Need some help! New clutch and now I am having trouble getting into 1,2 and R

[Ry The Car guy]

Quick back story. About 2 months ago I had an Exedy Mach 600 clutch put in and had them replace as well as the Flywheel, Clutch line, Pilot bearing, and throw-out bearing.

Now, when the car is off I can easily get into every gear without issue. When the car is running however I run into the following problems.

-Occasionally VERY difficult to get it into 1st (from a complete stand still). I would work the clutch a few times. Move the shifter handle around, and eventually I just get pissed and grab the stick with both hands and jam that sucker in. When it finally goes in there is no grinding or anything strange, it just pops in.

-Second gear while rolling (obviously) when shifting from 1st it will occasionally just not go in. Again I just pull with all my might and it pops in. No grinding, no whining, nothing., just pops in.

-Same story from reverse. From a complete stand still sometimes is just wont go in. I have to grab with both hands and just pull as hard as I can.

-Other times I will have NO problems and they slide right in. Makes me want to scream.

Here is what I have done. Swapped out the shifter in case is was something wonky there (was planning on it anyway). I also bled the system again (since the shop that did the clutch likely did it and the system looked free of air.

I called the shop that did it and they said "its probably your synchros" which seems very unlikely as I am having a problem with reverse and 1st from a complete stand still.

Sorry for the novel. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[stkjock]

did they replace the OEM slave? was it shimmed?

 

[rocky61201]

I agree with you, probably not the synchro's. Something else is causing occasional and complete lock out. Could be the shifter linkage being bent or loose, bad shifter linkage bushings, or internally in the transmission like bent/damaged shifter forks or shifter rails.

Also, one time I had a problem with occasional lock out after a hard stop and I cooked the brake fluid. Completely flushed the system with new brake fluid solved that. Is your brake fluid old, dark, and dirty?

I recently purchased one of those hand help endoscope inspection camera's on amazon. If I had your problem I would be sticking it in the inspection hole at the bottom of the bellhousing to get an eye on the throw out bearing/slave to make sure I had complete clutch engagement. But that either works all the time or it just doesn't. You said your problem is occasional.

 

[Midlife Crises]

Sure sounds like the clutch is dragging for some reason. Throw out bearing not shimmed or still has air in it. New pilot bearing too tight. What fluid is in the transmission?

 

[rocky61201]

I agree it sounds like clutch is dragging. But still air in the system after two months? Not being shimmed would be a problem all or most of the time; probably not occasional. I can see having bad fluid in the brake/clutch lines or transmission. Once the fluid gets to a certain temp you get an occasional problem, makes sense.

Hard to say what it is without sitting in the car and experiencing the problem first hand. So many different things. Start small with the stuff you can see and put your hands on and fix for cheap.

Last bit of advice. If all else fails. You can visually inspect what's inside the tailshaft of the transmission while it's still in the car. Just pull the pinion flange and 12 tailshaft bolts and it comes right off. Then you can inspect the shifter forks and see if the shifter rails are bent because they are hanging up on the transmission case.

 

[86GT351]

did they replace the OEM slave? was it shimmed?

This. If you did not use the OEM Slave and ship it properly to the aftermarket clutch you have an engagement and disengagement issue with the clutch

 

[RED09GT]

Sounds like it needs to be shimmed.
As a last ditch effort to try and avoid having to pull it back apart, I would try vacuum bleeding it and see if there is any bit of air in the system. If it has been 2 months, it probably won't work but might as well try.

 

[Juice]

Yup, clutch is dragging.
FYI, you are putting a lot of.excess wear on your syncros.

 

[Ry The Car guy]

I appreciate all the feedback guys. I just made huge strides in this problem. I checked the maintenance schedule it its says that transmission fluid should be replaced every 60k. I bought it with 108k on it and I had a suspicion that it was never done in the first place (tranny was noisy too but I didn't mention it since it was a problem before the clutch).

I replaced the fluid... the fluid that was in there was as thin as water and nearly black, like used oil black! Once I put the new fluid in I have NO complete lockouts and now its just a little "crunchy" getting into a few gears (not grinding just feels like its stepped) and the noise from the tranny is nearly gone. Unbelievable!

So now I think to reduce that clicking I need to adjust my new shifter, might be a little off kilter from when I was trying to compensate for the real problem.

I make You Tube videos on all this stuff so I have footage of the drain. Check it out!

 

[qwk08snk]

Quick back story. About 2 months ago I had an Exedy Mach 600 clutch put in and had them replace as well as the Flywheel, Clutch line, Pilot bearing, and throw-out bearing.

Now, when the car is off I can easily get into every gear without issue. When the car is running however I run into the following problems.

-Occasionally VERY difficult to get it into 1st (from a complete stand still). I would work the clutch a few times. Move the shifter handle around, and eventually I just get pissed and grab the stick with both hands and jam that sucker in. When it finally goes in there is no grinding or anything strange, it just pops in.

-Second gear while rolling (obviously) when shifting from 1st it will occasionally just not go in. Again I just pull with all my might and it pops in. No grinding, no whining, nothing., just pops in.

-Same story from reverse. From a complete stand still sometimes is just wont go in. I have to grab with both hands and just pull as hard as I can.

-Other times I will have NO problems and they slide right in. Makes me want to scream.

Here is what I have done. Swapped out the shifter in case is was something wonky there (was planning on it anyway). I also bled the system again (since the shop that did the clutch likely did it and the system looked free of air.

I called the shop that did it and they said "its probably your synchros" which seems very unlikely as I am having a problem with reverse and 1st from a complete stand still.

Sorry for the novel. Any help would be appreciated.

Went thru exact same problem but with a rxt clutch, put in New shifter, bled the system lots, installed braided clutch line. I finally found s great mechanic who told me clutch was dragging. We opened it up and found the thin clutch plate was warped possibly during installation. Installed another new txt, slave and bearing. Mechanic ensured slave wad dis engaging clutch properly. Result? Shifts smooth as silk now. Going into reverse was really bad with old clutch..had old clutch rebuilt at McLeod as back up..they weren't sure what had happened but installation was Dr.finately suspect. Have s transmission shop dog the next installation and verify smooth shifting. This isn't going to be cheap
Good luck.

 

[Juice]

You still have a clutch release issue. Changing trans fluid is not going to fix that.
Keep driving with the notchy shifting, and you will have worn out syncros in your transmission.

 

[Midlife Crises]

You still have a clutch release issue. Changing trans fluid is not going to fix that.
Keep driving with the notchy shifting, and you will have worn out syncros in your transmission.

I agree completely. If it’s still a little “crunchy” or notchy going in or out of gear the clutch is still dragging. If you drive it until it starts to nibble gears when shifting you’ll get to buy more than synchros.