Noobie Needs Help

I have a 1996 3000GT that I bought about two weeks ago. After getting all the state inspection and tags done I have been able to drive it since last Saturday. It was running great, no clutch problems or anything serious like that. But this morning I got in it to go to work and it would not go into first gear for anything. I tried letting it get nice and warmed up, nothing. I tried putting it in reverse (don't ask me why) to see what would happen and it started grinding gears. I was finally able to force it into first to pull out of my driveway. Once I got to a stop sign I tried to down shift into first again and it got stuck in neutral. I had to sit there for five minutes before it finally went into second (couldn't get it into first). I had to limp to work doing it that way. At one stop light the car just died like I wasn't using the clutch at all. I had to lift my foot up and punch down as hard as I could to get it to engage. Once I got into my work's driveway I tried to shift again and this time it was like the clutch wouldn't engage at all. I had it pushed all the way to the floor, but nothing worked. I am planning on checking out the clutch fluid level at lunch, but I wanted to get any opinions on what else it could be. It didn't show any symptoms last night around 9:30 when I got home (such as the clutch slipping and stuff like that). I know it might be the master and/or slave cylinders. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated as I don't know much at all about 3000GT's. The sooner the better too, as I don't have any other way to get home from work. And sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure all the information I had was included. Thanks!

let us know how the fluid level is...im willing to bet that its all gone.

wow.. what a wonderful first post! haha welcome to the forums it sounds to me like you are low on fluid maybe or you have air in the lines? check the level and blead the system and see if that helps.. also have you tried pumping the clutch to build pressure? just give that a shot also might help you at least get home
Jason

blink your to damn fast!

wow.. what a wonderful first post! haha welcome to the forums it sounds to me like you are low on fluid maybe or you have air in the lines? check the level and blead the system and see if that helps.. also have you tried pumping the clutch to build pressure? just give that a shot also might help you at least get home
Jason
Haha, tell me about it. Not exactly how I wanted to start on this forum, but oh well. Thanks for the help, I was starting to worry that the car had major problems already. The jerk that I bought it from screwed me over on it big time. But it's still a really nice car when it's working.
EDIT: I was also wondering which type of fluid to put in it. I know that you use brake fluid, but I have heard some people say DOT 3 and others DOT 4. Thanks again.

Just wanted to let y'all know how it turned out. I got some DOT 4 fluid from work and checked the reservoir, and it was empty save for a tiny little bit in the bottom. I filled it up, pumped the clutch a little and turned the car on and pumped it some more. After about 5 minutes I could feel the clutch getting more pressure in it and decided to drive it a little. It now shifts smooth as glass. I really think the punk I bought it from drove it hard and didn't bother to do regular maintenance on it. I'm gonna leave a little cardboard under the car tonight to check for leaks, hopefully I don't have any. Thanks again for your quick help!

WTF I just went to lunch any my car just did the same thing.. lost all pressure!! and wouldn't go in gear so i get out and its low on fluid! thats random!
Jason

WTF I just went to lunch any my car just did the same thing.. lost all pressure!! and wouldn't go in gear so i get out and its low on fluid! thats random!
Jason

Haha, talk about weird. It's a conspiracy, all the 3000GT's are working together to take over the world. Oh well, I guess it could be worse.....

clutch fluid gremlins are real.

im gonna go check mine now for good measure...:uhoh:

They are gnomes... not gremlins. :D

ah yes of course...like the underpants stealing underpants gnomes of southpark...

So much for a happy ending. I started it up to head home after work and noticed that the clutch seemed to have the same problem. Once I pumped it a few times it seemed to get better, but that only lasted till I got home. As soon as I pulled into my driveway the thing started acting up again. I found that I have to push as hard as I can to get it all the way to the floorboard and it's still a little hard to get it into gear. It seemed to help if I pumped the clutch a few times, but that was probably my imagination. I remember reading that the clutch pedals are adjustable on these cars, and I saw a link in another post that shows you where the bolt is that allows you to do that. My question is this: how difficult/time consuming is this procedure? Cause if I go to my car tomorrow and try to get it to work properly and it does the same thing it would be nice if I could just go under there and loosen the bolt, move the pedal to the desired location, and tighten the bolt back up. But something tells me it's not that simple. So again, is it something that can be done in a relatively short period of time, or do I need to bleed the system and then adjust it and then put it all back together again?

adjusting the pedal is fairly easy...but i would say check for leaks first.

