Clutch won't engage gears.

[Ford Falcon]

Hey viewers.
I have a 94 Geo Prizm 1.6L manual transmission.
Replaced the clutch about 2 years ago. It's my nephew's car, so I rarely drive it. It's his first car, and first stick shift. Not sure if this has any bearing on the symptoms.
Symptoms:
Unable to engage any forward gears, or reverse.
I can depress the clutch, and select a gear, then release the clutch, but there is no movement, and all I hear is a somewhat grinding sound.
The transmission has oil. I just drained it.
I just wanted to ask you all for some ideas as to what might be the issue before I pull the transmission again and check the internals.
Cheers.

[mobiless2]

Have you tried putting in first with car off, then starting? Could be broken throw bearing or damaged pressure plate.

[nevada]

maybe the transmission input shaft is busted.
or he tore the center out of the clutch.

[speedy25]

Check and make sure the driveshafts are still all the way in. If one falls out (It shouldnt!) you can get no forward motion.

It can also be something dumb inside the trans or clutch. Of course disassembly is required to find out.

-SP

[Ford Falcon]

Thanks guys.
I'll try to start it in gear first mobiless2 and see what happens.
Next I'll be pulling it apart this week, surveying the damage and taking pictures for reference.

[trife96]

If you put it in gear with the engine off, you should be able to hear the transmission going into gear and feel resistance. The grinding noise you describe is definitely not godd. Shift it into all gears in order, check for noise and feel that it actually goes into gear. If no resistance is felt, I would check your shift cables to make sure they are not broken or have somehow come unhooked. If it won't go into gear for some reason, I'm afraid you may be looking at removing the tranny. When you drained it, I'm assuming there was no metal bits in the oil I hope.

[Ford_Falcon]

OK, spent a little time this weekend on it.
Shift cables are good.
Didn't feel any metal bits in the transmission oil.
Took out the transmission today (finally)
The Haynes manual doesn't tell you you need to loosen and lower the front cross-member to get the rear engine mount out. I'm going to have to replace all those as well.
Clutch pressure plate had a nice deep groove in it, so I'm going to need to replace that.
The spline on the main shaft looked ok.

[Ford_Falcon]

I took another picture of the transaxle.
Does this look normal (I'm referring to the drive shaft socket)?
That piece of metal on the inside?



Thanks.

[nevada]

yes, thats normal.

[speedy25]

SO far all your pics and messages are showing/describing normal wear. Have you found a reason for your original complaint?

-SP

[Ford Falcon]

Not yet.
The original problem was that I couldn't put it into any gear. Gear shift cables are OK too. I watched them as I had someone go through the gears.
You don't think the wear on the pressure plate (and the gear shift bearing) could be the reason for the issue?
The only thing I've not done yet is open up the transaxle casing.

[speedy25]

Look at the shifting mechanism on the trans. There is a "pad" on one of the forks. The one on my car was badly worn. The replacement trans was only slightly worn. If yours is worn out of missing that could be a reason.

Wear on disk, pressure plate and throwout bearing look normal. Usually when the clutch is a problem, the disk has missing or no wear lines on it. The only time I have encountered a "grinding" problem was when a spring on the disk fell out.

Keep looking.

-SP



Toyota transmissions are almost bulletproof.

[Ford_Falcon]

I'll check it out this weekend and take more pictures.

[Bitter]

Originally Posted by speedy25

Look at the shifting mechanism on the trans. There is a "pad" on one of the forks. The one on my car was badly worn. The replacement trans was only slightly worn. If yours is worn out of missing that could be a reason.

Wear on disk, pressure plate and throwout bearing look normal. Usually when the clutch is a problem, the disk has missing or no wear lines on it. The only time I have encountered a "grinding" problem was when a spring on the disk fell out.

Keep looking.

-SP



Toyota transmissions are almost bulletproof.

Plastic pad? I know some guys get bronze brazed in place and machined down. The pad now lasts forever and stands up to 600+lb/ft torque.

[kaitaiya]

try take a pic of the end of the shift cables. also can you cycle the levers manually? try moving the levers where the cables connected and see if you can go through all the gears.

the only other thing i can think of is maybe the fork is bent?