Tranny wouldn't go into gear!

I was driving home, pulling away from a stop sign and was shifting from 1st to 2nd, and the shifter just wouldn't go into 2nd. I couldn't get it back into first either. I pulled over, tried every gear including reverse and it just wouldn't go into any gear. As I was trying to push it into a gear, I heard a bit of grinding, like something wasn't disengaged right. I shut the engine off, and it went into first just fine like there was never any problem.

I was only about a mile from home so I just put on the flashers and drove it home in first since I wasn't confident that I could shift gears and not get stranded. As I pulled into my driveway, I did a shift into second and it worked fine.

Before this, I had noticed occasionally when downshifting into 2nd, it would not want to go into second. But previously I could always put it back into third and try again into 2nd and it would work okay.

To provide all information, I've got an XClutch twin disc clutch and flywheel set, with Speed Performance brass shift fork pads.

So, what could be the problem?

 

Sounds like it might be the slave cylinder failing

 

Thanks for the tip

 

Crap crap crap…

So, my usual shop is Kozmic in Houston, but they usually have a several week wait time for an appointment. There is a shop a couple of blocks away from my house that honestly I wouldn’t trust to do anything major. But, it was my understanding that replacing a slave cylinder wasn’t too hard. My fluid wasn’t very old but I figured I might as well change it at the same time so I got a gallon of Redline GL-4 75w90.

The first time I put it in gear leaving the shop, it made a weird squeek, and lurched. But, then seemed to drive okay. So, I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but I figured I would monitor it. Over the next few days, the squeek when putting it in gear seemed to get more frequent. Then it feels like it is slipping, it is like nearly impossible to drive now. I guess I will be out of commission until Kosmic can see me.

 

Rebleed the slave before you panic. Most shops suck at bleeding hydraulic systems.

 

Hmm. Before posting here, I googled for slave cylinder symptoms, and none said anything about causing clutch to slip. But I guess I should have looked for symptoms of improperly bled transmission? Is slipping a symptom of improperly bled? At any rate, the shop who did the slave cylinder replacement charged me only $80 for the part, and most online places charge $100-$110, so I wondered if maybe he put in either the wrong part, or perhaps a cheap knock-off part?

I’ve never bled a transmission. I guess I could look how to do it. I considered going to my local Mazda dealer and having them do the slave cylinder replacement a second time. I guess I could just take it to another shop and ask to have it re-bled and see if it helps.

 

Do it yourself and learn a thing or two. It's really not hard. 2 bolts holding it on the transmission and 1 line attached. I suggest buying a power bleeder (the one frequently highly praised on here) to bleed it. With that the bleeding process takes just under 5 minutes to complete.

 

I looked for threads on bleeding, and there are several. But I didn't see a good "for dummies" guide, unbolt this line here, with pictures, etc. By the way, I had totally even forgotten that the clutch is part of the brake system. I'm using some high temperature brake fluid and I didn't tell the shop that did the slave cylinder, so I presume he used basic brake fluid. So, I guess I need to do a flush in any case.

 

An improperly bled slave can do all sorts of funny things. You have a twin disc clutch, so you may not necessarily have text book symptoms.

Anywho, yes rebleed your clutch system because its cheap and not hard. Great first step in troubleshooting.

I made my own pneumatic bleeder, so no tips to really offer other than power bleeding is significantly better than the mityvac/pull method. Motive is the popular power bleeder brand.

 

Okay, so my brother is actually a gear-head from WAY back. He's 70, I'm 60. Yeah, I'm an old fart but my brother is an older fart. He had a '68 Charger back in the 70's that he used to take to the track. I was 10 years younger so I was still a kid, but I remember him rebuilding his trans more than once. For me, I've never had a performance car before the Speed and to be honest I'm not that knowledgeable. I've learned a fair amount from this car but I'm still kinda stupid at times.

Anyway, I asked him to take a look. We went ahead and did a hydraulic fluid purge and bleed and it didn't help. He also found the adjustment on the clutch petal. It seemed okay be he backed it off a touch just in case and it didn't help. He agreed that the clutch is definitely slipping but he doesn't know why. I'm confident it wasn't before the replacement of the slave cylinder. So, I don't know what went wrong exactly.

He said he suspects that since I've driven on it slipping, the clutch disks probably need to be replaced. I've scheduled an appt with my regular shop Kosmic, but that won't be until Aug 9.

Dammit.