i guess this is unique to me...
for the second time since ive owned my car may transmission (5spd) scared the crap out of me.

sitting in traffic today the car started to heat up. the cooling fans came online and the car then began to creep foward (with the clutch in and in 1st gear). it would then stall and would not go out of or into gear. id push it a few feet and it would be fine. i have no idea what the problem could be. searching turned up no situation remotely similar to this. need help please......

 

you pushed the car while it was in gear? You're pretty strong! heh.

This could be a lot of things... I would check out your clutch fluid level (same resevoir as the brakes), tranny fluid level, and also try to figure out if your clutch fork is bent, and try to see if your pilot bearing might be bad... are there any strange noises?

Unfortunately, you just gotta start checking stuff

 

lol, no didnt push it while it was in 1st... i managed to get it out of gear before i pushed it (i can tell when the transmission will start acting up).
checked the fluid (full), and changed the tranny oil last week.
no stange noises coming out of the transmission.... i guess it could be the fork or the pilot bearing ... something internal.
im not chewing gears, when the fluid was changed there was only very mild shavings on the magnetic plug.

 

It's probably the master cylinder. As clutch master cylinders get older, they can't hold hydraulic pressure as well and the pressure leaks past the seals, especially if you load it (push the clutch down) for a long time.

It's either the master or the slave cylinder, but I'd go ahead and replace both. When one goes, the other usually follows. Might also want to get a stainless braided clutch hose to go with it - they're needed if you go to a heavy pressure plate to maintain line pressure.

Dale

 

that makes perfect sense now that its been explained. i'll look into that. thanks for the tips...