did was remove the oil pan, scrape all of the excess seal off and install the new seal. I did disconnect both sensors to take the pan off but put them back on, could disconnecting them just to remove the oil pan cause this? Also I have had a noise before I changed the oil pan where when I got to right around 4k on the rpms there would be a whining noise, kinda like a bad bearing. I don't have to be moving and it only happens when I get right around 4k rpms. I traced the sound to the alternator but that doesn't make since for why it would only whine around 4k. Help would be great. Thanks guys

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

Jacking the engine up may have hosed your clutch slave hose. Look at it and check for slave movement when somebody presses the clutch pedal.

Not sure on the whine.

zach83rx7

ok now I have a bigger problem. I bled the slave cylinder for the clutch and got all the air out but it still wouldn't go in gear when it was turn on. So I put it in reverse and held the clutch down and tried starting the car. what happened was it tried to move the car like I wasn't holding the clutch down and then it died. Now I have no electrical anywhere I mean no tail lights nothing. I checked the battery with a voltmeter and it said 13.06 volts. I checked the fuse links and they have a reading. No fuses are blown. What is going on?

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

I don't know. I suck at troubleshooting, plus I'm not even there to try things that may come to my mind while looking around investigating, as often occurs while troubleshooting things around here.

Have you tried adjusting your clutch pedal?

I wonder when trochoid will notice this post.

zach83rx7

yea I adjusted my clutch pedal to as far out as it will go. I even held the slave to make sure it moved and it did it pushed the arm all the way back. but like I said right when I tried starting it with gear while holding the clutch in it acted like the clutch was out and cranked a few times then stalled but it didn't jar to much. Then I tried turning it over and nothing I mean not even a click or anything. plus my brake lights wont go on I mean no electrical at all. Plus like I said I tested the battery and the fuse links with a volt meter and all of my fuses are good. Could this be the volt regulator? I am seriously out of ideas.

zach83rx7

A little side note for all those who are wondering. Its an 83 with a 12A engine. the only mod I have done is the Direct Fire system courtesy of Jeff and his diagrams. I changed both the slave and master clutch cylinders when I got the car about a year and a half ago along with a new battery.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

Perhaps one of the battery terminals lots its connection. I had that happen once trying to start an engine that sat for a while. I had the hood up and saw a spark jump when I turned the key to the start position. All the electrical died. It turned out to be the 10 guage wire that is next to the fat starter wire. The battery terminals were those replacement style with the two small bolts and the clamp. Well the 10 guage wire burned a little and lost connection. I took off the bolts, cleaned the metal, put it back together and it worked fine.

I'm thinking something like this may have happened to you when you put a large load on your starter cranking while in gear.

zach83rx7

yes this could be, however I replaced both battery terminals not to long ago, because the old ones were really bad. plus like I said I checked the fuse links inside the engine for voltage and I was reading around 2.5 volts. would be kinda odd if they had volts running through them without being connected but I will take a look at the terminals. it is worth a shot...

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

Yeah make sure your terminals are good. Maybe your ground got messed up?

zach83rx7

the ground? well I guess maybe if it tried to push to much power it could have broken lose, now its tracing it back to the ground. honestly I hope its something like the terminals or where the power meets the started it fried off so I don't have to search for the ground lug anywhere, but its dark tonight have to wait till tomorrow, I'm just really baffled it honestly makes no sense.

zach83rx7

ok good news I figured out the power problem. So I got under the car wiggled some wired and got power back. went to start it and dead again. I was again baffled. So I got out my volt meter and began to check continuity. Positive was good to the fuse links. and I saw this area where I guess Mazda uses to ground to the car chasis. I read infinity. This was odd because I could see the wire and the terminal was in my hand. Low and behold the connector had paint over where the ground sits on it, thats how it came when I bought them. The only thing is I have been driving the car for over a year with those terminals on them and they just now decided not to conduct any more. Bizarre....well I am back to square one with the clutch and I will update once I double check to see if my battery and alternator are good (I took them out because I was out of ideas).

Dr Rx

Seized thrust bearing?????

zach83rx7

where is the thrust bearing? and what could cause that to seize up just from having it on stands?

djessence

thrust bearing is part of the e-shaft ish assembly behind the front cover, its basically a needle bearing.

GavinJuice

your t.o. bearing is connected to the end of your clutch fork. When you apply the clutch, the fork pivots on an axis, which then presses the t.o. bearing against your pressure plate to disengage your clutch. Usually those grumble and roar when they go bad, sounds like hydraulics are failing in your situation.

djessence

t.o. being throw out bearing not thrust bearings. 2 very different things. never heard of the throw out bearing being called a thrust bearing but i cant garantee anything

GavinJuice

WHooooaa i was way off base there. I guess i read what i wanted to read.....haha. Makes sense, i read your post djessence and i was like wtf is he talking about. good golly

Starfox07

I would say throwout bearing. Mine did exactly the same thing. If the car is not running, the car will still move through the gears fine, but when the engine is running, its like the clutch is fully engaged and when you try to put it in gear, the car will actually start moving forward as the synchros are working overtime. Although I don't know how or if you caused it by replacing the gasket. My only guess is that it was in really bad shape to begin with, and somehow you moved it in such a way that it broke completely? Did you ever notice any kind of "spinning/squeaking" sounds before this happened? You would only hear it at idle with the clutch fully depressed.

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

It's possible that, when you jacked the engine up to do the pan, you squeezed the clutch fork against the top of the transmission tunnel and popped it off the internal pivot - - it's just held on by a spring.

Have someone press and release the clutch while you watch the tip of the slave cylinder. Is the tip properly in the hole at the top of the fork? Does it move in and out properly? It should push the top of the fork backward about an inch when the clutch is pressed.

If yes, unbolt the slave (don't disconnect the hose), and try moving the fork up and down, back and forth by hand, You should only have a small amount of play. If it's wiggling around freely, it's probably popped off the pivot, or could even be broken, or could have broken free of it's engagement with the TO bearing. That will probably mean you need to drop the trans.

If the fork is not moving when the pedal is pressed, either your clutch hydraulic seals are shot, or the TO bearing is seized on the front trans sleeve. Between the two, redoing the hydraulic seals is a lot less work.

You CAN push the clutch fork directly to see if it will operate, but it takes a lot of force, since you're flexing the clutch spring directly without any leverage. Normally, you need to use something like a broomhandle to get both hands on and get enough leverage... You have to be careful you don't let it slip off.