*EDITED & UPDATED* drivetrain problem

[The Avengence]

ok heres the basic problem:

with my car running i cant get it to shift into any gears and reverse just grinds and wont go in, when its off it works fine. also the clutch pedal feels.. funny... im not sure really how else to describe it. i have a act 2600 so theres normally quite a bit of pressure, but it seems softer, like theres a lot of dead space where there was pressure the day before.


ok now heres *some* of the background:

so i was backing out of my friends driveway taking it nice and slow. i was kinda riding the clutch a little bit. as im backing out the car started to jerk/buck (like if u too high of a gear and you tried to come to a complete stop without pressing in the clutch at all) so i press in the clutch but nothing happens; the car continue to jerk progressively getting worse, so i took the car out of gear and got it towed home

also while the car was running, there was an intermittent scraping/scratching noise. it was fairly loud, however im not quite sure where it was coming from

oh yes and one more thing when i pushed the car forward or backward the rpms jumped from idle up another 500 rpms and then when i stopped pushing the car and it stopped the idle would go back to normal


any and ALL advice is greatly appreciated

thanks,
josh

 

[Goro21]

Just sounds like your clutch needs some adjusting.. maybe your master or slave clutch cylinder is on its way out and thats why it worked before, but isn't now. First try adjusting it however.

Angle yourself under the dash, looking up at the clutch pedal. First look at the cruise cut switch, with the pedal fully disengaged, the clutch pedal should rest on this switch. This is normal, but make sure the switch is screwed into it's holder most of the way. If its threaded out a ways, it will keep you from having full clutch pedal travel. (I'm not sure what non-cruise cars have inplace of this switch, if you dont have cruise, read on) Once it's threaded most of the ways in, look at the other end of the clutch pedal assembly. There should be a small rod that goes through the firewall, (master clutch cylinder) This is the other adjustment point. First unscrew the holder nut at the top of this rod, just loosen it so you'll be able to turn the rod. Next, (if your lying completely on your back looking at the steering wheel) you'll need to turn that rod clockwise a few turns. Don't go crazy turning this rod, a small amount goes a long way. You'll probably have to play with it a bunch to get it exactly where you want it. Start with giving it two or three complete clockwise turns, turn the car on and see where your at. Turning it clockwise like this will bring the engage/disengage point closer to the driver. spinning the rod counter-clockwise, will push the engage/disengage point toward the engine.

If moving this rod does absolutely nothing, then your next step would be to check fliuid levels and bleed the clutch system. Search for bleeding the clutch, it is also very easy to do.

If you can't make sense of what I wrote, check out TREs writeup on clutch adjustments.

http://teamrip.com/clutch adjustment.html

Hope this helps.

 

[The Avengence]

Just sounds like your clutch needs some adjusting.. maybe your master or slave clutch cylinder is on its way out and thats why it worked before, but isn't now. First try adjusting it however.

Angle yourself under the dash, looking up at the clutch pedal. First look at the cruise cut switch, with the pedal fully disengaged, the clutch pedal should rest on this switch. This is normal, but make sure the switch is screwed into it's holder most of the way. If its threaded out a ways, it will keep you from having full clutch pedal travel. (I'm not sure what non-cruise cars have inplace of this switch, if you dont have cruise, read on) Once it's threaded most of the ways in, look at the other end of the clutch pedal assembly. There should be a small rod that goes through the firewall, (master clutch cylinder) This is the other adjustment point. First unscrew the holder nut at the top of this rod, just loosen it so you'll be able to turn the rod. Next, (if your lying completely on your back looking at the steering wheel) you'll need to turn that rod clockwise a few turns. Don't go crazy turning this rod, a small amount goes a long way. You'll probably have to play with it a bunch to get it exactly where you want it. Start with giving it two or three complete clockwise turns, turn the car on and see where your at. Turning it clockwise like this will bring the engage/disengage point closer to the driver. spinning the rod counter-clockwise, will push the engage/disengage point toward the engine.

If moving this rod does absolutely nothing, then your next step would be to check fliuid levels and bleed the clutch system. Search for bleeding the clutch, it is also very easy to do.

If you can't make sense of what I wrote, check out TREs writeup on clutch adjustments.

http://teamrip.com/clutch adjustment.html

Hope this helps.

i tried adjusting the clutch last night, to the absolute end of its adjustment, and made no difference at all. but i was definitely thinking about bleeding the system today

any more suggestions from anyone?

thanks,
josh

P.S. i will keep you all posted as i progress

 

[rob99eclipse]

Ihad the smae problem when I did my clutch. I used a 2600lb ACt P. PLate, street disc, and flywheel. I no more got the car out of my garage and my car did the same thing and no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to stop. turned out my Clutch cylinder blew out from extra force. buy a new one (they're not the bad$) and definitely replace all the fluid and adjust the cylinder. I've been driving with mine for about 6k miles now with no problems! good luck.

 

[The Avengence]

ok guys. i ruled out the master and slave cylinders, clutch pedal adjustment, i also bled the system which yielded no luck. however i think ive narrowed it down to two things: throwout bearing, or pressure plate.

in my original post, i was talking about a squealing noise that was intermittent, well today i started up my car and crawled under it and ive determined that the noise is coming from the clutch area in the bellhousing. i said it was intermittent, and what i meant by that is that its not just a constant squeal. i tried to get an audio clip of it to post up on here, but i couldnt get a good one so i guess i can describe it as sounding similar to a belt squeal, but not as loud, metallic sounding, and kind of like its scraping against something.

another 2 things that i noticed was 1). when the clutch pedal is depressed rpms drop noticably; maybe 100-150 rpm drop 2). that the clutch fork was rattling around. i put my finger on the end of it and it definitely feels like something is broke in there. i just hope its the TO bearing and not something expensive.

of course if anyone has any other comments or suggestions, feel free to say something


once again thanks for all the help,
Josh

 

[wastefuldreamer]

Seems like a TOB to me.

But start wrenching. Tranny jobs arent too bad.