1990 RS 305 T5

I want to fix the hard shifting problem I have with my transmission. When it's cold and warming up the transmission shifts fine, but when it gets to the operating temperature or after it starts getting really hard to shift (in all gears).

For example, if I'm cruising along and I get to a red light and I leave it in neutral while I sit at the light, when I try to put it in first it's very difficult at times, and another time I was driving in the mountains and I pulled in a drive way to turn around, and I tried to put it in reverse, but it would NOT go, I had to literally grab it with both hands and pull as hard as a could (I'm not a small guy either, 6'2 205) and it went into gear with a loud clunk

What is causing this? Fluid?

Thanks for your help

 

Could be the fluid in the trans.

Could be air in the clutch hydraulics.

Could be the clutch surface itself.

Rebleeding the clutch hydraulics is the easiest thing to try. Followed by a fresh fill of the trans with recommended fluid. Finally, if you want to check for clutch drag when the car is hot. (place car on flat, safe surface. Put into 1st gear, no brakes, clutch pedal held to the floor. Rev the motor to 4000-5000 rpms and see if the car creeps forward..)

 

I tried the "clutch drag" at a light today. I revved it up to about 5000 with it in first with the clutch down, no real noticeable movement, it maybe crept forward and inch but it seemed so insignificant that it could have been caused by the movement of the motor.

 

what are you running for fluid? IIRC that trans uses ATF. if using gear oil, that might cause what you describe.

 

I've never changed the fluid, i doubt the previous owner did either, how do you change the fluid?

 

there is a drain and a fill plug on the pass. side of the trans case. they should have square heads on them. DO NOT REMOVE the bolt on the drivers side that has a torx head. that bolt holds holds the reverse rail. undoing that will make for a bad day.

 

did this solve your problem? i have the same identical problem. Although at times i have clutch drag...why i couldnt tell you because the pp, clutch, flywheel, bearings are all new. and the slave is also new. really wish i could figure this out. i need to drive to daytona from Pa on thursday lol.

 

Nope, I bled the clutch system and nothing happened, it's still the same.

 

alright my friend and i worked on mine for 2 hours last night. got really frustrated. we fixed the problem for now by putting a small nut inside the plastic cap that sits on the slave rod. this gave me about 1/8th more travel and bingo! i drove all morning and some last night, shifts fine and smooth even when my motor was hot. i don't know if you want to try this or not but we rebled mine for about a half hour and didn't notice any difference. I also talked to a guy who lives really close to me but whom i never met. this guy has 6 thirdgens and loves them. he said to take off the slave, turn it so its facing up, and bleed it like that....he said thats the only way to get all the air out In his opinion.

 

Hm, that sounds interesting. I'll try the nut solution, can you elaborate on that a little bit?

If that doesn't work or help I'll try bleeding it the way your friend suggested, there's nothing to lose either way.

Thanks for the advice.

 

yeah i can elaborate...there is a little plastic cap on the push rod from the slave cylinder. the part of the rod that pushes on the clutch fork. anyway. we found a nut that fit perfectly inside the plastic cap. stuck it in there. and took the rod...which you can pull out. and put just a little point on it so that it stayed inside the nut better. and that was it. gave about an 1/8 th of an inch and i drove from PA to Fl yesterday with no problems.