HotRodder

My '98 TA had been parked for a couple of months (for stereo install -removed interior) but I had to put it back into service because my daily driver broke down. I didn't have any issues with the tranny before I parked it, but after a week of driving it it became increasingly difficult to engage 5th or 6th gears. 1st thru 4th seem to work ok, but when I try to engage 5th, I have to make an extra effort to see that the clutch petal is to the floor and ease the gear shift into 5th slowly after a moments pause (eventhen sometimes i will still feel the gears inside turning and as they slow it will go into gear.) Otherwise I will seriously grind gears. 6th is the same - even possibly a little more difficult. There was one occasion after I had driven about 100 mi. or so, when I was slowing for an exit ramp, I had a hard time even getting out of 5th gear. When I got home I check the hyd. fluid and found it a little low so I topped it off. I hasn't gotten stuck in 5th or 6th since, but I will still grind those gears if I am not very slow and careful. Can anyone suggest what I should do at this point? Thanks.

som6969

If you added clutch fluid than your stock Slave Cylinder maybe going out. Not disengauge the clutch all the way. How does the pedal feel does it feel like its getting soft. Try bleeding the system and see what that does for you.

393coupe

Sounds like a clutch issue but kind of doubt it since 5th and 6th are the only ones affected by it . More than likely the fork pads on the fork are broken or the slider is beat up and is dragging on the hub . I would say the issue is trans related on this situation .

HotRodder

Thanks for the replys. I too, am leaning to possible tranny damage as 1st thru 4th work without difficulty. I am puzzled as to what could have caused the damage however as I haven't had any problems before other than replacing the clutch about 2 yrs ago to a spec 3+ and everything worked fine after the replacement (flywheel, friction disk, pressure plate, slave cyl.). I'm not sure wether we should be changing our trans fluid periodically or not. BTW this trans happens to be an upgraded rebuilt unit that has the steel shift forks. I have gotten good service from this unit and I am not compaining too loudly, but I was just suprised to have this happen under normal (not spirited) use. Also I happen to have the original factory trans w/ 86K miles on it that has been in storage (5+ yrs). I thought it was broken back when I replaced it, but it turned out that I broken then clutch hub a new SPEC stage 4 clutch disk after 2 passes at the track. Now I've since stopped racing my car and just try to maintain it. Anyhow, I wonder if it would be OK to just swap the factory back in place after all this time, or would it need to rebuilt also just from sitting so long. Thanks for any suggestions.