History of Problems. Long read but help is appreciated!
11-26-2011, 12:11 PM
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History of Problems. Long read but help is appreciated! Okay, so lets start from the beginning. I bought my 2002 TA in April of 09 with 94k on the clock. The car was bone stock aside from the normal lid/bellows.
Right from the get go the car had a sticking master. This was not the first thing that I tackled on the car. Instead; pacesetters, poly motor/tranny mounts, and a tune found it's way onto the car first. The car was an awesome daily driver, as the rear that came with this car had 2.73s, with a 6 speed. Awesome daily driver but of course was very lacking in acceleration, it would nearly touch 60 in first.
Finally nearly a year later in March another huge round of mods hit the car, almost making it a literally brand new car. The rear was swapped with a beefed up little ten bolt with 4.10s and a few other goodies. I went with monster and ordered one of their awesome kits; lightweight flywheel, lvl 2 clutch , p plate, tick master, gm slave, throwout, pilot, and a speedbleeder (which you would be an idiot not to install, makes **** WAY to easy). Also got a Pro5.0.
This was my first performance clutch ever, so I thought the chatter was outrageous, but quickly got use to it. I had everything installed by a small shop here locally and think that was my first mistake. The car would still ever so slightly move forward when the car was put into first gear, but there was no clutch creep when you would rev the car with it in gear. I think this was a problem in the adjustment of the master. He had it set to where the clutch would IMMEDIATELY release with the slightest movement of your foot and the car was an extreme bitch to drive. BUT, (this will be important later) the car would still go into each gear smoothly and effortlessly even with the Pro5.0.
With an appointment already scheduled with Jason at TDP in Fort Worth, the car got a re-manufactured T56 with triple cone synchros. Awesome little shop but no ones perfect. When the transmission was reinstalled at TDP another little problem popped up. The slave cylinder and master cylinder quick disconnect uses a metal ring with little teeth on it to lock the lines together. When the master line was put back into the slave a couple of the little teeth on the ring were bent in, JAMMING the two lines together.
Luckily I made it the entire drive home with the car shifting effortlessly smooth, going into each gear with no problems. After about 100 miles of in town driving, I went out to start the car one morning. When I went to push in the clutch I heard a slight pop and then the clutch pedal was rock hard.
Upon investigation we discovered the bent teeth in the disconnect had allowed the master line to pop out of the slave just enough to not actually be connected, but still jammed hard into it. After much prying and pulling it came apart, a new locker ring went in, and all was well.. almost. The tick master had developed a slight leak from the ordeal but Tick as quick to help me out sending me a new master.
Fast forward to a couple months ago and about 650 miles put on the setup. The car was EXTREMELY difficult to shift, feeling like you would hit a wall in every gear, and then push that wall with you to get it into gear. It would not click into gear and even pulling the shifter out of gear was a feat. I then took the car to a local performance shop here in town called Boost Performance that looked over the car and found a destroyed pilot. The pilot was replaced and they "trued-up" the input shaft. It as been about 300 miles since then and the pilot already feels like its going out the door.
There was no improvement in shifting either with the new pilot, it was still hitting a wall in every gear. The car will now move slightly again when it is put in first gear but still does not have clutch creep. I have not called the shop yet as I want to try and get a understanding to why all of this is happening. Another thing I forgot to mention that I bleed the clutch about every 150 miles. I know this sounds ridiculous but every time I bleed it there is about 4-5 good pumps of black black fluid. I only use DoT4 and completely replace the fluid in the system everytime so its all clean.
After the clutch is freshly bled, it will shift fine going down my street. But almost literally after about a minute it will develop the extremely difficult shifting again. I love my car dearly just like the rest of us retards and so desperately want it to be reliable again. In fact not even reliable, I'd be fine with just driveable!
I know it was a long read but I greatly appreciate the help!
Right from the get go the car had a sticking master. This was not the first thing that I tackled on the car. Instead; pacesetters, poly motor/tranny mounts, and a tune found it's way onto the car first. The car was an awesome daily driver, as the rear that came with this car had 2.73s, with a 6 speed. Awesome daily driver but of course was very lacking in acceleration, it would nearly touch 60 in first.
Finally nearly a year later in March another huge round of mods hit the car, almost making it a literally brand new car. The rear was swapped with a beefed up little ten bolt with 4.10s and a few other goodies. I went with monster and ordered one of their awesome kits; lightweight flywheel, lvl 2 clutch , p plate, tick master, gm slave, throwout, pilot, and a speedbleeder (which you would be an idiot not to install, makes **** WAY to easy). Also got a Pro5.0.
This was my first performance clutch ever, so I thought the chatter was outrageous, but quickly got use to it. I had everything installed by a small shop here locally and think that was my first mistake. The car would still ever so slightly move forward when the car was put into first gear, but there was no clutch creep when you would rev the car with it in gear. I think this was a problem in the adjustment of the master. He had it set to where the clutch would IMMEDIATELY release with the slightest movement of your foot and the car was an extreme bitch to drive. BUT, (this will be important later) the car would still go into each gear smoothly and effortlessly even with the Pro5.0.
With an appointment already scheduled with Jason at TDP in Fort Worth, the car got a re-manufactured T56 with triple cone synchros. Awesome little shop but no ones perfect. When the transmission was reinstalled at TDP another little problem popped up. The slave cylinder and master cylinder quick disconnect uses a metal ring with little teeth on it to lock the lines together. When the master line was put back into the slave a couple of the little teeth on the ring were bent in, JAMMING the two lines together.
