Alright heres the story....
I was driving in a parking lot and I shifted into second and all of a sudden the car starts dying on me. Nothing I can do can prevent it from dying so after it shuts off I put it in neutral and start it up again. No problems. Press the clutch and it won't go into any gear. Try as I might if I put a lot of force you hear the noise that happens if you put the car in gear without pressing the clutch, so clearly the clutch is not disengaging. In this ghetto mode the car was in I was able to get it to my girlfriend's stepdad's shop which was quite close and he said it was likely the clutch master cylinder. He said he could replace it.
Lets clear up the fact that I know he doesnt run the Best shop in town but i figure a transmission is a transmission so I leave the car with him.
I picked the car up today and it didn't take long to realize that things weren't completely right. At first, the transmission was a little bit stiff and it was kind of tough to shift through the gears but I figured maybe I had to warm it up a little. Finally, waiting at a light the car died in first with the clutch all the way to the floor. I started it up and was luckily able to get it in gear with not too many problems, but I realized the clutch was now only semi-disengaging, because the car would occasionaly hop an inch forward with the clutch all the way in, indicating the clutch was catching. I didn't wanna have to go through the ordeal in the street but I was making a left into my destination anyhow so I parked and left. Came back, started the car, when I pressed the pedal all the way in, the car made a strange noise, like a clicking or ticking in the transmission. Put it in reverse and as I let out the clutch it would occasionally squeel. Later, it took all my might to shove it in first, I was lucky to make it home.



Basically, I want to know if you guys can guess the problem, and is it bad to drive the car in this condition. If not my car is going to my real rotary mechanic tuesday anyhow but I wanna know if its safe to drive it there, and there is 15 min of highway driving.

Thanks a lot

 

clutch fork. happened to me last week. must be something in the water...

 

Sounds like a clutch fork. All our cars have finally reached the right age to start breaking them Mine broke a couple months ago.

 

/\ man there have been a bunch lately. if it is the fork and not hydraulic

 

It's also possible the pilot bearing destroyed itself. Either way it sounds like the tranny needs to come out

 

okay, well at the time it was "drivable", but is it safe for the car?

 

doubtful. i'd guess that the more you drive it the more internal damage you are doing to your tranny which is shitloads more expensive than having a clutch fork and pilot bearing repaired correctly.

 

It's also possible that the clutch system was not bled completely and you just have air in the system. That doesn't explain the squealing, however.

 

Get it to a local transmission shop that's good. Rotary mechanics are nice and all, but for tranny work a tranny shop is nearly as good.

Dave

 

its the fork. mine broke a few months ago as well

 

probably fork like people are saying.. perhaps could be master or slave cylinder?

couple weeks ago my car did this. it would stall out with the clutch all the way to the floor or start moving in 1st or reverse. seemed to engage randomly and the clutch was almost useless. and then a couple times the clutch was stuck to the floor and i had to pull it back to get it. very scary, lucky both times it was stuck happened in front of my house.

it was my slave cylinder. bought a new one from malloy. and i brought it of course to dee (about 20 min away) to get it fixed. i dont trust ANYONE else with my car.

it should be driveable but only if you have to. you dont want to get stranded somewhere when the clutch becomes completely useless. as long as your moving, you should be fine. if you have to stop like at a light or something put it in neutral.