Last night I pulled into a parking space of a restaurant and my car jerked foward and died, like when you drop the clutch at a stop.

I thought I had just slipped, so I turned the car on (in neutral), and it wouldn't go into any gear.
I immediately thought the clutch pedal height adjusting nut came loose.
But I checked it, and turned the screw in a little, and I was still unable to go into any gear with the car on, and in neutral.

I just bled my clutch fluids, and it did nothing.

I just installed a ACT s/s clutch a couple of weeks ago, so I highly doubt anything is severely broken.

Also, I took the inspection plate off the bottom of the trans while someone pushed in the clutch pedal. The pressure plate and disc seem to be moving away from the flywheel.

Now I have heard that installing a heavy duty pressure plate can make the pedal height very low, could this be the case? Could the rubber clutch line be expanding so much that the clutch won't even engage??

This happened all of a sudden, not like the problem was getting worse. Any clues?

 

How are your clutch master and slave cylinders? If they are old and shot they might not be creating enough pressure to move the clutch far enough but you said it was moving hmm....


What condition is the tranny in? Maybe it failed on you.

 

The tranny ran fine, the 2nd gear synchro is a little weak, but as long as it has high-quality fluid in it, it works great.

I am starting to think it may be the master and/or slave cylinders.
I ignored them at first because there was no clutch fluid leaking around them.

Now I did notice when I was bleeding the clutch, that the level of the clutch Master cylinder would go down with the bleeder valve shut.

How can I tell if the master/slave cylinder is out??

 

Well I think there is a certain amount of movement they should creat at the clutch fork where the slave engages the fork. I don't personally know how much it is supposed to be. The FSM or a Haynes manual might have that info for you. If one of them is shot I would definately recomment you get both cylinders and the clutch line at the same time. That way you are sure the complete system is working good.

Santiago

 

I don't think the cylinders are bad, because when the clutch is depressed the slave cylinder pushes the clutch fork.
I'm starting to think my pilot bearing could have gone out.
I tried to crank my engine with the tranny in neutral, and it was making a strange sound and the engine never fired up.

Could a shot pilot bearing cause the engine to not turn over properly as well as make the tranny not go into gear?

 

If you didn't replace the pilot/release bearings you did a disservice to your car and yourself. That is supposed to be done at the time you do the clutch/flywheel work.

 

Have a friend depress and hold down the clutch pedal while you watch the slave cylinder. If the rubber accordian starts sinking back in, your hydraulics are bad. Doesn't really matter which part, because they both need to be replaced at the same time. Nopionline.com has pretty good prices on clutch hydraulics(around $60 for both master and slave cylinders from tokico). Also check the line between the master cylinder and the slave cylinder for leaks.

Steve

 

Oh I know better than that!
I replaced the pilot and throwout bearing the at the same time. I was thinking if I installed it improperly it could have gone out over the past 200 miles??

Mtn Racer: I tried your test method, and the slave cylinder seems to hold its position. Neither have any obvious leaks. I am a little hesitant to spend over $100 for both cylinders and then still be stuck with no car......

Are there other ways to tell what could be wrong??

 

its 60 bucks for two cylinders, slave and master. Thats 60 plus shipping for 2 of the 3 components of the hydraulics system. the only other part is the line which you can get from corksport for 18 bucks. It will total about 100 smackers shipped.

 

If his slave cylinder is holding pressure, then his hydraulics should be fine. Was your clutch fork in ok condition?

Steve

 

Now the question of why my engine wont turn over?

Since it only makes an odd sound, and sounds like the engine won't fire makes me think it is more than the hydraulic system.

 

same thing happened to me
i was driving fine, but all in a sudden the car wont get into any gear at all
i can start the car tho
still trying to figure out whats wrong

 

any luck on finding the problem guys? my car is now doing this :-(

 

Oops, I forgot all about this thread.
I got it fixed, I took it to a trained Mazda technician who works on RX7s on the side....

For one, the engine wouldnt start because I lightly flooded it before it was towed to the FIRST transmission shop. They were retarded and made it worse, but I didnt know that.
So this Mazda guy unflooded it, and found the pilot bearing came apart.

I apparantly installed it incorrectly, or else it was a faulty part (unlikely ).

Check everything else people on here listed cwsttu, or take your tranny apart.

 

Yikes, it was your pilot bearing? Did you forget the seal or something?

Steve