Rx7 FB '83 not going into gear
 

I've had a long bittersweet weekend; finally got plates on my FB, took her for inspection and got my sticker, yay!

Went for a 10 mile run, during the course of which I found it more and more difficult to select gears. I eventually found myself straight shifting (deep joy).

Checked the clutch fluid resevoir to find it just below the min mark. So I topped it off and thought it might come good ... but to no avail. Pumping didn't do anything either.

I can't see any leaks in the Master or Slave and there doesn't seem to be a whooshing noise from the Master, but it's hard to tell. I've gone and bought a new Master and Slave because they were cheap but still not convinced that they're bad. I'm pretty sure the clutch itself is fine as I've driven cars with slipping clutches before.

Anyone had a similar issue?

Thanks for any help that's offered. I've been putting in the hours, rebuilting my carb, adjusting bits a pieces. I'm just disheartened that another problem comes up right after I've made her road legal - just wanna drive!!

If you lost that much fluid I would expect you do have a leak. Most of it probably landed on the highway and only a small amount would be on the transmission so may be hard to find.

Unless the guys who did you inspection were total dummies and didn't check it. In that case, it may be a very small slow leak. Did you bleed the clutch slave after you topped up the reservoir?

If it was me, I would still put the new parts on. It's an easy job and replacing 30+ yr old parts never hurts :icon_tup:

In my experience, a progressively more difficult shift actuation is often a sign of a deteriorated throwout bearing. When the throwout bearing gets sloppy, it doesn't have enough travel to generate the force necessary to disengage the clutch. The transmission doesn't want to shift because the synchros are unable to engage until you do the speed matching yourself, which is what I believe you mean about straight shifting (without the clutch).