I was driving my fc home from work all normal when I pull up to a stop sign, go to put my car in neutral and have to really force it into neutral, then try to put my car back into first and start driving and nothing, won't go into any gear grinds like a mf trying to put it in reverse. Anyways I did some research and figured my clutch hydraulics went bad so I replaced my clutch master and slave cylinder but still nothing, I bled the clutch, theres no air bubbles coming out, the clutch fork moves. Im so lost. It was working perfectly fine yesterday and there was no signs the clutch was going bad. Any help would be really appreciated

 

Sometimes the bushings in the shift lever break making it nearly impossible to shift. As a first step, I would recommend inspecting and/or replacing these bushings. If it's not the bushings, than it's likely something in the transmission. Here's a link on how to access the bushings: https://mazdatrix.com/86-92-shifter-bushings/

 

welcome to the board.

if it wasn't the hydraulics, then my next suspect would be the pilot bearing.

 

my shifter is definitely sloppy but would that cause it to make a grinding noise when I’m trying to shift? I can shift into every gear with the car off it’s just when the car is running I can’t get into any gears

 

As you see the fork moving, remove the flywheel inspection plate to make certain the fork isn't fractured
and is moving the bearing properly.
Measure the distance from firewall to perpendicular line from pedal center, 7.2" to 7.6" and make certain
free play, 1/2" max.
As above, pilot bearing gone.
Check fluid level.

 

You didn't say that earlier. Always provide the details. That's a good sign. Like the others have mentioned, I would next check your pilot bearing.

 

How many miles on the clutch setup?

 

170k original clutch lol

 

im just thinking of replacing the clutch and all the bearings seeing as if the pilot bearing is gone everything else is probably gonna follow shortly. Question about clutch though, what kind of clutch would you recommend for just daily street use and occasional drifting? I'm looking at the act clutch kit and exedy clutch kit just trying to figure out if the extra 200$ is worth it for the act. Its a completely stock 1988 vert

 

I'll leave that up to the experts. When I replaced the original clutch assembly in my '89TII,
used all OEM parts.

 

all right, thanks for your help my friend

 

If it means anything, my S4 clutch went at 163k with the first clutch... . The bearing was making a grinding sound.

 

might be helpful to say exactly which "kits" you're comparing.

also, i'm not a drifter, so let me put that out there; but i would imagine that even doing it occasionally would require a little more than just a stock replacement.

 

A less common failure but a possibility- the diaphragm spring on the pressure plate could have broken. The result would be you still having a pedal feel that resembles a working clutch but the pressure plate would no longer be releasing the disc.

 

Hi everyone!

This is what I have done with a rebuilt transmission, while mating the trans to the engine I noticed that I had to close a gap at the bottom of the bellhousing.

New clutch (not stock), new pilot bearing and seal, I was able to close the gap (1/8th inch) by tightening the bottom bolts!

If there was too much grease where the pilot bearing goes would this cause the gap?

After getting the engine/transmission mounted back into the engine bay, I finally attached the Mazdatrix short shifter that I have been using for a few years.

I added gear oil to the shifter reservoir and when I went to test it, it does not shift into first or second and the other gears feel very weird.

I followed the instructions for the shifter bushing order.

I read on this forum somewhere that someone assembled his transmission with the control rod aligned incorrectly.
He had to remove the tail housing to correct the problem.
Something about having it in the correct gear when putting it together.

Any advice will be very welcome!

 

I'm not sure the cause of the OP's issues, but one thing that will make it near impossible to shift into any gear is the pilot bearing fragging and locking the engine and tranny together. That happened to me years ago.

For yours, I wonder if there is too much grease, like using bread to push out the bearing. Although I would think the grease would find a way out since it's not the same consistency as bread. It sucks but it might be worth pulling the tranny back out to check. That's another thing that's very difficult when the engine and tranny are locked together, it's a real pain in the *** to separate them.

 

the transmission should pop right in, if you had to draw it in with the bolts, you certainly damaged something in the process.

this is a fair warning to anyone as well. if the transmission doesn't rather easily move into place, take it down and start over with your clutch alignment tool and inspecting everything thoroughly. being impatient will just cost you more time and aggravation in the long run. be sure to jack up the nose of the engine as well, to make the process less painful.

the pilot bearing only needs a dab of grease too, if the bearing pilot hole is packed with grease, yes it will fight you going together, potentially even damaging the input shaft bearing while cranking it down.

 

Is there any difference between a S4 5 speed NA and a S5 NA 5 speed transmission?

The rebuilt transmission seemed exactly like my original S4 tranny, except for the control rod end. The opening for the shifter was too large and I had to get a bushing from Mazdatrix to match their short shifter. This was not the case when I installed their shifter into my original transmission!

I seemed to have screwed the pooch on this, let me know what you think I did wrong.

 

the only mounting difference between the S4 and S5 is the S4 has a flat transmission mount where the S5 has a V shaped saddle mount, you'd know if they got crossed up because the transmission mounts wouldn't bolt up. usually when someone draws a tranny in forcefully it crushes the pilot bearing. so i would suggest removing the transmission and inspecting your input shaft bearing in the e-shaft. while it's out manually turn the input shaft and go through the gears with the shifter temporarily mounted. it should turn the output shaft proportionally to each gear.

if your pilot bearing is crushed, inspect your input shaft pilot bearing surfaces on the transmission. the nose might have gotten marred up some.

in this scenario you can shift the car with the engine off but it won't go into gear with the engine running.

 

I had an issue like this in 2016, the car had popped into gear while the shifter fork was not in position, the shifter had limited range of motion and wouldnt go into any gear. I ended up taking off the tailshaft and pulling it back out of gear, never had the issue since.

 

Thanks, this is very likely to be the fix!

 

You will know this is the issue if your car still rolls when letting the clutch out with the shifter in the neutral position.