weird grinding
 

well i doubt any of you would be able to help, but i'll give it a shot (no offense, but this is more of a show-oriented board and not many here are experienced with mechanical type things).



first off as most of you know, its a 97 trans am, t56. since i got the car a few months ago the clutch pedal would have to come out quite far to be able to start giving it gas, almost all the way out, and sometimes when leaving a stop it will slip, but it hasnt ever slipped between shifts.

-------------------------------------------------------------

anyway i have a weird grinding...let me describe it:

if you were to press the clutch pedal a little bit down on any car and try to shift it you'd get a deep, slow grinding of the gears meshing together i guess.

my grinding is distinctly different than this type of grinding. its higher pitched and faster. and doesnt affect my shifter.

my reverse used to do it if i didnt have it all the way in gear. i'd have to slam it into reverse and hear for it to click into gear. ive figured out how to get past it.

-------------------------------------------------------------

but lately ive had a serious problem with this type of grinding. i was driving along one night, not at all driving hard. left a stop and went to shift into 2nd and i couldnt go into gear. i couldnt go into any gears. i pulled over and turned the car off and that was when i was able to go into gear. i checked the fluid level and it was fine. once i started the car up again i couldnt go into gear again. i had to slam it into each gear and really work it in and finally i was able to roughly get it into 1st and as i started driving again it got easier to shift.

-------------------------------------------------------------

well that was thursday, now when i shift it, it shifts with a little resistance, but during any upshift or downshift i get a grinding noise...the same noise my reverse has been making like i discussed above. and when i feather the gas and clutch to leave a stop i hear a weird clanking noise, as if a bearing is bad or theres pieces of loose metal moving around somewhere...my clutch pedal itself hasnt changed. it doesnt feel spongier as if it has air in the lines or anything.





okay now all thats out...does anyone have any ideas?

throwout bearing maybe? I think you'r going to have to pull the trans and look at your clutch and flywheel

yeah i think its either the pressure plate or throw out bearing.

my clutch slips when i try to pop it, i drop it from 3 or 4 grand, it just hits the rev limiter and the rear wheels arent even moving---not that i would ever need to pop my clutch :D ---but i need to replace it. and i can get a clutch, pressure plate, throw out and pilot bearings with a resurfaced flywheel for 250. might as well do it. i just wanted to research it further before i dump the money into this.

yeah new clutch sounds lieka good idea

Caleb- sounds like your clutch system needs some work. I would start with the clutch and pressure plate, throwout ect.. While under there you might also want to check your slave cylinder and make sure its not goin bad too.

Also check your pilot bearing and make sure its not worn. If its still the stock one might as well replace it, its a small and cheap part but can make a big difference. Its a part that often gets overlooked and can be the source of headaches...

What clutch are you getting for $250? I wouldn't really bother with a stock replacement unless its neccesary due to a monetary situation. And don't go with SLP, I had a very bad experiance with their clutch. Its a little more costly, but get either a Centerforce or a Spec..worth the dollars IMO...

he works at a shop so I bet he gets a good discount

i think it sounds like the pressure plate but thats just my opinion and all the grinding just sounds like its not fully going into gear like its not getting out of the previous gear or it kinda sounds like the clutch is just really really worn and is making it hard to get out of a gear to get to the next but i just put a clutch in like a week ago and i got one of the crapy dynapak clutch its ok i guess but i needed something like right away but if i were u i would definatly go with a SPEC that what i wanted to get

yeah im thinking its not completely disengauging. the last guy drove it like crap.

and for 250 its a stock replacement with a big discount. i dont work for 2 more weeks and ive got about 1500 in the bank to hold me over for the next month until i get paid again. so i dont want to shell out 500 bucks for an aftermarket clutch...and i also might need bearings or synchros so i wanna be careful.

oh and whats a synchro rebuild kit? im guessing its not new synchros...which probably wont truely fix worn synchros.

oh and new development in my problem.

i bled my clutch earlier this week. it helped. the problem is less severe and now it only shows up 5-10 minutes after driving. when its cold i dont have that problem. when the problem is occuring i can double clutch it and i wont have the problem.

and this too...if it has something to do with cold and warm should i flush my clutch fluid? or does my recent trans flush have anything to do with it. i put mobil 1 synthetic atf in it. i had that in my z28 and it didnt do anything, but could it affect anything here?

I'd change the clutch fluid might be a bit of water in there, since temp shouldn't effect the fluid

water and/or air. thing is though...to flush it, just disconnect the line from the slave, let it drain, fill it back up, then bleed it?

my worst fear is not being able to get all the air back out, this is a tricky system to bleed.

I've never done the 4th gen f body (flush out that is) see if the service manual has any tips

Wow, I think we have found something that Arch HASN'T done...somebody write this down!!!

There should be a bleeder on the slave itself, just like doing brakes. With the warm/cold thing it sounds more and more like a new slave is in order too-

nope. stock LT1s dont have a bleeder.

mitchell says to unbolt the master but dont take it out. unbolt the slave and let it hang. take the cap off the reservoir, then push the slave cylinder into the bore about 20 mm then put the cap onto the reservoir. then push the cylinder in 10 mm at a time until bubbles stop coming out.

has to be the stupidest method for bleeding ever