Ok - I am having problems with my FD. My FD does not want to go into gear if the car is at a stop. It acts like the clutch is not disengaged. If I shut off the car and then put it into gear and then start it I can get the car going. Once I am driving shifts from 2nd to 3rd or 4th or 5th are normal. But coming to a stop it will not go into 1st or 2nd. I have had it in the shop but the shop is unsure of the problem - they keep saying it is my pressure plate or pilot bearing but I am not sure that is the problem. I have an ACT heavy duty pressure plate, street strip disc, and a 9.5lb flywheel plus a apex short shifter. I had them adjust the pedal and replace the clutch line with a SS unit from Corksport and it seemed to fix the problem for about 40 miles but now it is worse. When I try to start the car in gear the car want to move forward even though the clutch pedal is to the floor. So it does not want to start with it in gear. And now I can feel a vibrating through clutch pedal when I push it in. My car is at the shop again. One other thing it does and I am not sure if it is the tranny or my short shifter, when I try to put it into 1st gear it sometimes goes into this place other than 1st. Further to the left and is not in gear. What could the problems be? Clutch master cylinder? Tranny? Clutch pressure plate? Slave cylinder? Pilot bearing? Thanks in advance!

 

A few ideas:

o Your pedal is NOT adjusted right even though the shop says it is.
o Your shifter going "somewhere to the left but not in 1st" doesn't sound good. Are all the bushings installed properly so that it isn't all sloppy? This doesn't sound to me like a "won't go in gear" problem though.
o Your pressure plate has collapsed and it won't fully disengage
o The pilot bearing has self destructed, and the bits of it are partially ground up/melted into the end of the eccentric shaft which is making it hard for the input shaft on the transmission to move independantly of the engine's eccentric shaft.
o Your clutch cylinder is leaking pressure... does it work better if you pump it two times quickly?
o Your release bearing fork is bent and it no longer has the correct shape to fully disengage the clutch.

B

 

im gona go with slave cylinder. this would happen if is bad. but make sure there are no leaks first.

 

I would check the slave cylinder first. When you said that you couldn't get it in gear at a stop, but could shift, that tells me that the slave clyinder isn't holding pressure for very long.

You may have other problems too, but that is what I would check first.

Good luck, Adam

 

Thanks - The shop said the slave did not show signs of leaking. Could it be bad without external signs? Should I have them rebuild the master and replace the slave cylinder before they pull the clutch?

It seems that the problem does not happen all the time
so that would make me think that it is a problem in the master or slave with holding pressure. And the times it usually happens is when i am at an intersection and I have the clutch to the floor for a minute or so. And so when they replaced the hose and bled the system it helped for a few miles until i sat at an intersection. But now it is vibrating through the pedal.

A little background;
The clutch was replaced in October 2002 and about 5k miles ago.
I know the guy that did the replacement said the pilot bearing took about 2 hours to pull because there was no lube on it and so it was damaged.

 

When you depress the clutch, the slave cylinder pushes fluid into a hose, which disengages the clutch. Eventually, the O-rings in the slave cylinder get worn, and the inside surface of the slave gets rough. When this happens, the clutch fluids seeps past the O-rings, and you lose pressure on the clutch plate. So, if you are stopped at a light, in gear, the clutch will slowly engage. Once this starts happening, it usually gets worse quickly. Warmer temperatures may cause your O-rings to expand. This might make your problem seem to go away as the car warms up.

 

Do this... get under the car w/ a flashlight and open the view hole on the bottom of the bell housing... 2x 10mm (Dont be under it when it opens!!!) w/ the flashlight peer into the hole and look for the clutch fork... on the bottom side of it there is a stud that is tapped through the finger part of it and this is where mine completley snapped off!!! (Just got done replacing the little F-er yesterday) Also if you have the slightest amount of knowledge on mechanics go to Autozone and buy the rebuild kits for the master and slave cylinders... ($12) and use the manual to rebuild them. Its easy! Plus now the clutch travel is much better! My slave cylinder was scored and burt on the sides...



Here is a pic to help!

 

i think your shop sucks! take it to someone who knows what their doing. yea warranty work!!