gtluke
Well-known member
Okay I'm out of ideas.
Back-background:
A few months ago a sprint popped out of my centerforce clutch disk, or rather one of those rubber things disintegrated and the metal ends of it fell into the clutch.
I changed the clutch for a brand new pressure plate and disk. The flywheel is a Fidanza aluminum flywheel with the steel friction surface.
After the clutch change everything was perfect for a few months and a few thousand miles.
New problem:
One day on the way home from work I got off the highway and I was practically locked out of every gear. It would go halfway into most gears but 3rd i just couldn't get it in really at all without really forcing it.
Initial diagnosis:
Clutch feels perfectly fine, engagement is at least 2" off the floor, engagement is smooth. Revving in 1st gear I felt no drag at all, car did not want to move forward. With the clutch down and pushing the shifter towards a gear you can not feel the car pressure forward. With the clutch up pushing the shifter towards a gear you can feel the idle bog slightly and pressure applied to the drivetrain, normal as this is the synchros working and providing friction. So I'm sold on the fact that it's something internal to the transmission. Even with the car off and the shifter cables disconnected by hand it doesn't want to go into gear much.
With the clutch down, and pressure being put towards 1st gear but "locked out" of it, it won't go in. If you start raising your foot, the moment the clutch begins to engage and the trans starts to want to turn you get a nice clunk grind and the trans falls int gear, like a no clutch rev match.
So, I have a spare complete trans that is like brand spankin new. It seriously looks like it has like 30k miles on it. Got it from a friend who bought a JDM front clip. Nobody can use these WQNK Evo/RS transmissions because you need the matching rear end, I have that. FYI they use the same shifter setups as our cars, not like a 1990 with the shorter arm.
I put my spare 4 spider center diff in the spare trans, but had to pop the x-case shaft out of the old trans because it's a 28 spline, and put it in the new trans. (Made sure I had both alignment dowels)
Put the new trans in the car, all is well on the quick test drive that night and all felt fine.
Drove it to work the next day and it started feeling like sh*t on the way there. Out to lunch I drove it further and back to the same sh*t, locked out of all gears. WTF?
It's not bad when it's all cold, once it warms up it gets bad. Same with the old trans.
Got pissed off, drove it to my friends house about 20 minutes away, it's dog sh*t still. On the way home it's sh*t until I got on the highway and blasted off to pass some retard, and after getting off 3rd and 4th gear are perfect, NO kind of binding at all, not blockage, no noise, mint shifting. WTF?
Over the next week I adjust the clutch, adjust the shifter cables, make sure the trans is securely bolted to the engine.
I should note that if I'm stopped, it binds into 1st and 2nd but once I force it in, I can freely rock it back and forth between all gears, once I start moving again it "resets" and I'm locked out of 1st and 2nd again until I mash it in. Also, when I'm in "locked out" mode, even if I turn the car off, it's the same exact feeling of hard to put into gear, and after forcing it it's fine to rock back and forth.
Then I drive the car till it starts shifting like crap, pull it quickly in my garage and jack all 4 wheels off the ground, 1st and 2nd gear still sh*t, get it into 1st, rev the piss out of the motor to 7 grand. At about 6500 you can see a tiny bit of shutter in the wheels wanting to drive forward, never really rotating but a tiny jerk. Make my wife get in and repeat, checking all the wheel, same crap. Have her operate the clutch while I disconnect the shifter linkage and manually put the trans in gear from under the hood, same deal. Wants to go in half way and then stuck. Forcing it pops it hard pops it in.
Also, when I swapped transmission I put the old oil in a clean container and reused it in the new trans, it's the BG synchroshift stuff. I didn't want to drop $50 on new oil to find out the trans is crap, which maybe it is?
I was under the impression that the shifting performance of oil was mainly at high RPM and being locked out at idle wouldn't be the fluid.
High RPM spirited shifting the trans shifts fine. I can rev out 1st gear and it goes into 2nd fine. I have NEVER heard a grind out of either transmission. Forcing it into gear makes an ugly sound but not that brass clash sounding grind you are used to hearing on sh*t transmissions.
I'm willing to try anything at this point.
I have a set of fresh WQNK gear stacks I got from Doug that i can put in my 1st trans and put that in I guess. I can't believe I would have the same problem with 2 transmissions. And it's an odd problem.
After you get into 3rd and 4th and 5th gear the car drives awesome, no noises, nothing abnormal, but once you slow down and try to use 1st and 2nd it's just "stuck"
Any suggestions entertained, thanks for reading.
