[Resolved-ish] [Transmission] Hard to put into gear from dead stop

[ermax]

Originally Posted by EndlessAzure

Added an update to the original post, below:
I put the car on jack stands for a more sensitive clutch drag test:

• With the parking brake on and clutch in, the gear was hard to gate (as before). I also noticed that the engine speed was responding and dropping slightly despite the clutch being in
• With the parking brake off and clutch in, the gear engaged smoothly. At first the wheels only spun a few revolutions, but quickly came to a stop.
  • However, I also began to notice intermittently that the wheel would continue spinning while in gear with the clutch in at idle engine speed. This did not occur on every engagement, but occurred often enough not to be a coincidence.
  • Also, wheel spin would occur at the same rate/sensitivity regardless of how far past the friction point the clutch was pushed in. In other words, the drag appeared to be consistent across the dead pedal throw depth.
  • Nuance with this dragging incidence: when racing the engine, wheel speed did not increase appreciably or would decrease momentarily until RPMs returned to idle. This might explain why primary clutch drag tests turned out negative.

Based on these conclusions, I might be observing some drag due to the throw out bearing?

I don't have any grinding or shifting issues while the car is in motion or when the wheels are free to spin. Again, only happens when the car is hot.

Sounds reasonable to me. It doesn't take much drag at all to make 1st difficult to engage. Did you see that new thread about that kit to install a Tilton release bearing? You can be the first customer. Hahaha

[EndlessAzure]

Originally Posted by ermax

Sounds reasonable to me. It doesn't take much drag at all to make 1st difficult to engage. Did you see that new thread about that kit to install a Tilton release bearing? You can be the first customer. Hahaha

I already pulled the transmission once. I don't even want to think about pulling it again haha

[ermax]

Originally Posted by EndlessAzure

I already pulled the transmission once. I don't even want to think about pulling it again haha

I pulled my engine faster than the first time I dropped my transmission. Hahaha. But if I dropped the tranny again I think I could do it WAY faster. There is actually a YouTube video of a guy dropping one in 20mins and a large chunk of that time was him removing a cross threaded bolt on the exhaust. What I wasted the most time on was removing the center console in an attempt to remove that stupid boot on the linkage. In the end you just have to pull it off and nothing even needs to happen inside the car. The other hold up was I didn't support the engine so it was tilting forward and binding up the lower tranny bolts. I yanked on it for about an hour because it was binding so much. On the way back on I realized where I went wrong and threw a jack under the engine. I slid it back on in one push.

I just went through a rebuild and installed the engine last night and drove it for the first time today. I cleaned up and regreased the shaft and TOB while I had it accessible and the damn thing is squeaking today. So I may end up dropping my tranny in the near future. Yay.

[RallySTI]

Have you tried making a clutch pedal adjustment ?

By rotating the the master cylinder push rod so that it threads out of the clevis it will move more fluid to the slave cylinder and will actuate the clutch further. If the disc is dragging slightly it will not allow for easy shifting in 1st. This adjustment is easy and can be done if just a few minutes. The best tip I can give is to unbolt the throttle pedal to give you unobstructed access to the jam nut and rod.

Below is a video I made to explain how the pedal adjustment plays a role on the fork movement.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcsFy2I7MPI&t=11s"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcsFy2I7MPI&t=11s[/ame]

[EndlessAzure]

Originally Posted by RallySTI

Have you tried making a clutch pedal adjustment ?

By rotating the the master cylinder push rod so that it threads out of the clevis it will move more fluid to the slave cylinder and will actuate the clutch further. If the disc is dragging slightly it will not allow for easy shifting in 1st. This adjustment is easy and can be done if just a few minutes. The best tip I can give is to unbolt the throttle pedal to give you unobstructed access to the jam nut and rod.

Below is a video I made to explain how the pedal adjustment plays a role on the fork movement.

Thanks. I'll give it a shot

[FRS Justin]

pilot bearing failure??


also if you don't want to adjust your clutch to test it just wedge a piece of wood or a small nut between the the clutch fork and rod to shim it out a bit then see if its helps. if it does adjust accordingly if not time for a teardown inspection.

[EndlessAzure]

Originally Posted by RallySTI

Have you tried making a clutch pedal adjustment ?

By rotating the the master cylinder push rod so that it threads out of the clevis it will move more fluid to the slave cylinder and will actuate the clutch further. If the disc is dragging slightly it will not allow for easy shifting in 1st. This adjustment is easy and can be done if just a few minutes. The best tip I can give is to unbolt the throttle pedal to give you unobstructed access to the jam nut and rod.

Below is a video I made to explain how the pedal adjustment plays a role on the fork movement.

I gave it a shot to no avail.


I suspected that it wasn't the throw depth. Drag symptoms occured regardless of the throw depth. The clutch appears to have plenty of dead pedal throw length.


