37,500 miles. Having problems with clutch. able to shift up. cannot shift down. to get into 1st gear i have to turn engine off and put into 1st gear. Have taken it to two places. it's not the hydraulics. And they both indicate the clutch should not be going out. but they are not able to figure out what's wrong. I know very little when it comes to repairs. Can anyone help?

 

A clutch can go out at any mileage. Just depends on who is driving the car. My sister used up a clutch in 15k miles when I was in high school.


Welcome to the forums. Hopefully someone will chime in with something useful.

 

Going into gear hard sounds more like synchros or throw-out bearing than the clutch. My clutch started slipping badly around 90k, but it always shifted easily. Even with a stage2 clutch and new flywheel, it is one of the smoothest shifting car I have had (esp compared to my Crossfires).

As far as getting it into 1st: after you stop try shifting into 2nd and (keep the clutch pedal in) then go to 1st. I've found this works well on all my manual tranny cars for some reason.

 

A hanging clutch, due to excessive warping of the clutch disk, will, in theory, cause your problems. Do you get any chatter when you engage the clutch? The two should occur together, but stranger things have happened. I see you have an after market clutch and lightweight flywheel. Stop racing your car so hard!

Bob

 

someone also mentioned the possibility of shift linkage binding on something

 

Wild assed guess at what COULD have happened. My own Audi 5000 from the 80's.

Broken center spring, 1 coil snapped off, got stuck between the clutch pale and the flywheel.

Had to pull the tranny, replace clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing. (Actually didn't need the pressure plate, the guy I got the disc from wouldn't sell it alone, so what the hell.)

If you pull the fork, you might be able to look inside with a mirror while you bar the engine over, if there's a gap on part of the plate, either pressure plate or flywheel side, this could be the problem. Maybe a longshot.

Cheers,

George

Sorry, just reread, you are not mechanical. It looks like you are going to have to spend lots of money to get this fixed, AND, the less mechanical knowledge you have, the easier it is for them to blow smoke up your *** and charge you for some things you don't need.

You really should learn some mechanics. Maybe take an evening CC course on Auto Repair. You might find you like it, not enough to go to work in the field, but just for the knowledge.

 

It would be a big help if people told us where they lived so we could guide them to good places to get help.


It sound like the clutch is not disengaging completely so it is either in the hydraulics, pressure plate, or throwout bearing...

 

One other wild idea -- Is something stopping you from depressing the clutch completely?

 

i'm able to depress the clutch completely. the mechanic said if it was the throw out bearing that we'd hear noises. he didn't see anything wrong with the linkage. He's bled the system. pressure plate seems fine. seems to think everything with the clutch is fine. Reverse seems to be more of a problem. he's planning to get in there to have a look at the shifting mechanism. said it would be about 3-4 hours to get to it.

i appreciate the help/advice.