-Luke
Back-background:
A few months ago a sprint popped out of my centerforce clutch disk, or rather one of those rubber things disintegrated and the metal ends of it fell into the clutch.
I changed the clutch for a brand new pressure plate and disk. The flywheel is a Fidanza aluminum flywheel with the steel friction surface.
After the clutch change everything was perfect for a few months and a few thousand miles.
New problem:
One day on the way home from work I got off the highway and I was practically locked out of every gear. It would go halfway into most gears but 3rd i just couldn't get it in really at all without really forcing it.
Initial diagnosis:
Clutch feels perfectly fine, engagement is at least 2" off the floor, engagement is smooth. Revving in 1st gear I felt no drag at all, car did not want to move forward. With the clutch down and pushing the shifter towards a gear you can not feel the car pressure forward. With the clutch up pushing the shifter towards a gear you can feel the idle bog slightly and pressure applied to the drivetrain, normal as this is the synchros working and providing friction. So I'm sold on the fact that it's something internal to the transmission. Even with the car off and the shifter cables disconnected by hand it doesn't want to go into gear much.
With the clutch down, and pressure being put towards 1st gear but "locked out" of it, it won't go in. If you start raising your foot, the moment the clutch begins to engage and the trans starts to want to turn you get a nice clunk grind and the trans falls int gear, like a no clutch rev match.
So, I have a spare complete trans that is like brand spankin new. It seriously looks like it has like 30k miles on it. Got it from a friend who bought a JDM front clip. Nobody can use these WQNK Evo/RS transmissions because you need the matching rear end, I have that. FYI they use the same shifter setups as our cars, not like a 1990 with the shorter arm.
I put my spare 4 spider center diff in the spare trans, but had to pop the x-case shaft out of the old trans because it's a 28 spline, and put it in the new trans. (Made sure I had both alignment dowels)
Put the new trans in the car, all is well on the quick test drive that night and all felt fine.
Drove it to work the next day and it started feeling like sh*t on the way there. Out to lunch I drove it further and back to the same sh*t, locked out of all gears. WTF?
It's not bad when it's all cold, once it warms up it gets bad. Same with the old trans.
Got pissed off, drove it to my friends house about 20 minutes away, it's dog sh*t still. On the way home it's sh*t until I got on the highway and blasted off to pass some retard, and after getting off 3rd and 4th gear are perfect, NO kind of binding at all, not blockage, no noise, mint shifting. WTF?
Over the next week I adjust the clutch, adjust the shifter cables, make sure the trans is securely bolted to the engine.
I should note that if I'm stopped, it binds into 1st and 2nd but once I force it in, I can freely rock it back and forth between all gears, once I start moving again it "resets" and I'm locked out of 1st and 2nd again until I mash it in. Also, when I'm in "locked out" mode, even if I turn the car off, it's the same exact feeling of hard to put into gear, and after forcing it it's fine to rock back and forth.
Then I drive the car till it starts shifting like crap, pull it quickly in my garage and jack all 4 wheels off the ground, 1st and 2nd gear still sh*t, get it into 1st, rev the piss out of the motor to 7 grand. At about 6500 you can see a tiny bit of shutter in the wheels wanting to drive forward, never really rotating but a tiny jerk. Make my wife get in and repeat, checking all the wheel, same crap. Have her operate the clutch while I disconnect the shifter linkage and manually put the trans in gear from under the hood, same deal. Wants to go in half way and then stuck. Forcing it pops it hard pops it in.
Also, when I swapped transmission I put the old oil in a clean container and reused it in the new trans, it's the BG synchroshift stuff. I didn't want to drop $50 on new oil to find out the trans is crap, which maybe it is?
I was under the impression that the shifting performance of oil was mainly at high RPM and being locked out at idle wouldn't be the fluid.
High RPM spirited shifting the trans shifts fine. I can rev out 1st gear and it goes into 2nd fine. I have NEVER heard a grind out of either transmission. Forcing it into gear makes an ugly sound but not that brass clash sounding grind you are used to hearing on sh*t transmissions.
I'm willing to try anything at this point.
I have a set of fresh WQNK gear stacks I got from Doug that i can put in my 1st trans and put that in I guess. I can't believe I would have the same problem with 2 transmissions. And it's an odd problem.
After you get into 3rd and 4th and 5th gear the car drives awesome, no noises, nothing abnormal, but once you slow down and try to use 1st and 2nd it's just "stuck"
Any suggestions entertained, thanks for reading.
-Luke