Metallifan

Hi, all.

I bought an 04 GTO with 80k miles on it 2 weeks ago. When I first drove it, it felt fine, the trans felt a little notchy, but I thought that was just the short shifter and the car. I have only owned one other manual and it was a 4cyl.

Anyways, about a week after I got it, it started to get very notchy and very hard to get into 1st at times, sometimes thinking I was in only to have it pop out, then I had upshifts to 2nd gear grind a few times at random times, no grinding on downshifts, but I think that was just the skip shift and I didn't realize it.

One colder morning when I left for work (20 degreesish) I reversed out of my driveway, and the car took off as soon as I started barely letting out the clutch, so I hit the brakes and turned it off, put it into 1st, turned it back on, and all was well.

The morning after that, it did it in 1st instead of reverse, but was fine upshifting after that, until I went to downshift for a hill, and I lost all clutch pedal. I had it towed home, bled the clutch, and it seemed PERFECT, MUCH smoother shifts.

For about ten minutes, now 1st has become very hard to get into, again popping out a couple times. It is also very notchy.

I've had no clutch slippage whatsoever.

After I bled the clutch, I checked the fluid every day. It's going down about 1/4" in the reservoir every 100 miles. My confusion is that I thought it was a sealed system, and if you had any leak of any kind, it would cease to work at all. I dropped the skid plate and noticed fluid all over it and my oil pan and p/s lines, but I could not for the life of me figure out where it's coming from, I even had a friend pump the clutch to try and see where it was possibly leaking, but I just can't see it!

What do I do?

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

im thinking your synchros but thats just a guess.

Metallifan

After bleeding the clutch, it felt like a brand new car for about 10 minutes. With the clutch fluid leak and no grinding, I would most likely suspect a clutch issue, I just don't know what and that's what I'm here for.

Thank you for your suggestion, though.

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

is your clutch pedal sticking or soft?

Metallifan

Having only driven this car for two weeks without knowing if I'm even feeling the pedal how I should be feeling it, I honestly can't say for sure, but I would say its firm. Definitely not sticking.

TeamLS1

Slave cylinder possibly, drop the trans and replace, 2 people half a day

04gto5.7

I would say slave or clutch. Even the factory clutch (if you don't know these cars) will fell pretty firm. But what happens is if the clutch isn't all the way disengaged then the trans will grind into gear or be hard to get into gear. If your clutch and slave are fine then its your tranny

Metallifan

How do I check the clutch for damage? Only transmissions I've dealt with and dropped were autos.

chriswildermuth

Lol at half day. I did it by myself on jack stands, 5 hours tops. It sounds like your slave.

04gto5.7

Its really easy pull the tranny off the bell housing then you can pull the rest to check it all out

nick07silverado

i would say the slave cylinder is bad i had a 97 ranger and the slave went bad and the clutch would either be really close to the floor on some days and then it was fine and it didnt wanna go in gear or pop out other days you seem to have to same problem i did

Metallifan

I can drop a trans, I've just never dealt with clutches so I don't know what to look for as far as clutch damage goes.

chriswildermuth

Look at the springs, and bearings. If its a stock clutch chances are it needs replacing.

Metallifan

Okay. I figure since it's tax time and I'll be dropping the trans, I'll just go ahead and get an LS7 clutch and new slave/remote bleeder. It already has a RipShift.

Dr.Goat

Check your bell housing, if there is fluid it is the clutch slave. There is also a little slit to look up into the clutch, if you see fluid, it's the slave. I just replaced mine bc of the same problem. And with it being so cold your trans, is going to feel a bit rough until it is warmed up. A short throw will feel a little tougher bc you have less moving force. Basically it is like tryin to torq something with a ratchet, vs a torq wrench which gives you more force with less effort, except not that big of a difference lol. Also you can check your master cyl for leaks as well, could be time to replace that if there isn't fluid. But if you don't see fluid on the bell housing wait for a dry day drive the car till fully warmed up for a bit come home and check again.