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2g AWD won't move in gear

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talonesi95t

Supporting VIP
205
38
Sep 5, 2009
prosser, Washington
I went on a cruise and my 2g left me stranded. I was slowing down to take a right turn, took it out of gear, then into 2nd, the car just revved up. So I pull over put it in first and nothing. All the gears go in no problem. I have drained the tcase and rear diff. No shiny material of any sorts. The only thing I saw was some shavings on the tcase magnetic plug but not an alarming amount. No broken axels. Car is on jack stands, The only thing I noticed is when I spin the left rear wheel by hand the front two spin but not the right rear? Is that normal?

Ok so I think I figured it out. After I posted I went out to try something. I started the car and tried to shift into gear with out depressing the clutch pedal, and it goes into all the gears, so I assume my clutch is toast.
 
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Similar thing happened to me over 5 years ago, except it wasn't sudden. When I started driving the car it moved properly, then after a few miles I noticed that not as much power was to the wheels as was usually the case at a given rpm/gear/speed combination.

First it was subtle, then it was more pronounced, soon it was severe, and finally the car just didn't move at all no matter what. This happened on a highway but luckily I had enough power to take the first offramp and park the can on a street, where I had to be towed back home.

5.5 years later I confirmed that it was indeed the clutch. Literally no friction surface left. As to why it took me so long to confirm, at the time I barely knew anything about fixing cars, nor could I afford to get it fixed (there were also some other issues with the car). So it sat undriven all this time, till I acquired the necessary skills (and tools) working on several other cars, and finally got to it.

It sounds like your clutch. Is this something you think you can take on, or would you take it to a shop? The thing about these cars is that there's so much that needs to be removed to drop the trans to replace the clutch. The parts aren't that expensive but the labor's a killer. I was quoted $2-3k and I'm guessing it would have been higher before all was done.

Good luck. It's just a clutch, routine maintenance. Nothing's broken, it's just worn out.
 
Because the loss of power transfer was sudden and immediate and not gradual as with mine?

Btw, how does one know that one's clutch is about to die and needs immediate replacement, but before it actually starts to fade? With mine there were only a few miles between start of fade and total loss of power transfer. Unlike with brake pads there's no visual or sound cues to warn you in advance, which can be dangerous if you're on a long stretch of highway going at speed with 10 or more miles till the next exit. There's got to be some way short of pulling the trans.
 
I've had 3 full-face stock type organic clutch disk failures from wear and tear regular usage. In my case they all separated/wore through while I was making a low speed shift. Not saying that it can't happen at any given moment, but I think the chances of it occurring at highway speed isn't as likely. I'd imagine if it held the torque transfer from the gear change, it will hold at least until the next shift. In each case of my own experience, the organic disks clued me in for a couple days ahead of time with that distinct smell of a failing organic disk. Smells kinda like I imagine it would if someone lit a long-haired cat on fire and threw it into a trash can full of dog food.
 
I recall that smell, but got it quite early in each of my clutches' life, due to being inexperienced with manual transmissions and being too heavy-footed with the pedal. But I'd think that a clutch disc that's about to go would give off a more metallic smell and grinding sound, like a brake pad that's nearly down to the metal (ask me how I know). Is it really this low-tech, that you can tell by either smell or the car no longer moving? Seems kind of lame. No clutch version of a brake pad wear indicator that makes a high-pitched noise from a short metal projection just outside the friction area that makes contact with the flywheel when the friction surface is down to nearly nothing? It would gouge the flywheel but where it doesn't matter, and if detected there would barely be any damage.
 
I've had 3 full-face stock type organic clutch disk failures from wear and tear regular usage. In my case they all separated/wore through while I was making a low speed shift. Not saying that it can't happen at any given moment, but I think the chances of it occurring at highway speed isn't as likely. I'd imagine if it held the torque transfer from the gear change, it will hold at least until the next shift. In each case of my own experience, the organic disks clued me in for a couple days ahead of time with that distinct smell of a failing organic disk. Smells kinda like I imagine it would if someone lit a long-haired cat on fire and threw it into a trash can full of dog food.
Last time I lit a long haired cat on fire and threw it into a trash can full of dog food, I was thinking of how much it DID smell like a failing organic clutch!

