Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches South Central my tranny is screwed

...about a month ago, my clutch pedal decided to stay on the floor while I was attempting to exit the highway. Being very distressed by this, i pulled the car to the side of the highway to check out the problem. I got the clutch pedal to come back up. The pedal felt alot lighter than it normally would.
The car was suprisingly still drivable, however, the
car has to be double-clutched in order to shift. I have to let the rpms sychronize with the next gear in order to shift into it. The next day I took the car to the local shell station and they quoted me with a leaking slave cylander and a clutch repacement due to the leaking cylander, $1500. I then took it to J&W auto over in Concord , where my neighbor takes all of his cars (he works for an aftermerket parts company). They drove the car for awhile and checked into it even deeper and found that the slave cylander was not leaking and the clutch seems to be fine. So the only other option is to get a rebuilt transmission and a new clutch from ford, $3000 parts and labor.
Being that I am a broke college student, i am without my mystique for awhile.

P.S. - Sorry guys i'm still venting about this.

saxlylong,
I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn last night, but I suspect clutch hydraulics. The transmission has nothing to do with the clutch going to the floor. Now maybe the pressure plate failed, as that is part of the return force for the clutch hydraulics. If the car is drivable, I would try some place else for another opinion.

Respectfully,
Andy Hohl

I've slept at Holiday Inn, and argued with Terry Haines about MTX-75 problems. Still doesn't make me an expert. However...

Do you have a hard time shifting into gear from a stop? For example, putting the car into first or reverse when starting out? If you don't have difficulty with these two shifts, I'd bet on worn synchros in the transaxle, and then, yes, you are looking at a rebuild. If your clutch were not fully operational, the input shaft of the transaxle may still be turning when you try to put the car in gear from a stop. You would probably hear a crunch or grind doing this.

However, if you only hear the grind while the car is in motion, there is a good chance that your syncros are shot.

However, the quasi good news is you can practice your dog-gearbox driving by continuing to rev-match and double clutch as you seem to do now.

I'd ask Terry for a second opinion. You may also be able to bleed your clutch, since it is hydralic (assuming the clutch hydralics are at fault) If your brake fluid has gone low, you may have air in your clutch hydralics. They draw from the same fluid resevoir.

TB

The car shifts into gear fine from a stop, no problems there. I was also thinking that the synchros were messed up. No place will tear the transmission apart just to get an estimate, so there is no real way to know exactly what is wrong with it intrenally. There is no evidence of leakage around the bell housing, thus dropping the leaking slave cylinder idea, and J&W opened the inspection port or something to verify that the clutch and pressure plate were fine, so it has to be something internal. How exactly do I get ahold of Terry Haines? I've gathered, so far, that he runs his own shop in Michigan somewhere and that his knows his $hit about trannys.

I'll have to meet some of you guys someday in the near future and let you check this problem out...

ohh by the way.....J&W did bleed the hydraulic system when i put it in, no improvement, and i recently changed the transaxle fluid as well.