96 GT 5spd suddenly hard to shift into gear

patrickg302 · Oct 23, 2011

I've got a 1996 GT 5-speed with 135K miles and your typical bolt ons. Its been running great until a few weeks ago. It has all of a sudden gotten very very hard to shift into any gear. 1st through 5th no matter which gear it is it takes ALOT of effort to put it into any gear and is even harder to try to get it into reverse. When its in gear however it drives strong. There are no grinds what so ever and it does not make any noise while shifting. I got a brand new clutch installed thinking that was the problem but it is still just as hard to shift as before the replacement. I even had the clutch cable adjusted with no luck. I have been having to force it so hard into gear that i broke my shifter bolts right in half today and the shifter shaft and knob ripped right out while trying to back it into my driveway.What i dont understand is once i slam it into gear it drives very smooth and strong and doesnt make any noise. It is just very hard to put into gear. Any thoughts on what this might be? It has just suddenly started this, and 2 weeks ago it was shifting perfectly.
Any help would be great.

slayerripkdc · Oct 23, 2011

Not sure if I can help but my 1990 GT and 2003GT, in order to put them both into reverse I had to do a 4th to reverse shift other wise it would not go into reverse.

trinity_gt · Oct 23, 2011

Despite you having replaced the clutch it sounds like the clutch is dragging when it's supposed to be disengaged (i.e. pedal to the floor.)

How much free play do you feel in the pedal? Does the pedal feel consistent throughout the travel or does it feel a bit "spongy" near the top?

Can you get under the car and watch the release arm as a buddy cycles the clutch pedal? You'd be looking for lost motion. I wonder if you've got a problem in the release arm, the pivot, the cable mount down on the trans etc etc that's causing lost motion and the clutch to not fully release.

patrickg302 · Oct 23, 2011

The clutch feels tight throughout actually. Actually before i got it tightened up it was a lot easier to use, now the pedal sits up a lot higher than before and takes a lot of effort for me to use it.Could it be a stretched out cable? I live by myself so its hard to get someone to help out, is there anything i can wiggle down there to see for myself? Also i might ad that with the engine off it is effortless to cycle through the gears, i dont know if that helps or not but i thought it was interesting. And another thing about going into reverse is that sometimes it will click and pop out when i first try to engage that gear, then i have to yank it with both hands to get it to go all the way in.

LarsD · Oct 23, 2011

Sounds like a clutch cable issue. Your cable might be stretching when you mash it.

rconaway · Oct 24, 2011

I agree with LarsD, you might be also be having a problem with the quadrant bracket.

Lugnuts · Oct 24, 2011

Something else to consider - You might need a new pilot bearing. I have known people that complained of this before and said it went away after they got a new clutch put in and others that put a clutch in themselves and it did not go away. Difference was that the shops replaced the pilot bearing since they were there and it was cheap insurance (so that they did not have to go back in on their dime) and the guys that did it themselves did not. If the pilot bearing is dry or sticky, it will not let the input shaft slow down with the engine running - it may not be engine speed but will still accept some input motion. You would think that it would grind but many don't. If you are real familiar with your car you can put your hand on the shifter and feel the difference when the input shaft slows down.

If you are putting that much force on it you may be damaging other things - would generate concerns me for your forks and linkages inside the trans.

patrickg302 · Oct 24, 2011

Well the release bearing and the pilot bearing were changed a few weeks ago when the clutch was, that was one thing i read when ordering the clutch was that those too were something that should be done as an insurance measure since the trans will be off anyway. So i know thats not the issue. Where is the quadrant bracket located? I guess i'll try replacing that and the clutch cable first and see what happens.

patrickg302 · Oct 26, 2011

Well, changed out the quadrant and the cable to a nice adjustable set, and that fixed the problem. Thanks for all the help

96 GT 5spd suddenly hard to shift into gear

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