So I was drving tonight and everythings been great with the 89 5spd as I said the other day. When all of the sudden it gets hard, like very hard to shift into gears. Clutch fluid is fine and it shifts near perfect when the car is off. But when running,... 80% of the time now it's really tough to get into gear, and I can't even put it in reverse or it grinds... it normally did that a little unless I shifted up into 5th a little before going down into reverse, but now I have to shut the car off in order to get into reverse then start up again. This definately sounds internal, and unfortunately I know next to nothing about standard trannies so what do you think it is?
I just checked my haynes manual and it says that there is a dipstick to check the lubricant level near the master cylinder.. well if it then I can't find it to save my life... I know there is that plug on the lower end on the drivers side of the tranny... but I thought that was just to fill, is that where I check the level, maybe that is my problem.
Sounds like a bad clutch disc... Especially if you have no obvious leaks in the clutch m/c system.. ;)
I don't think that it is the clutch anymore after reading up on similar problems on the w-body forums... It seems like it may be air in the system or possibly a bad slave cylinder, I am going to try to bleed the system but it sounds like a real PITA tomorrow and see what happens.
The clutch seems like it is engaging just fine, when it's down it's doesn't try to pull at all and as I release it, it seems to act normal when I go to start from a start. I just can't imagine that a clutch would just "go" completely out of the blue like that, it was shifting fine since I bought the car, I shift into 3rd today, grind a little and it's been Fd ever since.
The dipstick is on the rear part of the transmission, more toward your driver's side front wheel. You will need to get under the car to access the dipstick.
ok thanx nick, I was hopin you'd see this thread...lol According to the haynes book it was up top in a similar location to the autos dipstick. I know what you are talking about though, I have seen that before when I had the tire off once, I will pull it in the garage tomorrow and checkl everything. I have to really think it's gota be air in the system, cuz I can't imagine all the synchros going at the same time, and I also can't imagine a clutch just shitting the bed out of nowhere. Did you have that shifting into reverse issue when you had it where you had to shift into a forward gear first?? I can't remember if it has been like that the whole time I have had the car.
Yeah, its in a different location than the auto dipstick, there's Haynes for ya.. :laugh:
I'm not really sure what to expect.. It worked completely fine for me when I had it. The only issue I had was an intermittent slight grind into reverse on some winter mornings. It was never bad though. I would check the trans fluid first.
Other than really cold winter mornings, I never had it grind on me.
could be the CMC ( under the dash by your feet) or slave could be leaking internally... have you looked for leaks?
CMC, master cylinder???
and I wasn't able to check for leaks, it was dark out and I didn't wana get dirty as I just took a shower before I went out so I just parked it at home and will look at it tomorrow to see if there are any leaks or anything noticable.
yea they're not TOO hard to get at... changin the CMC or slave is a little tricky tho cuz theres no bleeders anywhere.
Jim before you go breaking open the lines on the system (which BTW is a huge pain in the ass to bleed) try this:
Make sure the resevoir on the strut tower is full of fluid. Get in the car with it off and pump the clutch 50 times. Wait check fluid in the resevoir, repeat do this 3 times. This worked on my friends car. I agree it sounds like you might need a new slave master setup. Good luck with it.
Ken
Ya, so how about today, I start it up, it's still tough to shift... I jack it up, check the fluid, check for leaks, fluids fine, actually slightly over full, not burnt at all, smells and looks fine, no leaks. I take off the clutch fluid resevour (can't spell that word for the life of me)...lol and check the hose and no leaks there, put it all back together, take it for a spin and now it's fine, shifts great... wtf?..lol I'm thinking maybe there was some ice on the linkage or something that may have been restricting it, cuz it even shifts into reverse better now... werid? but thanx for the replies, at least I know what to look for if it happens again. I am still going to change the fluid this weekend, I am due for an oil change anyway.
glad to hear you figured it out. The linkage can get siezed up which will cause hard shifting and could possible break a cable. i could barely move mine back and fourth off my JY trans... slid the pin out, oiled it up and ill never have to worry about that again. good luck
lol I wouldn't exactly say I figured anything out... :p it just works now and I guess that's the important thing.
Maybe change the trans fluid? My manuals occasionally would start grinding randomly in some gears, and a change of the fluid solved it, my Mazda took ATF DexIII in its 5 speed and when i changed it, it was black! If it hasnt been done for awhile (I dont think you have to change trans fluid like autos.)
the fluid looked good but I am gona change it this weekend with my oil... just outa curiousity, what's the recommended interval for spark plugs and wires? I may do that too
Recommended service interval for plugs and wires is every 30k miles. I'm sure it is due for a change, as I didn't change them out when I had the car.
for fluid make sure you use GM synchromesh its about 15 bucks a quart... you need 1.9 qts!
k thanx, looks like the beast is gettin a nice tuneup this weekend then...lol
Ya so it happened again today after being fine thepast few days and now it seems worse than it was the other day. And anther interesting fact, if I am stopped in gear, clutch down all the way, the car shakes and the speedo reads 3 or 4 mph and the car or tires aren't moving.
I didnt get to the fluid change this weekend, it was way too cold so I am doing it tomorrow, is there a filter I should change along with it. I still don't think the fluid is the problem as it was clear and up to the full line.
I did notice while playing with the linkage a little bit, the part that goes in and out with the shaft (I know shit about sticks, so idk what it's called), seems to wobble a little bit, but the bolts seem tight, I almost think that with the design of it there is supposed to be some play in it. it's under the black part of the linkage in the picture posted above, above the red circle.
i dont see a picture posted above...
lol ya sorry, I just copied and pasted that from my w-body.com post...
(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm131/ismellrealbad/bullshit/prix007.jpg)
But I just went out to warm up the car to drive home and it was shifting somehwat normal again, Icould actually get into reverse again no problem. I really don't know what the hell is going on here... I hope it is as simple as the fluid being bad...
Wel, I think it's gota be the throwout bearing. I was driving to school today and I pulled into BK and I heard some clicking, I thought it was just maybe my blower motor goin bad, so I shut it off, and I noticed it was only happening when I had the clutch pushed in. It was just a constant clicking noise. It does it when stopped in neutral and any time I push the clutch in, once I even touch the clutch it starts.
While driving though there is no noise, only when I go to press the clutch.
Anyone got a part number so I get the right one, I was lookin online and I saw one listed for an Izuzu tranny, that's not the right one I don't think, but advanceautoparts.com listed the izuzu one for the 89, but that can't be right.