Help with 5-spd problem

I'm driving and get a low grinding sound from the front of car. Lasts 2-3 seconds then goes away. There was a slight loss of power to wheels for the same 2-3 seconds. Sound stops and car is back to normal. Couple of minutes later repeats the grinding noise repeats and power loss returns except this time after the noise stops, the power does not return. I press the clutch in and car coasts to a stop with the engine still running. Try to shift to 1st to get going and to see what will happen but transmission won't shift; gear shift lever is locked in 4th and will not come out of gear. Call the tow truck and bring it home.

I start working on it. I get the car out of gear but when I put it in 1st or 2nd the gear, shift lever hangs up and I am unable to move it. I free gear shift by grabbing the front of the car and rocking it back and forth, then I climb back in the car, press clutch and put shifter into neutral. Shifter lever locks up most times I put it in 1st and 2nd but not every time.

With trans in neutral, I start it. Car moves forward in all forward gears and backwards in reverse. When gear shift lever hangs up I shut it off and get out to rock car by hand to free shifter.

With car engine running, trans in neutral, I release the clutch and I get a fairly loud rubbing sound coming from the trans. I am assuming it is the clutch rubbing but not sure. This is an entirely new sound.

I have fluid in the clutch fluid reservoir and I ruled out the cables and shifter as the problem by disconnecting the cable attachment at the trans and the shift lever moved freely in all directions.

I am sure my clutch pedal free play adjustment is out of spec as the clutch starts to catch very close to the floor (definately not the recommended 6.93-7.17"). I plan to adjust that tomorrow.

FYI: Trans is a stock 94 GS 5 speed.

Ideas/suggestions as to what's going on?

adjust it on the clutch master so its not so close to the floor. pedal should catch relatively high but not too high so there isnt that much pedal play. get that stuff in spec then see what else

how is the slave? and what clutch is in it?

sounds like either a slave or master cylinder problem to me. Or maybe your clutch is going

I say the throw out bearing is going. But adjust the cluth pedal first. It's easier to adjust the pedal then replacing the clutch.

One other thing I remember from the break down. Right after I stopped the car I popped the hood and the trans had wispy smoke coming off it. I didn't touch it as I just assumed it had blown and was hot.

Clutch and throwout bearing are both new; probably not more than 1000 miles on them. Clutch is a stock 94 GS clutch/pressure plate kit from O'Rileys Auto Parts. Fly wheel was turned and checked to be within wear specs.

The noise from the trans when the car is in neutral and the clutch released makes me also think it may be a throwout bearing. I will adjust the clutch pedal to see what happens because as 1992Galant wrote, "It's easier to adjust the pedal then replacing the clutch."

I am not sure how to check the clutch slave or clutch master cylinder but will give the Haynes manual a once over for the proceedures.

wispy smoke coming off it? wtf, maybe could be starving for tranny fluid?

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Originally Posted by peanotation

wispy smoke coming off it? wtf, maybe could be starving for tranny fluid?

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sounds like a fluid issue to me as well. Make sure you flush the fluid so the gears and synchros dont weld themselves together.

smoke coming from where the motor meets the tranny? maybe intput shaft seal for that but idk y it would be stuck in gear like that

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Originally Posted by Galanttuner10

smoke coming from where the motor meets the tranny? maybe intput shaft seal for that but idk y it would be stuck in gear like that

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thats what i was wondering if its sticking it's got to be internal right.

he would have fluid leaking out of the bellhousing if the input shaft seal went out. Trust me, It happened to my 8G

sounds to me like the gears are loose. I mean if it is locking up....idk...it just sounds like you need to tear it down and check it piece by piece

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Originally Posted by 4g63lover

he would have fluid leaking out of the bellhousing if the input shaft seal went out. Trust me, It happened to my 8G

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it happened on my last 5 speed tranny back in august this year and then i got everything fixed and then the tranny blew a hole in the bellhousing, seems as before i got that tranny the diff pin came out got stuck in the spyder gear and bored a hole in the tranny.

if its sticking in gear its internal, how many miles on the tranny?

probably the diff...

Agree; it is most likely something internal as I heard some grinding noise just before the trans locked up.

Clutch catches very close to the floor so I know it is out of spec so first I plan to adjust the clutch pedal and see if that makes any difference.

Next I need to rule out the slave and master cyclinder as source of problem. How do I check the clutch slave and master cyclinder?

