if its not one thing, its another. as soon as you fix your water pump and replace all struts and shocks, then the car stops shifting. freakin hell.

anyway, my car is having SERIOUS problems shifting gears. i have to push harder than hell to get it into first gear, and almost just as firm to get into other gears. i have noticed that im leaving piles of some liquid at the right behind the passenger wheel well. i also added brake fluid tonite because it was empty.

i would guess my brake lines are shot - are there brake lines behind the passenger wheel well? what should i look for?

 

One or more of your small springs on your clutch disk has likely rotated or come off all together.

 

well shart. not much i can do about that short of removing the clutch, eh?

 

Oh dont take my advice, I dont know anything Internet advice is 99% crap.

Ummm yeah, I had the same issue last month, shifting became increasing hard, first was a nightmare, the hotter the car got, the more engagement issues there was. the starter came off, and out fell a spring, others were rotated. I recommend a KEP PP and Cup disk

 

The clutch and brakes share a fluid resivoir. If you're leaking from one it's probably affecting the other. Your clutch slave may have air in it at this point and may not be completely enaging the pressure plate. Try locating and fixing the leak and rebleed both systems.

 

Great advice Jeremy. I was hoping I had air... but gave me a great excuse for a new clutch setup.

 

The rear shift linkage could also need to be adjusted and regreased, or even replaced at all.

 

hmmmm. well, there's one thing i know. im losing brake fluid. from somewhere. ill probably just bleed the system this weekend and then go from there.

anything else it could be?

btw andrew, since ive had the car, the hotter it gets, the harder it is to shift. do you (or anyone else) know what this means? ive had it before where it was impossible to get the car to shift into gear so id turn it off, pump the brake, hold it down really hard, then start it up and after one, two or three times doing that, itd work fine. not the case now tho.

 

oh yeah, i absolutely love and asbolutely hate this damn car. funner than shart when it works but i paid 7450 for it last june and it has cost me 5 grand since. and now this.

 

I have a Zermantt 86 as well! The symptoms you are describing are what mean a disintegrated small disk spring.

 

what the heezey... it works today. not perfectly, but it works like it has since ive owned the car. strange. andrew, i can drive the car for 8 hours straight and it wont be difficult to shift, assuming ive been on the highway. an hour in town and it gets tough. does that still indicate a spring? since ive been able to fix the problem before by turning the car off and pumping the brake pedal, holding it down, and turning it back on.

 

I would be inclined to look at the clutch slave cylinder for a leak. Maybe then drop the starter and watch for flying debris.

Lou

 

i cant imagine the slave cylinder leaking. when i had it parked in my parents garage for doing the struts and shocks the only spots were oil spots from the engine. plus, we replaced the slave cylinder last thanksgiving.

why would there be flying debris? are you saying to do it when the engine is running? i had the starter off three weeks ago when doing the water pump and nothing came out...

 

Dime, I dont drive for that length of time, only city driving really.

 

ah. how can i check to see if it was indeed a spring?