Well, I was driving pretty normal by my standards, shifting from 3-4 going around 40-45 down a nice busy street. Pushed in the clutch and was rewarded with a nice clunk. After the clunk, the tranny wouldn't go into gear, so I coasted into a parking lot (sooo lucky) and parked in front of a british pub (oh the luck, my car breaks, so I get a few drinks in...). Goofed around and discovered the following. Before the clunk, the tranny worked fine, no grinding, the clutch grabbed good, hardly if any noise, rather unexpected (not completely, 86K original everything). Tranny goes into gear when motor is off, so I figured my clutch is not disengaging while pushing the pedal.

So...

Tranny good.
Hydraulics=?
Clutch and related bearings=?
Shift fork=?

So my q's.

1. How to test for function of hydraulics. Can I see if everything is doing it's job from the outside? I know i'm not going to see the shift fork or anything, I just want to know if there is going to be (or should be) something moving when the clutch is depressed (from the engine bay looking down).

2. Would it be likely for the clutch or the bearings to just FAIL flat out without any noise to begin with, just all of a sudden under calm driving conditions?

3. Likelyhood of the shift fork actually bending or breaking, is it a common thing?

TIA,

Joe

 

1. If you have someone push the clutch while your looking under the hood, and you look at the slave cylinder on the top of the tranny, you should see it move.

2. On an old 85 gslse beater I had, the clutch just stopped working one day. No warning, or anything. I think somthing broke on the pressure plate. Anyway, if your problem is just the clutch, you can still drive the car. To shift, you need to match the rpms of the engine and the tranny, and with gentle pressure, the lever will just slide in. To get started from a standstill, turn the car off, put it in gear, and start it. It'll buck a little, but she'll take off. I drove that -se around for about a week like that. I think your car has a clutch switch, so you'll still have to put your foot on the clutch to do the start it in gear thing.

If you weren't wailing on the tranny, I doubt you bent a shift fork.

If you do the clutch job, I remember reading you can use the TII throw out bearing. Its beefier than the NA, and from your discription, it sounds like thats your prob.

 

I'll be using TII bearings cause it is a TII . Guess I shoulda said that . Thx for the response!

 

It really sounds like hydraulics at this point, though it is difficult to tell. Mark is right, have someone look under the hood while pushing the clutch. Actually, you should be able to "feel" the pedal. I would think it would be very free. It should have very little resistance at all. If it is the hydraulics you will need to replace the clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder, and the hose. It's easy and can be done for around $100. Do not try a rebuild kit, it's not worth the time.
just my opinion,
hanman

 

Working from memory, my car is about 10 miles away in the parking lot. The clutch has the same "feel to it", IE it doesn't sink to the floor, the fluid was full (granted I didn't pump it 80 times)...I'm gonna go check that after work today (slave)...Sucks, at worst i'm out 5-600 bucks...

 

I put my money the pilot bearing has failed...&nbsp Yes, it can fail without any warning.




-Ted

 

ARRRRR

Oh well. Now all I have to do is find a place that doesn't want to rip me off. Jaybr took his to the place I was thinking about and had all kinds of problems, so I guess I get to look around.

 

My car did the same thing once....turns out my clutch plate just broke into pieces, and the remaining piece of clutch couldn't be disengaged from the flywheel...pain in the butt. Hope you don't get ripped off, whatever the problem may be...

 

Having the TII is nice in this instance since they have the inspection plate. You will be able to see quite a bit w/ a flashlight. After figuring out I could keep boost from dropping off during shifts by "power shifting" and slipping the clutch brutally on re-engagement my stock clutch plate fragmented-big surprise, ha ha. I fell in love w/ inspection plate!

 

Agreed. Exact same thing happened to me at work. One clunk and it was all over.

Whoever you decide to get to do the repairs, make SURE you tell 'em to grease the **** outta the new bearing to help prevent it going again in the future.

Maybe this is a good thing... now you can upgrade your clutch?

- Jim

 

I heard a clunk with the pedal depressed, it was the seal suddenly failing on the slave cylinder and the noise was the clutch slapping shut again. I had no brake fluid left. I just clutch-less shifted all the way home (~15 miles through lights... good timing was necessary since a full stop was impossible) and replaced the failed unit. Everything worked great. Mind you, I knew it was hydralics whent he pedal sunk to the floor.
I would just get a friend to hop in the car and pump the pedal while you watch the arm for disengagement.
Also had a clutch disc blow out on me, saw the burning embers fly out of engine bay (hood was off). Millions of sparks flying over the windshield, thought the engine had exploded. I would rev the engine, but go nowhere.
Sean Cathcart

 

i have an 88 gxl that i knew had a burnt flywheel in it but no more money after a clutch and a tranny swap, ran for a month fine then one very cold day it ran great in morning but after sitting for a while it slipped in every gear but if you raced the engine it would catch until you shifted then you had to rev it again, then the next day it quit letting me shift like above for about a mile then with no bad noises altogether it just stopped going completely.

 

didnt read the reply's but that same thing happened to my nissan truck and it was the slave cylinder.

definittley hydraulics

Justin

 

Pressure plate collapsed ...got it all fixed. Funny thing is, when I got the car, the clutch had some ******* pressure to it to get it to go in. When it was fixed, the pedal just flew to the floor. In disbelief, I drove to the mazda dealership, hopped in a new miata, and the clutch felt the same as the replaced 7 clutch. I'm happy, but poorer overall .