Shifting Problems...need advice

[ghandi1492]

Long story short car will not shift into any gear when car is on at a stop....have to turn car off to shift into 1st then turn on...when holding the clutch down all the way while in gear the car still creeps foward slowly..im guessing the clutch is not disengaing....after the car gets moving i can shift into the other gears "sometimes"....i had the slave cylinder replaced about a year ago and have put less than 7500miles since then....i dont see any leaks and the brake fluid is filled to max....also the brakes work fine but now there is no resistance in my cluch pedal...it feels loose and is real easy to push down...anyone know what is going on???

oh yea have a ZE with a CM3 and SS clucth line...

AJ

[lakersfan1]

Probably need to extend the slave rod. Do a search. A couple people have needed to do this.

[ZEmadman]

Had a similar problem, GET IT FIXED A.S.A.P

[IanL]

I doubt that the rod has suddenly become too short.

A more likely cause, and one which fits with your description of the feel of the clutch, is that the seal round either the master or slave cylinder piston (it's an O-seal, and works like a piston ring in the engine cylinder) has failed. This often happens when there is a small irregularity in the cylinder wall, so it's better to get a new cylinder, rather than just changing the seal.

[ghandi1492]

yea the first time i replaced the slave cyl was because of this same problem...hard to shift...but now i am going to change the slave cyl again but this time b4 i put the new one back on i am going to get a longer rod from lowes...thanks for the help guys...oh yea from the symptoms i described above, yall think i need to replace the master cyl even though my brakes still work fine????
AJ

[IanL]

The brake system has a master cylinder. The clutch system has a separate master cylinder. Both master cylinders are kept topped up by a single reservoir, which happens to be mounted above the brake MC.

So the brakes have nothing to do with your problem. If you are using the stock clutch, there should be no need to extend the operating shaft. Before this problem arose, it worked ok?

[ghandi1492]

yea...i installed the ze and cm3 clutch at the same time...about 2 years ago...had sort of the same problem except the pedal had resistance...now it has none....i am going to buy a new slave cylinder and get a longer rod for it..but you said that the clutch has its own master cylinder...where is it located??

AJ

[blueskyguy007]

I had a simular problem not long after gettin my MX...my clutch turned out to be split and there where pieces of it shreaded so that it was like the clutch was engaged at all times. I had a really hard time gettin it to my mechanic due to the fact there we soo many red lights. Oh yeah this all started when I gave it a lil too much gas and the clutch had already been slippin (showen out for the girls in the car (boy did I look dumb )

[IanL]

Originally posted by ghandi1492:
..but you said that the clutch has its own master cylinder...where is it located??
AJ

You're going to kick yourself for asking - follow the clutch pedal rod through the firewall, and its on the other side

[ghandi1492]

yea i was looking for it yesterday and i located it...is a bad master cyl the reason why the pedal has no resistance?? or is that due to the slave cyl?

Aj

[IanL]

I'm afraid it could be either. Most folks assume it's the slave first. I don't know a recognised way to find out, but I suppose you could disconnect the hose from the slave, hold your finger over it and get someone to press the clutch pedal. If it doesn't force your finger off, it's the MC. But the force needed to operate the clutch is probably much higher than you could apply with a finger, so I'm not sure it would be a convincing test if it did.