There is also a noise that occurs only when car is in neutral and clutch is let out. I suspect that noisel is the throwout bearing although it has less than 1000 miles on it. Trans has 140K on it. Trying to get psyched up to go to work on it in the cold garage.

The noise also can be a internal pin or spyder gear or something like that.

Your clutch is shot, the disc might be done for or the PP is fuxed. Wont really know till you drop the trans and investigate.

These questions are about the 5 speed in my 94 GS. I checked the pedal height. It was 5.5 inches. It is suppose to be 7 to 7.1 inches. I am unsure how to adjust it. Could the low pedal height cause the shifter to lock up and make it so I can’t shift gears?

The clutch pedal free play is supposed to be 1/4 to 1/2 inch. It was hard to measure this but it was either zero meaning as soon as you pressed the clutch pedal you had resistance or it was about 1/2 to 3/4 inch as at that point the resistance seemed to increase. The clutch pedal resistance on this car is pretty minimal (something I don't like but I assumed that is just how a hydraulic clutch is).

If the clutch pedal is pressed completely to the floor and you start to release it, the clutch starts catching about an inch from the floor. Is this normal?

When the engine is running and you let the clutch out, the transmission/clutch makes a rubbing sound. This has happened sinced the car broke down and I could not shift gears. I am thinking it is the throw-out bearing even though it is new (less than 1000 miles on it).

The only sign of a leak I found in the clutch hydraulic system was a single drop of fluid the inside the car on the rubber bellows that the clutch rod passes thru at the firewall.

I am also in the middle of a 5-speed swap into a 98 ES from a 95 S. I did not realize it until now but the clutch pedal assembly and the brake pedal assembly between the 94gS and the 95ES are different. The 94 GS has a much more substantial clutch return spring mechanism. I'll post some picture as soon as photobucket is back up working.

This is the clutch spring return mechanism on the 94 GS
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...7/P1020236.jpg

This is the 95 s clutch pedal assembly (right) and brake assembly (left) The two black things angled across the lower part of the picture are the return springs inside a rubber sleve.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...7/P1020239.jpg

This is the brake assembly on the 94 GS. The wire conector is much more substantial than the wire connector on the 95 S. I assume it is because the 94 GS has cruise control and the 95 S does not.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...7/P1020234.jpg

Side view of the 95 S clutch pedal assembly (right) and brake assembly (left). Note how light weight the return springs are.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...7/P1020238.jpg

that is a weird spring on the GS clutch.

to adjust the pedal height on the 95 pedal assembly you losen the lock nut and then screw the bolt out until the pedal meets the hieght requierment, on the gs pedal i would say do the same thing but the electrical connector on it im not firmiliar with, maybe DOHCstunr can weigh in as hes has 2 GSs

This is what I've figured out so far.
With the car just sitting I was able to get into and out of gear several times but again and again the shifter locked up.
I was able to adjust the clutch pedal height and clutch pedal free play. There is no way to adjust the pedal on my 7g GS to the 7-7.1 inches as called for on a 7g manual trans.
Even with the clutch pedal adjusted the trans keeps locking up so there is nothing else for it but to pull the trans. I am going to look for another GS trans to swap in. The trans is a F5M31.

I have decided the clutch pedal assembly in my GS is most likely the same as found in the Eclipse. The clutch pedal height on an Eclipse is suppose to be 6.5 inches. If I scewed the adjustment switch on my car all the way out I can almost get it to 6.5 inches. The transmission itself has a clutch dampner cylinder mounted to it which is something also found on the Eclipse.

Had the same problem with my GS trans, got stuck in 2nd though. Ended up trashing it.

I pulled trans and decided to remove the trans end case to see if I could determine why the trans locked up on me. I expected to find the end nut had come loose but it was still in place and tight. The lower shaft was another story. It just fell off in my hand; the shaft itself had broken in half. I assume this is why the trans popped out of 3rd and 5th gear previously and why it ultimately locked up (impossible for me to shift in/out of gear).

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...7/P1020290.jpg

This trans was in the car when the #1 piston self destructed and killed the engine. I didn't own the car when the original engine died but assume the engine just came to a shuddering stop when the piston rod went thru the side of the block. I think when that happened it also severely damaged the lower shaft in the trans. The story about the engine is listed in the graveyard thread entitled, Fail:94GS DOHC (https://www.thegalantcenter.org/showthread.php?t=44030)

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...7/P1020291.jpg