DR-Max

iTrader: (3)

This is rather long so please bear with me,

I've noticed lately that the RPM drops momentarily during acceleration, then climbs back up. At first, I thought it was my clutch slipping however, this never happens on 1st gear. From a dead stop, I launch on 1st gear and proceed to accelerate, no problem, no RPM drops. Then I release the accelerator pedal, depress the clutch, shift to 2nd, release the clutch, then punch the accelerator. The RPM climbs to around 4k RPMs, then drops by around 1.5k RPMs. Then it starts to climb back up again til I shift to the next gear. It does this all the way to 5th. During the initial RPM climb, the car felt like something was holding it back as the RPM climbs. After the RPM drop and the RPM climbs again, I'd try to punch the accelerator again at any given gear, it doesn't happen at all. It only happens while upshifting. However, lets say I'm cruising on 4th gear for a while and decide to punch the accelerator, the RPM climbs at around 4k RPMs, then drops by around 1.5k RPMs. Then it starts to climb back up til I upshift.

I had my buddy, who's a transmission tech, take a look at it and he didn't think it was my clutch slipping. He further explained that had it been the clutch, the RPM would wind up higher and quicker and there would hardly be any pull especially while driving on an uphill or slightly inclined roadway. The clutch master and slave were shot on my car so we replaced it plus the slave hose since it showed signs of leakage. I figured that perhaps due to loss of pressure from the leak, it made the car act the way it did. During my drive home, it was the same. But the tranny was shifting a lot smoother. This morning, I replaced the fuel filter since its been long overdue. To my surprise, some of the problem went away. At times it would reoccur again but not as bad. For a while, now my KS has been intermittently going out. I pulled an 0304 ghost code so I finally ordered a KS online. Also, my car idles smoothly at around 650 RPM's.

Question...

What do you guys think is the culprit here? Has this happened to any of you? I read somewhere in the org a while back that a really bad or dead KS can make the car perform like its the clutch is slipping, perhaps give you that same feel as if the clutch is slipping while hesitating. Please chime in with your thoughts.

Thanks

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Is the engine speed actually going up with the tach or is your tach experiancing electrical problems and not working correctly.

If your a 5 speed and your engine is reving after you engauge the clutch, then the clutch is slipping. There's no other way the engine can free rev like that. You could have a rear main oil seal leak thats causing your clutch disks to slip like that and catch again.

Bottom line, you need to pull the tranny and take a good look at the clutch, pressure plate and your rear main oil seal.

DR-Max

iTrader: (3)

There is a leak coming from there, between the tranny and engine but very mild. The last time I checked, a few weeks ago, it was the same. The leak hasn't gotten worse yet. Thanks for the input, I'll have to look into getting it checked anyway.

DR-Max

iTrader: (3)

The only thing that baffles me is that this doesn't happen while I punch the accelerator on first gear. If the clutch is slipping, shouldn't it slip on first as well as the rest of the gears?

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

you would think so you should noticea slip in all gear but for some reason your not. I want to bet its teh rear main seal. Get it checked out soon so you can maybe save having to replace you clutch, if its not too soaked in oil.

DR-Max

iTrader: (3)

I was talking to my buddy again not too long ago. He would think that would be the case if the leak coming from the rear main was so bad that there would be drips of oil on the ground under where my car is parked but there isn't any. There are a few beads of oil around where the tranny and the engine meets but nothing alarming.

Wouldn't the tranny need to be pulled anyway to check for the rear main seal? If so, then wouldn't it be practical to go ahead and change the clutch and pressure plate while the tranny is out?

Batxel

iTrader: (1)

That sounds like how my max was acting about 2 months after buying it. Later on I had found out it was clutch and there was oil dripping inbetween the engine and tranny. I drove around mabye another month or so after noticing this and it got worse. On my part, I only noticed the slipping in the higher gears and eventually it started slipping in the lower gears to the point the car would hardly move. I would recommend getting the clutch replaced asap as well as the rear main seal because your flywheel will start receiving a serious beating. Make sure you get the rear main seal from the dealer and not napa, napa gave me just the rubber ring but the actual rear main seal has the rubber ring "built" into to an aluminum piece.

DR-Max

iTrader: (3)

How bad was the leak? Did you actually see oil drippings on the ground? I'm going to take a look under my car again today or tomorrow.