Hard to shift after replacing clutch

[talon2gb]

Hey guys so as some of you know about a month ago my clutch went out so I replaced, but I didn't break it in, so I glazed the damn thing. Yesterday I got another clutch under warranty, and replaced it. Everything seems fine, but it's very hard to shift into 3rd and 4th gear especially. When I try to shift from 2nd to 3rd it feels like the shifter is hitting a brick wall, no grinding/whining whatsoever. I have to fight with it to get in gear. There is no air in the system. I did do something stupid which I think I never should've done. My local autozone is about 3/4 mile from my house. So i drove my car wihtout tranny fluid to autozone, to buy tranny fluid because I don't have another car, nor a ride at that moment. I know the shifter bushings are bad, but it wasn't doing this before I dropped the trans. The shifter cables aren't binding. Only thing I could think of is that the clutch is not disengaging completely, but then I would get grinding I assume.

 

[Hitmachine101]

if the car was stone cold, then i don think you did anything to the tranny
but if its 3/4ths a mile away then just walk

to check to see if the clutch isnt dissengaging, go to a parking lot on a flat spot and push the clutch in and put the car in first gear,, with the clutch still in , rev the car to about 6 or 7 grand and see if the car starts creeping forward, if it does then you have some clutch drag and some part of your clutch system needs replacement

id look into the slave, then the masters,

good luck

 

[talon2gb]

if the car was stone cold, then i don think you did anything to the tranny
but if its 3/4ths a mile away then just walk

to check to see if the clutch isnt dissengaging, go to a parking lot on a flat spot and push the clutch in and put the car in first gear,, with the clutch still in , rev the car to about 6 or 7 grand and see if the car starts creeping forward, if it does then you have some clutch drag and some part of your clutch system needs replacement

id look into the slave, then the masters,

good luck

I know man I should've walked. I was also thinking synchros but there's no grinding.

 

[1997_GSX]

I think you may have messed the transmission up. Your profile says you have a NT which from what I understand requires automatic transmission fluid.

What fluid did you put in there?

 

[Red97Eclipseboy]

Unless I am blind, I don't see anywhere stating that you adjusted the clutch? Did you measure for proper pedal free-play? Master-cylinder adjusted? Properly bled?

 

[talon2gb]

I think you may have messed the transmission up. Your profile says you have a NT which from what I understand requires automatic transmission fluid.

What fluid did you put in there?

Yeah that's what I'm using synthetic atf-4.

Unless I am blind, I don't see anywhere stating that you adjusted the clutch? Did you measure for proper pedal free-play? Master-cylinder adjusted? Properly bled?

No I did not adjust anything, but like I said when I did the 1st clutch everything was fine except I did not break it in properly. That was about a month ago. Do you think that within that month the adjustment got screwed up. I can't really tell but from the feel I would say that the pedal free play is atleast an inch or so

 

[Red97Eclipseboy]

Yeah that's what I'm using synthetic atf-4.


No I did not adjust anything, but like I said when I did the 1st clutch everything was fine except I did not break it in properly. That was about a month ago. Do you think that within that month the adjustment got screwed up. I can't really tell but from the feel I would say that the pedal free play is atleast an inch or so

You should always adjust no matter what after a clutch change. The free-play sounds decent. I didn't see that this issue was a month later. Sorry. It could just be a fluid issue. But if it were me, (I've been in this situation before) I would bleed, bleed, bleed and make sure the master-rod was proper.

Go on Youtube and search for "Jack's tranmissions". He has an awesome video how-to on adjusting the master. I did it, and the pedal/engagement has never been nicer.

Edit: I forgot you have a 420A. I don't know if his method applies to those trannies. Sorry!

 

[talon2gb]

My worry is that i might have messed up the tranny when i ran it with no fluid.

 

[Red97Eclipseboy]

My worry is that i might have messed up the tranny when i ran it with no fluid.

Could have for sure. Do this: Replace fluid, bleed, bleed, bleed, adjust to proper specs, drive.

Do eeeeeiiiiit.

 

[Hitmachine101]

ya you should adjust your masters again

every time you go after the clutch, proper adjustment should be taken -- look at the jackstransmission adjustment on youtube -- thats perfect for the dsms

so id:
adjust that masters
make sure your fluid level is still good
if your still having issues, id start looking at that slave or possible hydrolic line issues
if your still having problems at that point then you may have done something wrong with the clutch assembly
if still issues after that then the tranny just finally gave up

 

[talon2gb]

Ok I just noticed that it doesn't do it all the time. It does it more than it doesn't so I have to figure out what's going on. I just went outside put it in 1st gear and revved it to about 6k and the car did not move at all, so clutch isn't dragging. I mean it'll go in gear but it feels like it's hitting a stop and then I have to go back to neutral and push it really hard to get it in gear especially 3rd and 4th. No grinding nothing. I was reading somewhere else that it could be a bent shiftfork. How can I tell if the shiftfork is bent or not. Everything seems fine where the cables meet the forks. I'll take some videos and post them.

 

[BlackMount]

Ok I just noticed that it doesn't do it all the time. It does it more than it doesn't so I have to figure out what's going on. I just went outside put it in 1st gear and revved it to about 6k and the car did not move at all, so clutch isn't dragging. I mean it'll go in gear but it feels like it's hitting a stop and then I have to go back to neutral and push it really hard to get it in gear especially 3rd and 4th. No grinding nothing. I was reading somewhere else that it could be a bent shiftfork. How can I tell if the shiftfork is bent or not. Everything seems fine where the cables meet the forks. I'll take some videos and post them.

I know how to fix your problem


get rid of the 420A and buy a 6-bolt 4g63 and drop it in

 

[talon2gb]

Ok guys I took a video of the slave in action and of the shifter cables.

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Ok guys so the problem lies somewhere within the transmission. I just got back from the store, and with the car off I tried going into every gear, and it sometimes not always, it would get difficult to go into 3rd and 4th gear. So to rule out the shifter linkage i disconnected the cables from the forks at the tranny, and moved the forks with my hands. I noticed that when I moved the
3rd/4th gear fork back and fourth it would sometimes get stuck going into gear, and I would have to bring back to neutral and then pop it in gear. So this rules out the shift linkage. Again there are no leaks whatsoever. Before dropping the trans everything seemed fine. I wonder what i did to cause this, other than driving without tranny fluid for about 3/4 of a mile. Clutch isnt dragging so the problem must be internal.

 

[talon2gb]

So I already know the poblem lies within the trans, but my question is what and how it happened. Could it be a bent shift fork?

 

[Hitmachine101]

ya bent fork is possible especially with a heavier pressure plate

i havent rippd apart my assembly yet, ill be doing that this summer, but my buddies have done things to thier shifting forks and what not -- if youve ruled out everything else, its time to go back in there and see what went wrong,, maybe you just have to adjust something in there and everything will go back to normal