weird grinding

[noriceinside]

hey! new guy here.

first off i have 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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

[oneBADDz]

how many miles does it have on it? Kinda sound like a weak pressure plate

[noriceinside]

63k. i was thinking either that or throw out.

[oneBADDz]

thats low mileage for a weak pressure plate. My guess would be that the owner before you was a "clutch rider" when he wasn't using the clutch he didn't move his foot off of the petal. Although a very small amount of pressure on the clutch, over the miles the fact that it is barely disengaged constantly leads to premature failure. I'd get a clutch kit, it's a clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing and pilot bearing.

Also you might want to make sure the line doesn't have any air in it, there is a bleeder over the slave cylinder on the tranny. You might just be lucky enough to get out of this for free

[noriceinside]

yeah i can get a clutch kit with a "remanufactured" (resurfaced) flywheel for 250. my clutch slips bad when i pop it from 3 grand so i should do it anyway.

and about the bleeder...its an LT1 so i have the take the slave off and pump it.

[oneBADDz]

hmmmm, I had a 97, but I still don't remember, lol

[noriceinside]

yeah i had to install a new slave on my last car, 95 z28, and i had to pump the slave and hold it, then break the cap loose on the reservoir. its basically backwards as bleeding brakes.

anyway i'll try that first. thanks a lot.

[noriceinside]

weird...k i bled it and the problem still remains, but now its much less severe, and when the car's cold it doesnt do it at all. once i drive for a good 5-10 minutes it comes back.

should i flush my clutch fluid or does using synthetic atf have anything to do with it? i used mobil 1 synthetic atf in my z28 and had no problems...i put that into my trans am a week or two before this happened...could that be it?

[oneBADDz]

You really should stick with the dexron III or whatever it is that it calls for, some people go synthetic without a problem and it becomes a nightmare for others.

Clutch master cylinder? These things are harder to diagnose online of course, but you are lacking in pressure somewhere be it in the hydraulics or in the pressure plate

[noriceinside]

well i looked at the mobil 1 container. it says dexron III/mercon...

i had a good friend of mine who owns a shop drive it for me. he said its the synrchros, but hes the same guy who told me my opti went bad when it was just a half broken valve spring retainer.

[30thbird]

Your clutch is not fully releasing. It will take out your synchros if you continue to shift against the clutch- clutches ALWAYS win.