Clutch problem
 

I went out to eat the other night and sitting in heavy traffic I would put the car in neutral and take my foot off the clutch. When the traffic started flowing I depressed the clutch and shifted into first and got a little grinding. When I left to go home It shifted fine and I drove 25 miles on the turnpike, when I slowed to exit the turnpike I could not get the car in gear at all. I slowed and pulled off the road and shut the motor off, then depressed the clutch and it went in to gear. I started the engine and proceeded home. When I got in the garage I shifted to neutral, took my foot off the clutch and the depressed it again and could not get into any gear without grinding. Next morning fire up the car and went in to all gears fine. Took it for a spin and warmed it up and stopped in the neighborhood and could not get in gear without shutting off the engine. Came home and it shifted fine and when I got in the garage I shifted to neutral, depressed it again and could not get reverse without grinding. Is my clutch shot? It's an 85 Carrera with 60,000 on the clutch.:confused:

If it is the original clutch with the rubber center, you have got a lot of mileage out of it, may be time to replace it. It should not have lasted more than 25K~30K.

John,

These are typical symptoms of a rubber-center clutch shedding little pieces of rubber in-between the disc and friction surfaces. All it takes is a miniscule piece and the clutch “drags”, overwhelming the syncros.

Short of disassembly, a test is to inspect on top of the bell housing at the two big holes. Some duct tape may pick up tell-tail pieces of rubber.

Another symptom of rubber-center failure is greater rotational “slop” in the drive train. That usually isn’t evident until much of the rubber is missing. Commonly this is mis-diagnosed as a bad CV joint.

There are also several other problems that can cause these symptoms. Oil on the disc is a close second.

With the clutch not releasing properly, you can do serious damage to the syncros and related (expensive) pieces. Fix the problem asap.

Best,
Grady

According to the maintenance records I recieved with the car the clutch was replaced with a spring center clutch at 109,000, it now has 169,000. It is not leaking oil but was recently serviced and the shop put in dino instead of synthetic. I have heard of cars leaking after switching to synthetic but not the other way around. I also crawled under the car to see if the shop adjusted the clutch but the nuts appear undisturbed. I guess I'll put it in shop on Tuesday.

Good.

This may be simply the clutch cable. Also possibly the clutch pedal to shaft or release bearing fork failing. These are usually progressive and not intermittent.

Can you better describe the initial symptoms?

Best,
Grady

Thought only SC's had the rubber centered clutch?

Grady, the only thing I have not mentioned is I noticed a groan from the pedal box prior to this. Just started a couple days before and is very slight and I don't hear it all the time. On Thursday when this started I was in heavy traffic and it probably took 10 minutes to go 3 miles. While sitting and waiting for traffic to move I slipped the car in neutral. When I shifted to first it crunched a little and I thought the first time I had not fully engaged the clutch. It did it one more time before I reached the Outback and I thought it might just be from sitting in traffic and a very warm day. When I left it ground when I shifted to reverse and I released and pushed the clutch in again and it shifted in fine. I drove about 15 miles to my inlaws and it shifted fine and went into gear without grinding from a stop at a couple of red lights. Later that evening as I was heading home I put the car in neutral and could not get it in gear at all. I killed the engine and it easily shifted into any gear. I drove it another 25 miles on the turnpike and when I tried to downshift to exit it refused to go into fourth. I slowed and tried second and firts but it would not go in gear so I pulled off to the side of the ramp and killed the engine and again it easily went into gear. The clutch was not dragging enough to move the car after I restarted in gear.
Thanks, John

Had the exact same symptoms (less it working the next day).

Motor / Tranny is out...

It could also be a bent clutch fork, do you feel like the clutch is just not disengaging? If the cable is sound (which you need to check) the clutch fork being bent (which I believe is not uncommon) could be the cause. The fork essentially disengages the clutch from the plate, if it is bent however it basically can't disengage.

This is what happened to me, I had been driving and over a few days I noticed my clutch was getting more and more difficult and my shifting was becoming impossible until one day I had just enough to get me to my mechanic. We looked it over on his lift and the cable looked good. I had a record of the clutch being replaced at 19k and it was now at 120k. So we figured it was just the clutch, took it apart and it turned out yes, the clutch needed replacement but the problem was the fork had bent.

I'll take a picture of it later just for fun.