Is it a clutch or a tranny problem?
 

It mostly happens in the morning when the car is cold, but sometimes randomly when it is warm. One thing it does if putting the car in or out of gear, the tranny kinda clunks (like if you were to pop the shifter out of gear without pressing the clutch), even if the clutch is fully pressed. Other times it lightly grinds between gears, but not always any specific gear, and not loud enough to hear it, I can just feel it in the shifter.

The tranny is the stock TII 5spd w/ new fluid. The clutch is an ACT S/S w/ heavy duty pressure plate. The hydraulics have all been replaced w/ new, including SS clutch line. The hydraulics and clutch all have about 1200 miles on them. The tranny has 70,000 miles. The pedal play and position are in spec of the FSM, and I have bled the line 100's of times.

Any idea where I should look? I just feel like the clutch isnt fully disengaging, not allowing me to shift into gear smoothly. But I have tried to fix that to no avail. Any chance the tranny is causing me problems?

Re: Is it a clutch or a tranny problem?
 

It really does sound like the clutch to me also.

Try this test:
Idleing in neutral - listen to the sound of the tranny countershaft & bearings spinning.
The tranny should only take about 2 seconds to spin down when you step on the clutch.
If it keeps spinning, something in the clutch or pilot bearing is dragging.

Ok, I did that test. I cant hear it while it idles, but at about 3-4k RPM I can, and it stops almost immediatley after engaging the clutch, so I don't think its having a problem there.

I also checked how it shifted between gears at high RPMs. If I rev it to like 5000, then push in the clutch and go into any gear, it takes it a good second or 2 before it will let me go into gear. After that if I don't remove the clutch, it will transition smoothly and instantly between gears. Once I release the clutch (and its in neutral), the RPMs suddenly drop by about 250, then slowly rise back up. Does any of that info help w/ anything?

you said mostly when its cold rite.... but once the car is warm stops doing it? mine does this too... once its warm it shifts perfectlly fine... i guess the fluid needs time to warm up to lubricrate correctly

Thats what I thought it was all this time, but sometimes it does it when its warm anyway.

Maybe its just a fluke that it happens sometimes. And maybe I just imagine it because I'm worried about what is wrong with it. But it FOR SURE does it when its cold.

switch to redline or syncromesh and hope for the best.... tranny should be fine tho

hey, i have the same problem with my transmission. i think it could be the pilot or throwout bearings. i will probably replace both soon and may even put in a new shifter bushings set from mazdatrix.

Bringing this one back.

This morning when I started my car up, I held the clutch in, and put it in first to avoid the cold start rev up thing, and after about 30 seconds the car started to creep forward and then stalled out. The clutch stunk really bad after too. So it looks like even though I had the clutch pedal fully on the floor, it hand't fully depressed the clutch...

Any ideas on what I need to look for? Could the hydraulics be bad already? Could the clutch be misaligned? Or something with the pilot bearing? I'm running out of ideas here, and ANY suggestions are helpful. Thanks!!

Sounds like the cross shaft/throw out bearing is not pushing the clutch in far enough. Maybe the clutch (the cover not the disk) is built wrong and the fingers are not sticking out far enough (close enough to the TOB). If the fingers are "sunken" it won't release the spring pressure like it should.

Maybe the clutch overheated? This would loose clamping pressure/lowering the fingers. Does it slip at all, or just drag when the clutch is pressed in? I'd recomend a "turbo" throw out bearing and maybe a new cutch cover.

Its a brand new clutch. Act S/S. Also has a brand new pressure plate and throwout bearing. The car IS a turbo, and when I ordered, I specified that. So I wouldn't think it wouldn't have the right throw out bearing, but maybe I'm mistaken? Can the pressure plate be bad to begin with?