The transmission seems to be able to spin down if I have my foot to the floor. However, Drag reappears when I release to the friction point. The throw depth from floor to friction point is pretty long (as is usual for FRS/BRZ platform)

Originally Posted by FRS Justin

pilot bearing failure??


also if you don't want to adjust your clutch to test it just wedge a piece of wood or a small nut between the the clutch fork and rod to shim it out a bit then see if its helps. if it does adjust accordingly if not time for a teardown inspection.

Yeah, I gave the depth adjustment a shot. Didn't appear to help.


I'm thinking pilot or throw out bearing at this point. I don't think it's pressure plate or flywheel related since I'm not grinding at all. Everything seems fine at speed. Just when I'm stopped, I'm having obvious issues.



Planning on pulling within the next couple of months. To investigate.


Appreciate any further feedback

[EndlessAzure]

Update:


Drove on it for a few more months without any real improvement. Also noticed some screeching coming from the bell housing when the system was hot from spirited driving, in gear, in motion, and on a downhill.

A couple of weeks ago, I pulled out the ACT clutch kit and re-installed the OEM clutch kit. I haven't had any problems since.

Upon initial visual inspection of the ACT kit, nothing appeared wrong with it. Throw out bearing and pilot bearing spun free. No damage on the input shaft

I sent to back to ACT for evaluation, and they say they didn't find anything wrong with it either. They seem to think it's the clutch hydraulic system/supporting components on the car. Might have been a spline grease issue.

In the end, nothing conclusive. I'll keep the OE kit in the car a while and do another clutch job when I feel like I need to. I likely won't put the ACT kit back on the car.

[TaylorFRS]

Sorry for reviving this thread but I am having the exact same issue here. I've bled the master cylinder checked the inspection ports and see nothing wierd, no loose bolts and throw out bearing is doing as it should. Has anyone solved this problem or do I have to buy a new clutch I just bought it this year and haven't had any problems for like 7 to 10k miles.

[D-VO]

Same problem here. Mine is a little different though. For me the problem occurred right after someone installed a clutch for me it took about two days for it to start giving me issues. I went back and had the throwout bearing changed but to no avail. I ended up just driving the car like that until my engine blew, at that point I simply put a new clutch in and was good to go.

But again six months later, I was having the same exact issue again. So what ended up doing at that point was flushing the brake fluid which seemed to help a lot. However, after leaving it idle in my driveway for about 10 minutes I went to engage the gears again and it was locked out on me. Already tried clutch pedal adjustment as well.

Added, there is also something strange going on while coming to a stop at red lights I'm feeling some sort of clunking right before coming to a complete stop. I thought it was the brakes getting stuck at first so I accelerated in first gear and let it roll up to about 10 miles an hour then drop back down to 0 and it still gave me that weird clunking right before complete stop. Weird and annoying, but I got used to driving it this way.

[gravitylover]

Originally Posted by D-VO

... but I got used to driving it this way.

The clunking sounds like it could be a U joint.

[TaylorFRS]

I solved my problem by replacing the clutch with the south bend stage 2 daily. Works PERFECT, feels like a new car

[kcratos]

Sry to bother, but I'm Having exactly same issue as OP for 2 months now. I have no where to turn to, so I made my first post.

Hi Everyone! Long time reader first time poster.

I have about 1.5k miles on the clutch. ACT XT STREET CLUTCH KIT (NORMAL FW)at the time of replacing the clutch I also installed VERUS FORGED 4130 CLUTCH FORK . and replaced throw-out bearing. Driving for an hour and the system gets warm enough I'm having trouble to get into gears from dead stop. All the gears. Really annoying when parallel parking. The reverse gear feel like none existent as if something is completely blocking it and cannot even force it. I play around from 3rd to 2nd to first then to reverse if it lets me. after a minute or so I get into the gear.

I tried adjusting the clutch pedal but the problem still persists. my mechanic tells me the clutch itself is the problem. Really don't know which clutch to go with now. Was hoping to get a decent upgrade but now got a headache. Do other clutches cause similar issues ? Can anyone recommend anything?

[EndlessAzure]

Originally Posted by kcratos

Sry to bother, but I'm Having exactly same issue as OP for 2 months now. I have no where to turn to, so I made my first post.

Hi Everyone! Long time reader first time poster.

I have about 1.5k miles on the clutch. ACT XT STREET CLUTCH KIT (NORMAL FW)at the time of replacing the clutch I also installed VERUS FORGED 4130 CLUTCH FORK . and replaced throw-out bearing. Driving for an hour and the system gets warm enough I'm having trouble to get into gears from dead stop. All the gears. Really annoying when parallel parking. The reverse gear feel like none existent as if something is completely blocking it and cannot even force it. I play around from 3rd to 2nd to first then to reverse if it lets me. after a minute or so I get into the gear.

I tried adjusting the clutch pedal but the problem still persists. my mechanic tells me the clutch itself is the problem. Really don't know which clutch to go with now. Was hoping to get a decent upgrade but now got a headache. Do other clutches cause similar issues ? Can anyone recommend anything?

Depends on how much power/torque you need to hold.

If I were to do it over, I'd get Exedy LWFW and Stg1 for NA.