NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

I need help figuring out this problem. I just had my pressure plate, disc, throwout bearing, pilot bearing and rear main seal replaced today.. which elliminated one of my main issues - stiff pedal and slipping clutch.. however, my shifter is still hard to put into gear..

I've greased the ball, which helped out a little bit but not too much. The shifter is stock but it feels like a short throw shifter and occasionally it won't go into gear at all.


Any ideas on where to look? The mechanic started talking about something under the clutch pedal which I fail to understand as to how that relates to the shifter..


thanks in advance

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

If the pedal is not adjusted correctly, it won't fully DISENGAGE the clutch disc from the flywheel. This "might" cause hard shifting because the cltuch is still 1/2-1/4 engaged still. He's talking about the master cylinder pushrod. This rod controls how much fluid the ms displaces, ie.. how far the shift fork presses down on the pressure plate/disc. If you don't know what these items are, have the mechanic fiddle with it.

Ah but try to bleed the clutch ms again before all of this!

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

Jeff to the rescue..

thanks, I've blend the Master Cylinder before.. didn't feel much of a change.


Are these parts easily accessible without a lift and anything the typical DIY mechanic may not have?



this isn't the little pin just behind the pedal that you can literally reach down and touch, is it?

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

yeah it's pretty easy to fool with. Being a Circ de solea member doesn't hurt either! haha. Remove pin, loosen jamb nut, slide the rod out of the way, turn the rod/lever to adjust the throw and put back together. I'm not 100% sure this is the problem but it could be.

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

I know about that thing.. I tried to move it before but there is basically no room to work with there.. I can't stick my hands in there nor can I see anything.

must be a 4th gen thing

oh well, i'll try it again.



edit: i just came out to mess with it, it's impossible to reach in there.. i can't even see where or what i'm doing. there is a fork at the top of the pedal, with this rod sticking out of it and pressing into the master cylinder, this is what we are talking about here, right?
if so, i think i'll need to remove the dashboard again to do this. lol.

Ramius83

Do this:

Remove the locking pin holding the pin through the pedal and into the brake bracket.

Push the rod/bracket thingie towards the firewall and shift it to the passenger side.

Take a VERY LONG set of needle nose pliers and hold the rod stationary.

Then just take a 10/12mm wrench and SLOWLY and SLIGHTLY turn the screw on the back of that bracket. ONLY MAKE SMALL ADJUSTMENTS. If you go to far, your clutch will not engage and it is a pain to reverse this.

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

ok, i adjusted it a little bit.. it did help, i can get into 2nd and 3rd a lot easier.. but it's still pretty rough going into 1st.


on a related note,

I have clutch chatter.
Is this normal after basically brand new parts? Could the mechanics screwed something up? Didn't resurface the flywheel or something else? It's a lot smaller than it was with my old clutch but still very noticeable..

any ideas?

thanks

I30tMikeD

iTrader: (8)

Had an OE clutch installed last week. Not one bit of chatter ever.

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

they probably didnt clean the PP or flywheel good thats why its chattering

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

great..

anything i can do now to fix or reduce this?

sleeper

you shouldn't have to adjust the push rod. you may need fresh tranny fluid. did you have it replaced when you changed the clutch?

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

Yep.
Even if not, I had brand new Redline MT-90 in there from a few months ago.

sleeper

when they pull the axles, you lose about 2 quarts. did they top it off with mt-90 or another type fluid? if it was the wrong type of fluid(weight, etc.) it may make shifting hard. or maybe they did not top it off. but if everything is fine with the fluid, there is an easier way to adjust that rod. can you push the clutch in and shift to 1st gear? if it wont go into gear then you may need to adjust it. but if it was working before with your old clutch then you should not have to touch it. thats why i am leaning towards fluid. ok then, if the fluid is fine, you should check with the mech., and then check it yourself, to see if its full.(if you didn't provide mt-90 they probably put something else in?)
you can losen the nut on the rod, so you can turn the fork, instead of the rod. remove the cotter pin, and then turn the fork to make the proper adjustment, if you need more throw, then turn the fork so it goes out further. when it goes into first gear easy, then adjust the pedal by checking when the clutch engages when releasing the pedal., and adjust according to your preferences. i put the wrong gs rated fluid in and the shifting was terrible, changed over to mt-90 and blam, perfect shifting. when installing another clutch, you should not have to adjust anything. bleed the slave cylinder? im out for now.

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

thanks for all the feedback,
I did provide them with some extra Redline fluid but I have no guarantee what they did exactly. I checked the fluid level, it is fine. I adjusted the pin behind the pedal and it seems to be far better than before right now but it's still not that good. I have trouble taking it out of 4th and 5th gears.. as if something is holding it in there tight.. instead of popping out of gear, i need to really force the shifter. Out of 5th especially.. going into 1st it pauses at times, just too notchy, but again not anything like it was before.

Are there any bushings where the shifter is? Anything linkage related at all that may break easily? I'm planning on taking it all apart when we get a dry day here.

Mishmosh

iTrader: (3)

The bolt that holds the shifter rod to the linkage needs to be well-lubed and the nut on it tightened not too tight. If done right, you should be able to spin it freely. If not lubed or the nut tightened to tight, your shifting effort will go up dramatically... like 2-3x.

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

dang......and I tightened that thing alot

dizee

i'm also having this problem, but there's more to it than just "not being able to get it into gear".

this problem happens intermittenly. virtually every time i cold start my car (in the morning, or when leaving work), it suffers. there have been times when i've stopped the car, turned it off, put the gears through their motions (shift 1st-5th, first, reverse) -- give the shifter a good workout, start the car, and it's okay.

all symptoms follow: start the car, can't get it into gear. have to turn the car off, put it in gear, and start it. often, it will then lurch forward, with clutch pressed to the floor, it starts moving. a few times, i've been doing ~60, and pressed the clutch pedal to the floor, let off the gas completely, and the engine RPMs will only slowly fall, as if the clutch does not fully disengage.

but, like i said, sometimes i can get it to quit it. if i've driven around a couple of times, then stop for 5-10 minutes (go into a store, etc), come back out, it'll shift perfectly. clutch acts like it should, input shaft fully separated from the output shaft, etc.

the clutch never slips, and, on occassion, it works perfectly.

right now, i've narrowed it down to the following problems: air in the line (though the resistance on the pedal always feels fine, i've bled the line as well, though i was never able to get the smaller bubbles out of the line completely, i am suspecting that the tubing i put over the bleeder valve was torn as it was too small of a diameter tubing to fit over the valve, so i took a pair of pliers to it), clutch master cylinder, clutch slave cylinder, clutch fork, or throw-out bearing.

i've *never* checked the transmission fluid in this beast and it's got 95K miles on it. somehow i don't think the transmission fluid could be the culprit given the fact that, with the clutch pedal fully depressed, my tach stays put, falling only slightly.

what's the verdict fellas? try to bleed the system again? master cylinder, slave cylinder? clutch pedal height?

thanks for the help! long live my 01 maxima!