Does not sound like an adjustment issue. Sounds like you have a leak in either your clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder, or the line in between. Pull the boot back on the slave to check for fluid, check near the pedals for wetness from a master cylinder leak, and check the line for wetness. Defintely doesn't sound like you need to adjust anything. Regular maintenance does not include filling the clutch fluid, it should never go down.

Once you find the leak and replace the part, you will need to bleed the system.

ah yes of course...like the underpants stealing underpants gnomes of southpark...
exactly

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/geek/gars/images/1/2/3/4/6/tweek3.jpg

Holy crap! no joke, about a week ago i was driving to school and my clutch decided to not disenguage until halfway to the floor! then it had to go all the way to the floor! it really is a conpiracy! Anyway, I filled the fluid and expected to find a leaking cylander but no go, after an hour of searching and pumping the clutch nothing, and still i havent had any issues, very very strange.

oh, and welcome to the forums srtike.:grinyes:

oh, and welcome to the forums srtike.:grinyes:
Thanks liquidPunk, I just wish it had been under better circumstances. I checked for leaks both visually and by feeling the carpet on the floorboard, and neither one showed any signs of leakage. I am wondering if since it was low/out of fluid if it's possible air got into the lines somehow? I will check it tomorrow morning before I start it and see if the fluid level has gone down. But everything right now looks like there is no leak. Maybe I will get some of liquidPunk's luck and it will have somehow fixed itself by morning. The thing that is really strange to me is that I drove it last night till almost 10 pm, and everything was working perfectly. Shifting was easy, putting it in reverse wasn't difficult and didn't result in any gear grinding, and everything seemed normal. But something happened overnight that screwed all that up. The previous owner appears to have driven the car rather roughly, so I though that maybe the clutch needed to be adjusted from any hard hits it may have taken while he was driving it. Assuming it turns out that the master and slave cylinders and all associate hoses are fine, what else could it be? The clutch doesn't seem to be worn down to the point of getting a new one, and the previous owner put a new performance clutch in it (but I don't know what brand or anything like that). Also, I don't know if it makes any difference or not but the car was just sitting for at least a year (probably more) before I purchased it.

yeah I hope you get my luck also! haha, it was pretty odd though. well if your not having any clutch slipping then your clutch is fine, its prob a leak, but if your having trouble finding a leak then try the gravity bleeding technique. (ask stealthee or seach on here or on 3si.org) im thinking then your problem will be solved :)

Suhweet. Someone else has experienced the gnomes. People dont know what to think if they see myself or LUSTFUL talking about the gnomes on 3si. :p

Just wanted to (hopefully) bring this issue to a close. Got one of our customers to bleed my system to see if there was any air in the lines. He said that the slave cylinder had a very small amount of fluid behind the rubber boot. According to him it doesn't look like there is a leak, or if there is it's really small. And now the friction point and everything seems to be where it should, and the shifts are smooth and without gear grinding. So hopefully this is the last time I will have this issue for a while. Thanks to all for your help and advice in getting this fixed!

if this time it isn't fixed,just change the slave cylinder.... i can almost guarantee that is where your problem is at. and no type of fluid should be by there anyways, and also it doesn't matter if you have a small or a big leak, a leak is a leak and any type of leak when it comes to braking systems, or clutch lines(since they both use the same type of fluid) a simple leak can be very critical and will effect any system... my slave cylinder went out a while back and all the symptoms you have stated are the exact ones i went through... changed the slave cylinder and my problems where gone.... and on 3/s's it is very common to get a leak from the slave cylinder

if this time it isn't fixed,just change the slave cylinder.... i can almost guarantee that is where your problem is at. and no type of fluid should be by there anyways, and also it doesn't matter if you have a small or a big leak, a leak is a leak and any type of leak when it comes to braking systems, or clutch lines(since they both use the same type of fluid) a simple leak can be very critical and will effect any system... my slave cylinder went out a while back and all the symptoms you have stated are the exact ones i went through... changed the slave cylinder and my problems where gone.... and on 3/s's it is very common to get a leak from the slave cylinder

Interesting......I know the master cylinder can be replaced fairly easily, but how difficult is it to replace the slave? Would it be something that I could do myself, or with the help of a friend (who used to be a mechanic)?

