G50 hard to shift into first when I'm stopped.

[wrinkledpants]

So, I had this issue before I realized my slave was leaking. I'd shift into first nice and smoothly while I'm rolling to the light, get stopped, shift into neutral, and take foot off the clutch. Then I push the clutch back in, and it's impossibly hard to get it back into gear. When the car is rolling, it's easy to shift. IF I leave my foot on the clutch, go to neutral (clutch still in), and then get back into first, it's smooth. I can shift it with two fingers like that. But, the minute I take my foot off the clutch and then engage the clutch again to go into first, I need fist full of shifter and serious effort from my arm. I find myself wincing each time I shift it like that it's so damn hard. I'm getting into a habit of not taking my foot off the clutch at lights anymore because it's such a fight to get it back into gear.

Otherwise, the clutch shift really smoothly in all gears after it's warmed up. It has new OE tranny fluid, clutch has a new slave and it's bled. It's a kennedy clutch (stg 1-ish). Does this sound like a symptom anyone is familiar with?

[Matt Monson]

Roll to a stop, put it in neutral and let the clutch out.

Push the clutch in, pull it back into 2nd and then push it into 1st. Does the problem still exist?

[Tremelune]

My 944 exhibited similar behavior, I believe due to worn first gear syncros. My trick was as above: I would shift it into second then first.

Holding the clutch in more than necessary will put additional stress on the throwout bearing. Aks me how I know. You gotta weigh the pros and cons.

[wrinkledpants]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

Roll to a stop, put it in neutral and let the clutch out.

Push the clutch in, pull it back into 2nd and then push it into 1st. Does the problem still exist?

Nope. I've tried all the tricks on the book to get it to shift smoothly. Reverse, 3rd, 2nd - all the gears seem to be a bit harder, but first is the hardest.

[KTL]

How did you bleed the clutch? If you bled it manually, there's your problem. When you pump-bleed the clutch, the master cylinder moves so little fluid that it just doesn't effectively bleed the system and air remains in there somewhere. You have to use a pressure bleeder.

I ran into what I believe was the same problem many years ago when I first got my car and decided to replace some clutch hydraulics as a matter of good preventative maintenance. I pump bled it I vaguely recall the pedal may not have felt right (but still felt like the clutch was working) and I also believe I had trouble selecting 1st.

Another thing to consider is your Kennedy clutch. If you manually bled it, that would make matters worse with the Kennedy since it requires a bit more effort to work the clutch. More effort with air in the system means less clutch disengagement when you push in the clutch pedal. However, on the roll since the Kennedy clutch is quite light, the synchros can help overcome the deficient clutch release.

1st gear is a very "tall" gear ratio that turns a lot of rpms at even slow speeds. Meaning, ever notice how "quick" 1st gear is when you get on the gas full throttle? Before you know it, it's time to grab 2nd gear.

Past practice of shifting into first while rolling makes the synchros work hard to spin up the input shaft to a much higher speed, as is required when downshifting into first- even with the clutch in. Usually the move to 2nd gear when stopped will move the operating sleeve a bit to help the synchro teeth to line up with the gear when the input shaft has stopped spinning. Have to keep the clutch in for a little while to ensure the input shaft has stopped moving

Have you tried coasting to a stop by just putting the car in neutral- don't downshift at all (just wears synchros and clutch for no reason anyway....)? Then when you're ready to go, blip the throttle a bit, push in the clutch and try to select first.

Whatever you do, don't keep pushing on the lever so hard to get 1st engaged. I suspect the first thing to break would be the shift fork, which is inside the trans. 1st gear fork is known to break on these. Aftermarket sells billet aluminum ones for that reason.

And don't just take the easy way out and keep the clutch in all the time. That puts undue wear and pressure on a lot of things- especially with your high torque capacity clutch. It puts a constant load on the release bearing, stresses the release fork & shaft mounting points (known to break).

I know on my '87 car, which shifts fairly decent for 83K miles, 1st gear is impossible to select on a roll when in neutral and moving slowly. I pull my car out of the garage a lot lately to do other projects and I go down the block pretty slow (2000 rpm in 2nd gear and car is dead cold) and turn around in a cul de sac street. When turning around, i'm rolling probably 5mph-10mph at most. I cannot select 1st. Trans just will not let me. But if I double-clutch it, I can get 1st gear. Double-clutch method is:

1. Clutch in, select neutral, clutch out
2. Give it some *constant* throttle to bring up the rpms to what what speed 1st gear would produce at the current road speed i'm going . ** means this is the important part IMO because I think blipping the throttle is less effective at matching speeds when double clutching
3. Clutch in and promptly select 1st.

What is happening here is that by double-clutching I am making the input and output shafts in the transmission match speeds close to current road speed that will allow 1st gear to engage w/the synchros not requiring much work on their part to match input-output shaft speeds.

All that long winded explanation will get you first w/out working the synchros too much. But that doesn't solve your problem of not being able to select 1st from a dead stop. Hopefully it's just a matter of how you bled it. Bleeding the clutch slave, even with a pressure bleeder, is sort of a PITA.

Lastly, what kind of symptoms were you having with the bad/leaking slave? Maybe you've got a release fork problem that is causing your clutch engagement issue.

[bazar01]

Can you get it on 1st if you double or triple pump the clutch pedal while coasting? if yes, you need to bleed it some more as KTL recommended. Double or triple pumping the clutch pedal compresses the trapped air allowing the hydraulic fluid to push the slave cylinder piston and rod, thus releasing the clutch.
I would stop driving it until you got it bled thoroughly to avoid damage trying to shove in 1sr gear.

[Matt Monson]

The answer to my question suggests those saying your clutch is weak and not fully releasing are on the right path. More bleeding is likely in order.

[wrinkledpants]

Ok - I got the car up and bled the hell out of it. I even unbolted it enough to cock it upwards a bit. While I had it jacked up, I'd shift it into and out of gear, and the wheels would move when in gear and the clutch pushed in. So, it seems the clutch isn't fully disengaging. Is there a chance the clutch slave still isn't fully bled? Car was up on all 4 jack stands and the slave tilted slightly upwards. Bled with a Motiv pressure bleeder

I tried tripple pumping the clutch and that didn't make a difference. I tried blipping the throttle but that only helped when the wheels were off the ground.