00CaliforniaZ28

iTrader: (11)

The other day, about a block from my house, I push the clutch in while coming to a stop, and i hear a slight grind just from pressing in the clutch (the car was already in neutral), and the pedal got real mushy. I try to get the car going, but it wont go back into gear. After sitting at a stop for 30 seconds, it finally goes back in, but the pedal remians soft. Another thing I noticed is that the gear changes became very light, almost gliding from gear to gear, where there was once a very distinct notchiness on all changes. After parking the car, and then taking it for a drive during the day, the clutch feels normal, maybe a little soft, and the notches are back in the shifts.

However I now notice that if you change into second quickly, youll get a slight grinding noise... its more noticeable audibly then actually being able to feel it. Itll do the same into the other gears, but second is by far the worst. The other gears make no noise that I can tell, but you can still feel a vibration you have to push passed to engage the gear. If you let the revs drop all the way down however, there is little to no noise or vibes. Feels very similar to my brothers car with a damaged syncro in 2nd gear. But this is sounding more like a clutch issue? Ive tried double-clutching and that doesnt really alleviate the problem.

So far ive only had the chance to check the tranny fluid which is full and clean, and the hydraulic reservoir is full also and clean. Where else to start looking? Is this sounding more like a clutch issue? Would bleeding the system be worth the time? Pilot bearing? Any help would be great appreciated!

The clutch was replaced about 20K miles ago with a stock Z06 unit, along with the master/slave. The car has 78,000 miles in total.

Mike44138

iTrader: (3)

Sounds to me like you've got a clutch issue. I would start at bleeding the clutch and possibly flushing the fluid with fresh fluid if you see any contamination showing up when bleeding. 20k on a factory clutch is nothing if it hasn't been beat on, but there's a possibility of a pressure plate problem causing the soft pedal. Could be a bad master/slave also. Try disconnecting the hydraulic line from the slave and pressing down on the master. If the pedal doesn't move the master is ok. I'm assuming the fluid level hasn't been changing?

00CaliforniaZ28

iTrader: (11)

Thanks for the reply. Ill try to flush the fluid and bleed it this weekend and see what happens. Would be nice if it were something so relatively simple. Ill let ya know what comes of it, and thanks again.

Mike44138

iTrader: (3)

No problem, good luck with it.

00CaliforniaZ28

iTrader: (11)

Just got finished bleeding the clutch with the mityvac, and still no change. There was hardly any air in the lines, despite several bleedings. If anything, the noise is now more pronounced... probably a result of my numerous test drives continuing to stress whatever is wrong. Its now a nice grind going into any gear if the revs are over 2000. If I let it drop down to around idle revs before moving into the next gear, it seems to work alright. Reverse is also pretty tough to get into gear, well, at least tougher then it was before. Is it worth bench bleeding the master, or does this seem like an issue with the clutch itself, or possibly something else? Thanks for any help

00CaliforniaZ28

iTrader: (11)

Any other ideas anyone?

Mike44138

iTrader: (3)

Sorry about the delay. Sounds like a clutch issue to me. The "grinding" you're hearing could be the throwout bearing against the pressure plate. If I had to guess I'd bet you've got a problem with the pressure plate or slave cylinder.