The slave cylinder is easier to change than the master. There shouldn't be any fluid at all behind to boot, if there was it's time to change it.

The slave cylinder is easier to change than the master. There shouldn't be any fluid at all behind to boot, if there was it's time to change it.

The mechanic claimed that there was a very small amount of fluid, but I never saw it. And I don't really trust this mechanic as far as I can throw him, so I will wait and see if I notice any fluid loss or leakage. If I do then I'll replace it. But I wouldn't put it past this guy to say that just to charge me extra to replace it.

You actually wouldnt even have to replace it, you can just rebuild it (just change out the seals) a new one will cost about $40 for a slave and $70 for a master, so not too pricey but you can get a rebuild kit for about $5.00

pm jason bet if you need that, he can usually get you a good price.:)

You actually wouldnt even have to replace it, you can just rebuild it (just change out the seals) a new one will cost about $40 for a slave and $70 for a master, so not too pricey but you can get a rebuild kit for about $5.00

pm jason bet if you need that, he can usually get you a good price.:)

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I checked the fluid again yesterday and it seems to be at the same level (full). And the clutch is working beautifully. So hopefully I can put some money into customizing it instead of fixing problems. Any recommendations on what to mod? It has a custom front end and wing. But other than that most of the stuff is bone stock. I have read a lot about the "snake eyes" mod, and it sounds pretty cool.

You should post some pictures up. And last time I bought a slave it was $20 from Autozone, the rebuild kit was $15.

Your car is a 96, right? I think the "snake eyes" mod can only be done on 1st gen, since they have the popup lights. There are a few good posts here on how to do it. The faq's have good tips on mods, it really depends on what you're looking to do. If u wanna mod looks, and you want the snake eyes, try to find a conversion kit ( I think they make them...?) for 1st gen lights. Other than that, new rims is all I would recomend, since I think that the 3s body styling is already cooler than any kit youcan buy for it. As for performance, Exhaust, headers, test pipe, Intake and gutting the precats seem to be the cheapest and most poplar first mods on most of the cars on this forum.

Your car is a 96, right? I think the "snake eyes" mod can only be done on 1st gen, since they have the popup lights. There are a few good posts here on how to do it. The faq's have good tips on mods, it really depends on what you're looking to do. If u wanna mod looks, and you want the snake eyes, try to find a conversion kit ( I think they make them...?) for 1st gen lights. Other than that, new rims is all I would recomend, since I think that the 3s body styling is already cooler than any kit youcan buy for it. As for performance, Exhaust, headers, test pipe, Intake and gutting the precats seem to be the cheapest and most poplar first mods on most of the cars on this forum.

Yeah, I think the previous owner already gutted the exhaust. He also put a single stage Zex Nitrous kit in. I agree that the body looks awesome, and even more so with the upgrades the original owner put on. I don't like the tires, so I guess that will be the next thing to go.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I checked the fluid again yesterday and it seems to be at the same level (full). And the clutch is working beautifully. So hopefully I can put some money into customizing it instead of fixing problems. Any recommendations on what to mod? It has a custom front end and wing. But other than that most of the stuff is bone stock. I have read a lot about the "snake eyes" mod, and it sounds pretty cool.

haha, well maybye you got lucky like me! My clutch went to the floor, but i couldnt find a leak and now its been well for about a week and a half:naughty:

haha, well maybye you got lucky like me! My clutch went to the floor, but i couldnt find a leak and now its been well for about a week and a half:naughty:

Haha, well here's hoping it works out the same for me!