HELP!! Car is not moving!!!

[omegis13]

I am not a transmission person (yet), so please help me out here

I was cruising down to a friends house last night after work at 70 mph (had to go to the country). I was downshifting to make a turn off the highway onto the county road, and all of a sudden, my clutch pedal does not return from the floor board. The gear shifted with a bit of a grind, but went into gear, however, the pedal was still buried to the floor. I gave it some gas and it just revved the engine; no power to the wheels. I pulled over, and thankfully a friend, who formerly owned a 1g fwd turbo, pulled over about 5 minutes later. My immediate thought was the clutch was worn out (the car has 117K, and I think its still on the factory clutch). His immediate thought was the clutch wore out. He told me to let the car cool down and see if I could get it to go. after another 10 minutes, I started her back up, and when I let off the clutch, the car kind of jerked forward a little and stopped moving, but didn't die. I finally got the car to go to a 10 mph roll to a movie theatre that was 200 yds away by revving the engine to 5K in first gear. However, all I could smell was burning clutch. This afternoon, my dad brought a flatbed trailor out and we tried to get it to go up the trailor on its own power. it didn't even move. I could put it in gear and let off the clutch, give it no gas at all, and it wouldn't die. I could even rev the piss out of it, and it wouldn't move. WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPENED!?!? I still think its the clutch, but being as our cars are so damn complex with the drive train, I thought I'd talk to the experts. One of my coworkers suggested that the clutch cable (do we even have one?) might have broken. Can anyone give me some ideas? I am now beginning to realize why so many have made acronyms about our cars that include the words "don't" "money" "sometimes" "maybe" and other words to describe how our cars begin to be a money pit. Despite what I'm going through, I still don't think I'd let her go for anything else.

Thanks,

Greg Heineken

 

[Laserlance]

I'm pretty sure you need a clutch or a new slave cylinder, but try bleeding your clutch first it will help bring your clutch up and if it doesn't work after that then you probably need a clutch.

 

[DiabloRT]

Well...if he is able to put it in gear...then its not a hydraulic problem.

If it is not moving in gear...It must be the clutch.

 

[Laserlance]

I agree change the clutch. Before I had my Laser sittign for a year nearly I changed the clutch because I pulled off the loop and i tried downshifting then shifting again and my clutch hit the floor. After I changed the clutch it was ok but my tranny was bad anyways so it's been sitting .

 

[mc_holla]

Im having this same problem . The only difference is that my clutch pedal returned from the floor and I felt a pop through my pedal when it all started.

marlon

 

[sojmisa]

I would not say that the hydraulics are fine nessacerily, It could be that the slave cylinder is stuck fully extended. and no these cars do not have clutch cables. I would look at the slave cylinderto see if that is the case or not. if it is than there you go. if not then your definatelygoing to have to pull the tranny. and if it is the original like you were thinking you undoubtably need a newclutch, t.o.b. and resurface the fly wheel

 

[mc_holla]

I checked my linkages and they seem intact. I am able to move the further rod that controls 3rd and 4th in and out of gears. But the closer rod that conrols 1st and 2nd doesn't budge. Im not sure if this has anything to do with anything but I figure it would hurt. I plan on pulling the tranny out and going from there.

marlon

 

[snailed]

ya the same thing happened to me, I just needed a nuw slave cylinder.

 

[mc_holla]

It ended up just being my clutch. I guess I cant say im suprised to see it go after 165,000 miles.

mc