i am pretty new to this board, but i have a question.. i have a 98 5sp and i am having issues getting into 1st gear. if i engage the clutch at rpms any less than 1.5k or so, the whole car kinda shudders. this has not happened until pretty recently. i have 112k miles on her.

why is this? i read the faq but didn't find anything that i thought talks about this.. and i also did some searching.. any help would be appreciated!

 

i'm sorry if i insult you with this question but you sure you are working the gas and clutch right?

 

Is it the original clutch? This doesn't sound like a transmisison issue, it sounds more clutch related.

 

yes i am working the gas & clutch.. i bought the car new and have 112k miles.. so yes i know how to drive a mt.

i suspect it to be the clutch, (yes, the clutch is original)but my mechanic tells me there is nothing wrong w/it. maybe i should get a second opinion?

 

I'm having this same exact problem. The only difference is- my clutch, slave & master cylinder are all brand new, and my flywheel was just machined. I've heard it could be something to do with the hydraulics? Any help is much appreciated.

 

a 98 with 112k miles???... holy crap thats double the average mi per year!!

 

not sure if this is your exact problem but...if you change your MT oil w/amsoil or redline mt-90 shifting into first is greatly improved while the car is still moving. i am not sure if this will remedy the shuddering you speak of. just a thought.

 

Switching to a synthetic will improve the shift feel, especially when cold, but it won't do anything for clutch chatter. My best guess is still something like a tired pressure plate. It's still just a guess though.

 

Just to throw in my 2 cents, I drive a 5-spd too and when I shift to first when starting off I feel the same type of shuddering, this also happens from 1-2, but after driving for like 5 min with the car warmed up it goes away, I was thinking that this was a clutch issue, but then also it started happening when I changed my tranny fluid. The issue with the tranny fluid was that I put in a GL-5 spec MT fluid (supposedly you are only to use GL-4, nothing less, but hell I put it in anyways....), I still need to get a GL-4 spec MT fluid, namely MT-90. Anyways I'd like to hear more about what you guys are experiencing with your setups.

 

actually, as i was browsing the forum this afternoon i got the sinking feeling that my condition has something to do with using GL-5 vs GL-4 tranny fluid.. i am finding out my mechanic doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. anyway, the last time i got a trans fluid change done was at 90k, so i hope i didn't f*ck up anything too badly.. i was planning on getting mt-90 so i am not going to wait until 120k and i am gonna get it now.. i hope that's it though