Hi, I've got a bit of an unusual problem I haven't been able to solve yet. When my car is cold I have no problem getting it into 1st or reverse and taking off, but once I've been driving for a while (atleast 5-10 minutes) it gets really hard to put into first gear or reverse. If i start a bit of a roll though it goes into gear really easily. I just replaced the slave and master to fix another clutch related problem. I'm hoping someone might have an idea as to what the problem may be. Thanks.

Dave

 

I am some what of a noob, but two things.

If you have air in your clutch line it is expanding when the engine is hot and not properly engaging the clutch?

Second, when was the last time you changed your gear oil. Sounds like it is the wrong weight if you did it recently. At warm temps it is not viscous enough to stick to the shaft.

I'm sure an expert will chime in shortly.

 

Changing the gear oil could possibly help. When was the last time the gear oil was changed? If recently, it's possible your transmission is saying goodbye soon, could be a bad gear or bad syncro. Try rev matching to see if you can get into gear. You can get a used transmission (which is pretty cheap and not hard to come by) or take it to get it rebuilt (much more expensive).

 

Fluid may be the answer. It has Redline MT in it but I don't know how long it's been in there. I forgot to mention, in all the other gears while i'm driving it goes into them fine. It's just when I'm starting off from a stand still in either 1st or reverse its sticky going in.

 

Change the fluid then, I see you're from Canada so make sure you get the correct viscosity.

 

MT90 is 75-90 and MTL is like 70-80. Just my opinion once again, but if you had MTL in there for a good while it would break down even lower and cause a problem like that when hot.

I have tried MT90 in my other car, and I could not stand it. Mind you this is a 6spd front wheel drive car, but the cold shifts are terrible and the LSD whine was also bad. So far Motorcraft's XT-M5-QS has been a great replacement for MT90 in my other vehicle.

 

It differs from country to country?

I'm going to change the fluid out and see if that makes a difference. Will let you guys know.

 

I would recommend trying Amsoil Synchromesh. It has been proven to waken up many a sticky transmission. It's good stuff.

 

If you start to hear a grinding noise when you press the clutch in then its probably the pilot bearing. Though if it was that I would expect it to start to get hard to get into all gears once it warms up.

 

No grinding noises. I'll check into that Amsoil. I've heard good stuff about it before.

 

It doesn't vary from country to country, but your in a cooler climate than e.g. California or New York, so the viscosity varies with temperature.

 

I'd bet that your 1st gear synchro is shot. It's very common. It takes alot of abuse because the car should really be at a near standstill when you shift into 1st, but people like to shove it into gear around 15 or so without any sort of rev matching. It's also THE most shifted into gear, so it stands to reason that it'll wear out first. Amsoil will give it some more life, but don't expect it to last.