I recall that smell, but got it quite early in each of my clutches' life, due to being inexperienced with manual transmissions and being too heavy-footed with the pedal. But I'd think that a clutch disc that's about to go would give off a more metallic smell and grinding sound, like a brake pad that's nearly down to the metal (ask me how I know). Is it really this low-tech, that you can tell by either smell or the car no longer moving? Seems kind of lame. No clutch version of a brake pad wear indicator that makes a high-pitched noise from a short metal projection just outside the friction area that makes contact with the flywheel when the friction surface is down to nearly nothing? It would gouge the flywheel but where it doesn't matter, and if detected there would barely be any damage.
Nope, no low material warning squealer like on brake pads, a clutch is not a safety issue like a brake system is, next you will want a piston ring or timing belt squealer to warn you of impending failure on those systems too LOL, fuel pump squealer anyone?
 
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Nope, no low material warning squealer like on brake pads, a clutch is not a safety issue like a brake system is, next you will want a piston ring or timing belt squealer to warn you of impending failure on those systems too LOL, fuel pump squealer anyone?

Well, no more of a safety issue as anything else that might cause the car to stop moving suddenly, like, oh, say, an empty gas tank or low oil, and yet there are indicators warning of these. Plus brake pads still work when worn down to the metal. Ask me how I know.
 
Last time I lit a long haired cat on fire and threw it into a trash can full of dog food, I was thinking of how much it DID smell like a failing organic clutch!
Right?!!! Scary how similar it is. Almost makes you wonder if the neighbors cat got under your car and cuddled the turbo to get warm, but then threw up all of the dog food it ate out of the other neighbors trash can, and died there because it got its tail stuck in the rad fan. Because that's surely the only description that works for that smell.
 
I will update once i remove the transmission. I did put in a cheap clutch in it back in 2016 but I probably only put 300 to 400 miles on it sense then. I did not drive the car hard at all. Before i ran a act 2600 and that failed. The springs came out of the disk but i couldnt shift into any gears when that happened. I manged to force it in to 3rd and make the 15 mile trip back home. Very frustrating, if its not a t belt or two clutches. I miss my first 2g i had back in 06, never gave me trouble. LOL
 
Long shot guess here, but is the flywheel still good and did you have it resurfaced with each clutch change? Also, fulcrum, fork, slave cylinder, clutch pedal, etc. These all have to be checked, adjusted and if need be replaced, for proper clutch performance and life. It's weird that you've lost this many clutches after not that many miles. I'm not exactly the world's smoothest shifter but I managed to get 20-30k or so out of each of my clutches and they were either OEM or cheap aftermarket.
 
I did it all, flywheel , fork, pivot ball, slave cylinder oem throw out bearing. I always recommend a new flywheel when i get asked to do clutch jobs on friends and family cars. I'm still on my oem clutch on my evo with 70K miles so i cant be that bad at driving a manual trans.
 
So here is what i found, got some time to work on it,

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As you can see the center came apart from the disk. Rivets failed? Did I over torque the pressure plate? It doesn't look like it was caused by riding the clutch, more rust build up from sitting for extended amount of time/months/year. As for brand well i cheeped out and ran XTD. Had read other forums stating some with good results with them, anyways first and last XTD for me. Got a OEM exedy from extreme psi on the way.

Shot of my new heated shop LOL.

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So here is what i found, got some time to work on it,

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As you can see the center came apart from the disk. Rivets failed? Did I over torque the pressure plate? It doesn't look like it was caused by riding the clutch, more rust build up from sitting for extended amount of time/months/year. As for brand well i cheeped out and ran XTD. Had read other forums stating some with good results with them, anyways first and last XTD for me. Got a OEM exedy from extreme psi on the way.

Shot of my new heated shop LOL.

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Even if you overtorqued the pressure plate it wouldn't cause this.
 
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