I've been avoiding posting this thread but i have no other option. I'm at the point where i don't know what to do and i seek advice.

5 months ago i had an oil starvation problem in my engine that made me pull out the motor to get it rebuilt, other than this problem everything else in the car was working fine. The clutch is a Spec 2 and its been there for 10k already.

The engine went in, filled it with oil, filled transmission and everything seemed fine but now i have a problem shifting. When the car is off, it goes in gear without pressing the pedal. When the car is on, gears grind when going in. This could be several reasons.

The Problems:
-I press the clutch, start the car, then none of the gears go in.
-I put it in gear, press the clutch and start it, then i can drive it but gear won't easily come out when pressing the clutch.
-disc slips
Clutch not engaging properly.

What i've done:
bled the release cylinder (problem still there), i lowered the transmission again, replaced the throw out bearing which the old one seemed fine. I greased the shaft where throw out bearing slides, the forks pivot point, and the part of the fork that touches the bearing. i made sure the pressure plate had the springs facing the tranny side, clutch is properly torqued, no foreign objects between engine and transmission, transmission torqued to specs.

Tonight i took the car out for a drive and had the same problems, after bleeding the clutch again and again no bubbles coming out at all, filled the reservoir to its proper level. My brother thinks i have to drive it for a while for the Transmission oil to work its way around the gears. Once driving, second gear went in with some hesitation, third didn't go in at all, i tried it and tried it so i went with fourth. Kept driving and the car turned off. I turned it back on while still moving (30mph) and turned off again when i reduced speed engine braking.

Made a stop, took off slowly in second gear and got moving, then rpm's flew to around 5k, disc started slipping without much engine force. Not even a block away the car turned off again and this time didn't start back up.
It didn't crank, engine wouldn't turn, it just clicked from the starter so either starter was locking up or battery was too low... minutes later i tried it again and car turned on like nothing was wrong.

Drove the car back home and parked it.
I feel like i have tried everything on this car and i still have problems with the clutch.

What could it be?

 

bad slave/master cylinder, flywheel resurfaced?

 

when i bled the lines i could see the slave cylinder push the fork (release lever) back and forth as my brother pressed the clutch pedal.

 

i've tried everything except replacing the clutch and flywheel so i will get a stock kit and replace it. I don't see how this can go bad when its been seating for 5 months, its was all working perfect when i pulled the engine...

 

This is not a helpful post but i'm glad to see you're still here after the brutal beating you took in the "oil starvation" thread. I would've been tempted to stay away from here.

Have you tried adjusting the pedal?

 

hey thanks wes65, i've kept away from posting but this i just can't figure out.
I haven't adjusted the clutch rod because the pedal travel is how the manual explains it.

 

I'd still be looking into a possible hydraulic issue. With only 10k on that clutch unless you've slipped the crap out of it you should be okay.

 

if its a hydraulic issue, would it be able to go into gear?
i took pictures while i was working on it... maybe i forgot something...

all taken apart.


here is the new Throw out bearing, greases the shaft and splines, and the
forks pivot point.


and here is the Spec2 clutch in place


and last pic is the clutch rod

 

Two things come to mind, and I might be just fishing for an attempt to help.. Just a couple ideas from past experience.

What type of lubricant did you put in the trans?
Did you fill and / or replace the 'turret' oil? (shifter location, its seperate from the rest of trans oiling)
This one sounds silly, but I saw it make a difference.. The bracket that bolts the clutch pedal mechanism to the firewall, I can't tell from your photo.. are ALL of the bolts in it? Specifically the top most bolt? Friends car was really hard to get into gears and replacing that missing bolt fixed it. Have someone watch teh clutch master cylinder as you operate teh clutch pedal. If it moves, that might be your problem.

 

the old oil in the turret was sucked out with a small pump and both turret and transmission were filled with Mobil 1 75w90 Synthetic Gear Lubricant.

I had my brother press the clutch while i was watching the cylinder for movements and it moves back when pedal is pressed, and foward when pedal is released.

 

There is one nut missing at the bottom of this mechanism which is shown in the picture but the others are there. There was a bolt at the very top which is where the pedal pivots on and has a spring, that one is there and not moving.

 

Well crap man, I'm out of ideas. Sorry.

Strange that it worked fine before but now that you've taken it out and put back in, all the same but the motor right? That just doesn't make any sense.

 

i know, i'm still confused and i didn't want to fork out the money for a new clutch and then watch it be something simple...

so i guess tomorrow i'll look it over one more time and hopefully i spot something that i haven't seen already...

 

Is it at all possible that you put the clutch disc in backwards? The fingers in the picture look very depressed.

 

Were there washers (spacers) between the pressure plate and flywheel on the original installation?

 

+1

 

Why dont you cheer them up.



*rimshot*

 

.

 

+1 that the clutch don't look right. Post more pics of it. And also, did you EVER let the master cylinder run out of fluid? If so, it gets air in it and then it has to be bench bleed to get the air out. If it's got air in it, it won't work right and will cause problems like what you described where the clutch doesn't fully disengauge and it grinds when you shift, hard to shift, etc.

 

it looks like you can see the springs through the fingers, and if it worked perfectly before with that exact clutch/flywheel it shouldn't need resurfacing..