Linkage is aligned perfectly according to the repair manual I found online. I had him get in the damned car and rolled it yesterday with the clutch pedal pushed in and then pop the clutch. Now, normally that would have engaged it and made the car lurch,right? The battery wasn't connected and I wasn't trying to push start it, just trying to see if the clutch would catch. It just kept rolling and he damn near ran over my bicycle. I had to yell at him to hit the brakes! HE installed the axles without me helping. The installation procedure said to tighten the nuts to 37 ft.lb and then turn them an additional 60 degrees. He swears he couldn't get them to go any further. You guys saying that it sounds more like an axle gives me hope that THAT is what it could be. Could one have just popped loose and needs fully seating or do you think one or both could be broken? I'm going to have him jack the car up and check the axles before going through trying to pull the transmission out.

 

Here is what we did yesterday. We tried bleeding the clutch master yesterday and that didn't help one bit. I even had him get in the car and put it in first gear and push the clutch in while I pushed it about 10 feet and told him to pop the clutch. The car just kept rolling, which to me means the clutch is not catching for some reason. I just don't know what it is. The guy at a salvage yard told me that he needed to put a pilot bearing in the crankshaft in order for the automatic engine to work with his manual transmission. Sean said since he didn't see a pilot bearing in his crankshaft, he didn't figure he needed it. NOW, he's going to have to pull the transmission back out and try to figure out what happened. I am out of ideas. I just don't understand how this hydraulic clutch works. Apparently the hydraulic line connects to a sensor inside the bell housing and engages the throw out bearing. I'm just wondering if it's not connected. I found a plug on the wiring harness that's not connected to anything and asked Sean where the heck it goes and he said he didn't know. It's clean and not full of sand and road grit like I'd expect if it had never been connected to something, so I THINK he missed a connector under to the trans somewhere. HE doesn't want to fool with it today because it's Sunday. Now, believe it or not, I'm a registered Minister in the State of Florida and have told him that God won't mind because he needs his car for work. He just doesn't want to do it today. He's off tomorrow and got a bonus day off Wednesday because of an insubordination discipline he got at work. Anyway, HE is going to have to step up because I'm stuck. My knowledge of these new cars is minimal. There is no clutch fork or clutch adjuster like back in the good old days. Unfortunately for me, he put the flywheel, clutch disc and bell housing back on the car without my being there to see what he was doing. I truly think he either left something out or didn't do it correctly and for some reason, I keep going back to no pilot bearing. I looked at the old crankshaft and there isn't one in there, but I never got the chance to measure the inside diameter of the automatic crankshaft because of the work he'd done while I wasn't there. That just keeps gnawing at me that he should have installed one and didn't. Bottom line is the clutch isn't catching and I don't have a clue as to why.

 

No pilot bearing in my car so don’t worry about that. The hydraulic clutch is very simple, there is no adjustment or fork inside the bellhousing. The slave cylinder and the throw out bearing is one unit and it just pushes the bearing straight out to release the clutch. I looked up the axles and they do not bolt in, they are just like most fwd cars and snap into the transmission. The problem is most likely the passenger side not snapped in all the way to the transmission. What happens is you think they are snapped in all the way and the have enough give that they can pop out of the splines inside the transmission. So when you let out the clutch in gear you think you are in neutral. This is because the driver’s side is in all the way and holding and the spider gears are trying to drive the passenger side but it is freewheeling.

Do not tear the car apart, check the axles first. Did your friend remove both axles from the car when he tore it apart? Some people cut corners and leave the passenger side in the car thinking they can just poke it back in when installing the transmission. You try that once then you figure out that the extra few minutes it takes to get both axles out of the way is worth the time.

 

***** on right, Andy. Except, the driver side axle was more the problem than the passenger side. I jacked the car up, slid the jack stands under it and took one finger and turned the passenger side axle and it had SOME resistance, but I didn't think it was enough. Went to the driver side and I actually spun that sucker around a couple of revolutions with virtually no resistance except for the slight drag on the brake pads! Eureka, I thought. I held the brake pedal and told Sean to break the axle nuts loose and remove them. He did that and I took a 2x4 block and 3 pound hammer and drove both axles in until Sean said he could see them bounce. Then, he put the axle nuts back on and I told him to start the car and put it in reverse and the axles both spun. Then he put it in 1st and the axles spun. Great, I'm thinking, got it going. We torqued the axle nuts to the spec, put the wheels on, torqued the lug nuts and he went for a test drive! Sum Beech! IT LIVES AGAIN. He said it wouldn't go into 2nd and I made a slight adjustment on the shift cable and now it's going into 2nd. He's happy, I'm happy and all is well for now. He's gone to Dollar General to get a few things and I'm getting ready to eat dinner. So, THANK YOU, Andy and Drop Dead for your suggestions. I'm very happy that it's not the clutch and so is Sean. Now, he doesn't have to ask the note carrier to give him a break for a month. OH, he said the car was hard to stop now. I looked at the vacuum line from his check valve to the engine and he'd knocked it loose putting the battery back in! I had to laugh at him and now he's happier. Today is the anniversary of his Mom dying and he wasn't in such a good place. He was a Mommas boy and was down in the dumps. I told him his Mom told me to let him know it was okay to fix his car on a Sunday. He's good with that now.

 

DropDead, is there any particular reason you adjust your linkage in 4th gear and not neutral? I had to adjust this one in Neutral for some reason.

 

The first time I put a trans back in I read somewhere to center the shifter, and pull it down like youre in 4th to get the cables onto the shifter and it will be dang near perfect everytime. Its worked for me thus far. No real reason other than that.

 

Great, another win for the home team!

 

Yes indeed. When he got back safe and sound from the Dollar General, he let me know that it's now shifting into 2nd gear much easier. Makes me wonder if it got that nut on the shift rod tight enough! LOL