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1995 Nissan 2WD truck, 4-banger, 253,xxx miles, bought new, original clutch. The oil and coolant etc has always been religiously changed, I take good care of my vehicles.
Every now and again (but becoming more frequent) the clutch will not engage and go into first gear, even if I let the truck roll a bit or rev it or try to put it in another gear first. It just sticks and I have to forcefully jam it into gear to get going (hate doing that!!)
I understand this truck has a lot of miles...it is not my daily driver but I do drive it often.
Is this a sign of impending clutch doom? Is there some little trick to get it to slide into place without jamming? Should I just bite the bullet and get a new clutch now, or wait until it gets really bad? Engine runs great, everything is fine with the truck, no leaks, despite the high miles. On the one hand I hate the idea of spending $600-800 on a truck with over 250K; on the other hand I love this truck, it runs great and has been rock-solid for so many years that I hope it has a whole lot of miles left.
What you describe is more like the clutch not releasing. Quit jamming it into gear, or you will cause damage to the transmission. Instead, turn the engine off, then shift into first, and re-start the truck with the clutch still depressed.
If it's a cable operated clutch, you need to tighten the cable, beware if you have to tighten it repeatedly, that's a sign it's getting ready to break, usually.
If it's hydraulic, check the fluid level on the clutch master cylinder, realize it may share a reservoir with the brake M/C - probably you will find it's getting low. Usually the problem is the slave cylinder. If you change brake and clutch fluid regularly, you won't have this problem again.
On some cars, there are ways to guesstimate the remaining life on the clutch itself. Probably there is for this truck, but I don't know that particular trick.
At the end of the day, pulling the trans and changing the clutch itself on a 2WD truck is usually not that tough.
If the truck is otherwise in good shape, it makes more sense to put a clutch in it for less than $1000, than to discard it and start over with an unknown vehicle. Although, the issues you are talking about are more likely the clutch release mechanism than the clutch itself anyway.
Ah! Thank you Mitch. It's a hydraulic clutch...I'll check the fluid levels, thanks.
Also thank you for the suggestion of restarting it when it won't go into gear....this will work, in the meantime? Usually when this happens I am in traffic at a light so I don't tend to fiddle around for long. Is this something toi do with the flywheel(?)
Funny you should mention brake fluid...this started happening last fall, right after I had the brake lines replaced. Related? I don't actually know where the clutch m/c fluid is, just the brake fluid reservoir. Which I think was fine last I checked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by M3 Mitch
What you describe is more like the clutch not releasing. Quit jamming it into gear, or you will cause damage to the transmission. Instead, turn the engine off, then shift into first, and re-start the truck with the clutch still depressed.
If it's a cable operated clutch, you need to tighten the cable, beware if you have to tighten it repeatedly, that's a sign it's getting ready to break, usually.
If it's hydraulic, check the fluid level on the clutch master cylinder, realize it may share a reservoir with the brake M/C - probably you will find it's getting low. Usually the problem is the slave cylinder. If you change brake and clutch fluid regularly, you won't have this problem again.
On some cars, there are ways to guesstimate the remaining life on the clutch itself. Probably there is for this truck, but I don't know that particular trick.
At the end of the day, pulling the trans and changing the clutch itself on a 2WD truck is usually not that tough.
If the truck is otherwise in good shape, it makes more sense to put a clutch in it for less than $1000, than to discard it and start over with an unknown vehicle. Although, the issues you are talking about are more likely the clutch release mechanism than the clutch itself anyway.
Some cars have a shared master cylinder reservoir, these have a separate hose going over to the clutch M/C, it taps into the reservoir higher than the brakes, such that if the clutch system starts leaking, it can't leak out so much fluid that it will make the brakes not work. You may have that system although most Japanese cars that I have fooled with have a separate reservoir on the clutch M/C.
If you can get under the truck and find the clutch slave cylinder, you may find it wet with brake (clutch) fluid.
A simple test you can do is to just hold the clutch pedal down with the engine off. If the pressure against your foot decreases after a few minutes, you have a leak somewhere. If you can't feel this, start the engine, hold the clutch down and just sit there in first gear. If the system is leaking, the truck will start to creep forward.
If you are not up to DIY, this is not a horribly expensive or time consuming repair.
It's possible that something got damaged in the brake inspection, but not particularly likely.
Yes, you can quickly turn the engine off, shift into first, then restart, I would do that before I would jam into gear at a light.
If you have clutch hydraulic problems, waiting to get them fixed is not going to buy you much. Better to tend to it quickly.
Good luck.
BTW if you have 200+K on the original clutch, you are easy on clutches, good going.
I'll crawl under the truck and look for a leaky something-or-other (LOL). I have tried the holding-in-the clutch pedal thing and I don't *think* there is a leak.
I'll take it to my good indie shop for a look-see and in the meantime will shut it off, restart and re-engage clutch when it gets sticky on me. I'm not especially mechanically inclined or up for DIY when it comes to vehicles.
I'd love to get a half-million miles or more out of my little Tijuana truck so I do take good care of it. Thank you again!
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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That sounds to me more like worn out synchros. That would be a transmission repair, and if not done one day it will get to the point where you have to put it into neutral and let the shaft come to a stop to get it into gear. A good mechanic should be able to tell by driving it.
I just put a new clutch in my 1997 Escort at 146,000 miles. It was not causing any problems at all but one day suddenly the pedal just flopped and did nothing. Turns out that the friction material had disintegrated from age, 13 years was too much for it, not worn out but just old. My mechanic was able to see inside with a mini flexible camera sent in through the slave cylinder opening. Cost $800 with new master and slave, pilot bearing and throwout bearing.
You say it doesn't want to go into first....does that mean that the gears are clashing or that it doesn't even get that far? Gears clashing would indicate a clutch issue to me, but if that is not the case, you may have some wear in your shifter or shift gates. After 253K, I would be inspecting the end of your shifter. I have seen many that wear the end right off, or wear the shifter gates in a way that makes them bind. I saw one once that had worn the top of the shift tower so much that the end of the shifter completelt disengaged from the gates. That however was in a 13 speed (I think) Road Ranger.
After that many miles, good on you for having the original clutch. My Chevette (Cavalier) has the original, but I am only at 190K so far.
Just for kicks with one finger lift or raise the pedal up to you. If it moves more upwards than 1 inch or so, the clutch may have worn and be in need of a manual adjustment. Some vehicals don't have any means of that, but some do.
If yours does there will be a short rod coming out of the slave cylinder, and it will have 2 nuts on it locked together. The pedal movement part is called Free Play.
Normally the freeplay moved for a good adjustment to none. What has happened is the clutch disk has worn to be thinner, which allows the pressure plate, a big series of finger springs to move back, away to the throw out bearing, and the throw out bearing is attached to the throw out fork, which is like a sea saw. The end result is the loss of pedal free play.
That ends up as the clutch disk does not get full pressure.
However this isn't the case and I an confused. This is more like not enough throw, which could well be a seepage over time has lowered the fluid to the point you are not getting a full throw, and so the slave isn't moving OUT enough.
Do not delay in a shop looky see, since you can and will bend shifter forks in the gear box, if this goes on too long, or you force the shifter and it's linkage too hard.
If and when the engine is stopped to shift into a gear, and you have the clutch pressed to the floor, this particular problem may allow for the vehical to jolt upon starting the engine. Be really ready for that suddent jolting and be able to stop if you must.
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Which I think was fine last I checked.
so I do take good care of it. Thank you again!
