I have a 96 Maxima w/the original manual transmission. My car has ~170k miles on it and today while exiting of the interstate I could not pull my car out of 5th gear. I pulled off the road and finally got it out of gear but it would not go into any other gear, including reverse. I shut the car off and found out it would go into gear w/the car off so I just started the car in 3rd gear and drove the 15 miles back home at 4k rpms in 3rd gear. I got home and looked in my repair manual and found nothing. I really cannot afford a new transmission at this point so I am hoping one of y'all has had a similar experience and can help me out.

BTW, when I slung my car into my driveway in 3rd gear and coasted to a stop w/the clutch in, which does not feel exactly right now either, the car was making a whining noise until I yanked the car out of 3rd, the rpms were already at idle before I got it out of gear though. Thanks.

 

Sounds like your clutch is gone. I would bank on either a bad throwout bearing or a bad clutch disc hub.

 

Thanks. So even though I easily started out in 3rd and really have had no problems w/a slipping clutch it may be the clutch, not the transmission. I guess that is good news.

 

Yeah, definitely sounds like you have a problem w/ your clutch disk, release bearing or maybe the hydraulics. Did you check your clutch fluid? If you do need a clutch I would recommend the ACT modified street disk. I love mine. 170k is a lot of miles to get out of a clutch too. Hope the problem isn't too bad - good luck.

 

My clutch fluid is good. I have 170k miles on the transmission, the clutch is only about 50k miles old. I bought the car used and have driven the car about 40k miles since I bought it. Do you think the ACT may finish off my transmission if it isn't already? On a hard 1-2 shift I sometimes get a loud bang somewhere near right under me. I figure a clutch that strong may break my transmission.

 

hmmmm, the hard 1 -2 shift can cause many noises due to the torque but you've got me wondering if your shift linkage has a problem. Obviously there are too many things that could be wrong. Maybe a local max guy can help you out and look at it otherwise you should take it to your mechanic. I hope it isn't too bad $$$
Btw, assuming your problem isn't the tranny itself, the act would be fine. Keep us informed.

 

Most clutch work on a Max requires you to take out the transmission, doesn't it? About how much should I expect to be charged for clutch work? Unfortunately, I do not have a mechanic that I know I can trust for this job. I am around the Raleigh area in NC if anyone can recommend somebody.

 

I am going to add another possible clue to my problem. With the car off you know how you can go through all the gears basically the same with the clutch in or out? Well now my car is still able to go into every gear with the car off and the clutch in/out but there is more resistance and sometimes I cannot go into the gear unless I put it into a gear around it first...e.g., when I want reverse and it won't go in I can put it in 4th and 5th and then it will go in. If I then try to go to 2nd most times it will not go in. Idk if this is normal or not but just something I figured might help diagnose the problem.

 

blah about im ****ed about my 96 5-spd tranny. The drive-axel seal is bad i think and i'm getting a whining sound in 1-2 gears.

 

My buddy had problems with his eagle talon and couldn't get into 2nd or 4th good
he found out later when he was depressing the clutch pedal it was separating the whole clutch from the transmission and was totally loose.
That is an extreme case
maybe your syncros are messed
go get em checked you fellow 96 5 speeder.

 

It sounds like a bad clutch/throw out bearing/fork problem. It doesn't sound like a synchro problem since he can shift into gear, for the most part, with the car off. I'd almost bet it's a clutch problem. Outside chance it's the linkage, but that would be easy to find.

 

Don't synchros spin with the engines speed, thus making them moot when the car is off? Anyway, if it was just a synchro problem, you could double-clutch your way around it.

I thought you could still drive a car with a bad throw-out bearing.

Maybe hydraulics system/clutch lines?

 

I would lean towards leaky clutch master or slave cylinders first.

 

If it is one of the clutch cylinders do you still have to take the transaxle out to get to them...if so I may as well still replace the clutch, right?

 

The slave cylinder sits on the exterior of the transaxle and the master clyinder is the little one on the firewall next to the brake master cylinder. Either one can be replaced or rebuilt without removing the transaxle.

 

i had the exactly the same problem in my 95 it turned out to be the clutch master cylinder its a pain in the *** to change unless you have small hands and you have to take off the air cleaner assembly to bleed it.it cost $50 at bap-geon

 

My car got stuck in gear and it wouldn't release twice 3 weeks ago.

Transmission shop finally found out it was the "fork" that was causing this problem.

Didn't get stuck in gear since... Hope it stays...

 

I had the same issue with my 96 recently. Hydraulics slave cylinder leak. Inexpensive repair

 

Well this is looking more and more promising. I am going to try to get the car fixed today. I will post what it turns out to be. Hopefully it is just one of the clutch cylinders like many have said. But could it be the hydraulics even though my fluid level has not changed? Thanks.

 

Yes, if air is getting into the system, the hydraulics could still be a factor, even though the fluid level remains unchanged. When you were checking he fluid level you were looking at the smaller reservoir, right?

 

I was looking at the smaller reservoir in the upper right hand corner of the engine bay.

 

I just found something else out about my problem, although I am not sure it was doing this when my problem first arose. Anyway, now when I start my car in gear w/the clutch fully depressed it make a fairly loud whining noise. I found out that if I let up on the clutch about 2 or 3 inches it quits making the noise and I can select gears. I have not had a chance to see if I can drive it like this so I don't know all of its characteristics. I didn't think I usually fully depress the clutch when I take my car out of gear coming to a stop or even shift but I must have been the other day once the problem started...although I do not remember a whining then so idk. What do you all think this means now? Thanks again.

 

A whining sound that is present with the clutch depressed that goes away when the pedal is released is usually a throw out bearing. It should make this noise anytime the pedal is depressed, not just after start. If it is the bearing, you should just replace the entire clutch.

 

Thanks. Yep, the sound is present any time the clutch is floored. If I let up even a little the sound goes away and I can change gears w/little resistance. It is weird that I can shift almost normally if the clutch is only 2/3 of the way down but fully depressed I cannot even pull the car out of gear.

I will find out tomorrow and post the results.

 

Actually this happened to me.
I couldn't put my car in gear unless it was turned off. My brother helped me fix it. What happened was that too much air pressure got into the clutch fluid lines. So you have to release that pressure. It takes 2 people to do it. There are 2 bolts that release the pressure. You have to loosen them to let the pressure out. But you have to do it a number of times. Like 7 or 8 times.