Spongy 5th gear

[MelloEclipse]

i just bought a GST with a 2600 clutch in it....

my 5th gear feels REALLY spongy...like it has 2 inches of mud to go through before it locks...what i can do about this...replace the bearings or a short shifter?

 

[Defiant]

Hard to tell what you mean, but my first guess is that your clutch is used-up.

 

[Eastwood95]

First thing I would do is check your shifter linkage cables and mount. Your linkages have a mount on the passenger side of the engine (just follow the linkages through the engine bay and you'll see it). If the bolts/mount are loose, it will make the shifter feel extremely spongy. Also, double check the point where the linkages meet up with the tranny and check those bearings. If they look completely rusted/crappy you should replace those. If it's just one gear, I doubt it's your clutch. Does it feel like it's slipping?

A symborski shifter bushing kit will help as well. That kit makes shifting much stiffer, so you can actually feel a click when you get into gear.

http://www.extremepsi.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=19695&cat=571&page=1

 

[eclipsh]

Occasionally people have issues with the nut on 5th gear loosening up inside the transaxle. That can cause serious shifting issues for 5th but is generally not noticeable in other gears due to the transaxle design.

After doing all the other work listed above you can check for this by draining the transaxle fluid, supporting the transaxle body, and removing the the end cover plate on the passenger side. Drain the fluid into a clean pan to see if there is excessive metal in the fluid. There will be some but it should be very small amounts.

If you've never worked on a transaxle I'd strongly recommend finding a friend who has or taking it to a shop. There is a leaf spring inside that has to be reinstalled correctly or you can't shift properly afterwards.

Once the cover plate is off you can see if the (very large) nuts on each of the two gears showing are tight. They will be finger loose if they are coming off at all.

By the time this had happened on my transaxle the whole thing needed a rebuild anyhow. There were enough metal shavings inside to make a new 5th gear out of.

 

[99gst_racer]

Yeah, it might be a good idea to make sure the nut holding fofth gear in place is tight.

It's quite common for the splines on the shaft to round over and wear out. This causes the gear to develop "play", and that play can eventually loosen the nut that holds the gear on the shaft.

I've never had this happen though, so I'm unsure of the symptoms of a loose 5th gear.

 

[MelloEclipse]

yea the clutch only has 500 miles on it...i assume it's nice and broke in now but yea it's just fifth...it engages fine once i get it in, no slipping..but just sliding it into fifth is spongy...i'll check out the cables and bearings sometime tomorrow and check into replacing bearings with better ones either way.

 

[eclipsh]

That sounds like the 5th gear issue to me. Makes shifting real sloppy. Can you feel the shifter moving when you step on the gas or brake in 5th? That is one of the other symptoms.

 

[MelloEclipse]

no it's solid once it's engaged, just getting there is spongy

 

[Defiant]

So.... the problem is in the shifting, not the gear?