Luckily I made it the entire drive home with the car shifting effortlessly smooth, going into each gear with no problems. After about 100 miles of in town driving, I went out to start the car one morning. When I went to push in the clutch I heard a slight pop and then the clutch pedal was rock hard.
Upon investigation we discovered the bent teeth in the disconnect had allowed the master line to pop out of the slave just enough to not actually be connected, but still jammed hard into it. After much prying and pulling it came apart, a new locker ring went in, and all was well.. almost. The tick master had developed a slight leak from the ordeal but Tick as quick to help me out sending me a new master.
Fast forward to a couple months ago and about 650 miles put on the setup. The car was EXTREMELY difficult to shift, feeling like you would hit a wall in every gear, and then push that wall with you to get it into gear. It would not click into gear and even pulling the shifter out of gear was a feat. I then took the car to a local performance shop here in town called Boost Performance that looked over the car and found a destroyed pilot. The pilot was replaced and they "trued-up" the input shaft. It as been about 300 miles since then and the pilot already feels like its going out the door.
There was no improvement in shifting either with the new pilot, it was still hitting a wall in every gear. The car will now move slightly again when it is put in first gear but still does not have clutch creep. I have not called the shop yet as I want to try and get a understanding to why all of this is happening. Another thing I forgot to mention that I bleed the clutch about every 150 miles. I know this sounds ridiculous but every time I bleed it there is about 4-5 good pumps of black black fluid. I only use DoT4 and completely replace the fluid in the system everytime so its all clean.
After the clutch is freshly bled, it will shift fine going down my street. But almost literally after about a minute it will develop the extremely difficult shifting again. I love my car dearly just like the rest of us retards and so desperately want it to be reliable again. In fact not even reliable, I'd be fine with just driveable!
I know it was a long read but I greatly appreciate the help!
11-26-2011, 06:48 PM
#2
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The short answer is that it sounds like the clutch is not fully releasing, which is causing the hard shifting. The fact that it gets worse after you drive it for a bit is more of a clue to this because as things heat up the clearance between the flywheel/disk/pressure plate gets smaller.
There could be any number of reasons that the clutch is not fully releasing. It can be air in the lines, MC, slave, or a non stock clutch that needs a shim.
Andrew
There could be any number of reasons that the clutch is not fully releasing. It can be air in the lines, MC, slave, or a non stock clutch that needs a shim.
Andrew
11-26-2011, 08:51 PM
#3
Let's remove "that it sounds like" from the last post. 
There's no "it moves in first gear with the clutch pedal down" without "clutch creep." Period. Somewhere in the hydraulics, you've got a damaged / prematurely worn part. Probably new hydros, proper shimming and inspection of the clutch are needed at this point.
There's no "it moves in first gear with the clutch pedal down" without "clutch creep." Period. Somewhere in the hydraulics, you've got a damaged / prematurely worn part. Probably new hydros, proper shimming and inspection of the clutch are needed at this point.
11-30-2011, 08:53 PM
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This is not normal right?
11-30-2011, 10:11 PM
#5
That's momentum transfer. If the gears are not engaged, the clutch is transferring power to the transmission, its just free spinning inside. You disengage the clutch, the clutch disc is still rotating along with the input shaft etc. If you wait eventually it should stop spinning with the flywheel/pp spinning "around" the clutch disc. Car should not "move" forward if you put it into gear.
12-05-2011, 03:26 PM
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Started up the car yesterday and took it for a spin for the first time in three weeks.
Right now it has open headers so its tremendously loud upon start-up. When the idle came down to normal I could hear a ringing noise that I assume was coming from the bellhousing. It sounded like a little high pitched dinging sound.
When the car was put into first gear at a stand still the loud ringing would go away. Take it out of gear and it would ring loudly again. I tested this two or three more times and everytime the car was put into gear the loud high pitch dinging ringing would go away.
I have noticed this sound before out while driving but just figured it was something loose on the car.
Ideas or normal?
Right now it has open headers so its tremendously loud upon start-up. When the idle came down to normal I could hear a ringing noise that I assume was coming from the bellhousing. It sounded like a little high pitched dinging sound.
When the car was put into first gear at a stand still the loud ringing would go away. Take it out of gear and it would ring loudly again. I tested this two or three more times and everytime the car was put into gear the loud high pitch dinging ringing would go away.
I have noticed this sound before out while driving but just figured it was something loose on the car.
Ideas or normal?
12-05-2011, 09:14 PM
#7
Just a thought, but mine started whining (almost like a belt whine), and 300 miles later the slave blew. I replaced the slave and it fixed the problem. When I would engage the clutch (in gear or not) it would stop whining, but as soon as I'd let off the clutch pedal it would start whining again.
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12-06-2011, 02:59 PM
#8
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It's not a whine but like a little metal bell constantly ringing when the car is out of gear at a stop or under acceleration at times.
Was coming to a stop yesterday and at about 15 miles an hour I went to put the shifter into first. The car scratched and jerked while going into first and since then I've parked it. This will be the third new gm pilot the car is going to have on it in nearly 2k miles.
Was coming to a stop yesterday and at about 15 miles an hour I went to put the shifter into first. The car scratched and jerked while going into first and since then I've parked it. This will be the third new gm pilot the car is going to have on it in nearly 2k miles.
Last edited by PadenAlbin; 12-06-2011 at 03:17 PM.
12-10-2011, 09:42 PM
#9
I'm not sure what you're issues are... but one thing I would advise is to stick with one shop to do your work if you can't do it yourself. I know Jason offers a 1 year warranty on his transmissions. Why didn't you give him a call when it started giving you problems again? It seems to me like you take it to one place, then another, then another...