buellrunner

Hey all,

Just wanted to share my experience with everyone here. For those of you that don't know, I had been dealing with my transmission not being happy with shifting into first after my car had become nice and hot from some fun driving.

I changed the slave, and it helped a little, for a few months. Then the problem returned. Finally, after much debate, I decided to do the new clutch. I was concerned about doing it, because the clutch wasnt slipping at all, and I really didn't feel like dropping the $$ on a new clutch before I needed it.

Old clutch came out - It was dead. 5% left. New clutch went in. Car feel brand new. All problems tranny related/clutch related gone.

Question. When slowing down in 1st gear, and coming to a stop, if I dont push my clutch in before she gets down to 1200-1500rpm, she gets a little "jerky" or "grabby" unless I give some gas. What causes that? Should I always get my clutch in when slowing right down? doesnt seem to happen when accelerating, from a stop...only gets a little "grabby" when slowing right down...

anyway, If your tranny is not happy when hot, and doesnt want to shift into first, your probably going to need a clutch in the near future.

elbeee964

If I read your description correctly, mine does that, too. I've always taken it as a quirk, or 'feature' -- not a problem.
It might be the point where the engine management is kicking into it's 'idle' portion of the computer's map.

1990-964

I was having similar problems up until last month when I finally decided to change my clutch (to LWF). My experience mirrored what most experts have told me and that is that the pedal effort gets very high. Slippage is not the symptom that gives indication that replacement is needed. My disk like yours was almost to the rivets and not slipping at all. I also had slave cylinder leakage and once everything was renewed and corrected then all symptoms went away. I have been extremely lucky with the LWF as I have had absolutely no stalling under any conditions, no gearbox rattle at idle ( but a little at low rpm when pulling away like rolling through a stop in second gear), no hunting idle, or any driveability issues.

hans57

Got me wondering.......

Sometimes mine is a little persnickity coming out of a gear to neutral, mostly from third. After I push the clutch in, the rpms come down and hang around 1200. During that time gearshift does not want to come out of gear 3 without a hard pull. I have found that a quick blip of the throttle bringing the revs to idle will make the shift to neutral normal. Done the usual, slave hose/bleed. The clutch was replaced (not known by who). It happens mostly in third gear, but can happen in 1 or 2 also. This does not happen all the time. Is this similar to what you experianced?
Anybody else have any ideas?

elbeee964

That blip part is *exactly* what I had to do get my idle to settle down at stop lights. (Just a little blip, too.)

Turned out to be the accelerator's cable was set too 'tight', so idle microswitch was just barely being touched. Blipping caused the microswitch to get smacked into "ON" by the cable snapping back just that little bit more on rebound.

Scantool and adjusting the throttle cable under the car was my diagnosis and treatment.

hans57

I will check that today............. One question though, why would higher rpm's require more pressure to pull on the shifter if the clutch is fully disengaged?

elbeee964

That I don't have an answer for.
We may have the same symptoms but from different maladies. Sorry.

But that idle switch adjustment is an easy enough check. Don't even need the motor running. Do you hear the microswitch click as you manually exercise the throttle body's cable to the closed/idle position? That's a no-brainer first point when checking that idle microswitch's adjustment.

(Although, admittedly, I first clued onto my car's misadjustment when, at idle, I saw Scantool show both the WOT and Idle switches were reading 'OFF'. S/B 'ON' for Idle. That bad juju, bwana.)

tbennett017

LWF symptoms arise too when the chip can't compensate... Steve Wong has a solution to take care of cars with LWF and AC.

elbeee964

FWIW, LWF & stock chip, here.

Richard Curtis

i have this same problem ... gearshift does NOT want to come out 3rd gear (or, actually, just about any gear) when slowing down. Seems to be less of a problem if i blip the throttle when pushing in the clutch. Sometimes, I actually have to JERK the gearshift to get it to move. But the problem is not consistent. Clutch is relatively new (<15,000 mile) and show no other untoward signs. Slave cylinder is new, as is the line. No idle problems. I've had thisproblem in the 4 years of ownership. I've suspected worn engine mounts but really don't have any other ideas ...

Rocket Rob

Richard,

It sounds like your clutch is not disengaging fully. Since you say that you have a new slave cylinder. Does that mean that you have bled the slave recently too? I would also check to see if your clutch pedal roll pin is intact and that your pedal travel is within spec. Recently, I was having problems disengaging the clutch, after replacing the clutch slave and master cylinders and also the clutch itself. I then discovered that I had a crushed roll pin in the pedal assembly. I have replaced it and now the clutch feels good again. Yea!

loot87

My pedal effort is huge and I have to press it in ALL the way to keep from grinding second. I have a turbo with 40k on the clutch. I can't wait to replace my clutch. I'm getting the garage insulated this summer so I can drop the engine this winter.

chris walrod

Another cause for clutches being reluctant to fully disengage is when the input shaft splines a rusty and full of muck. If they are not wire brushed clean at the time of clutch disk replacement, this can happen as a result.