Won't go into gear while car is on; gas smell
06-30-2015, 04:19 PM
#1
Stranded in Grand Canyon, won't go into gear
Drove my 8 to the Grand Canyon today and as I was looking for parking, noticed it was hard to put into gear. Eventually it got impossible to put into any of the higher gears, including reverse. It will go into first with some struggle, but when the car is off the gears slide in smoothly. I thought maybe my clutch pedal wasn't disengaging the clutch all the way, but I looked at the pedal assembly and I can't see anything wrong with it. I also started to smell a strong gas/fume smell but there was nothing visibly leaking. Any help would be great, as I am stranded at the Grand Canyon until I get this figured out. Thanks!
Side note: I would search a little further, but I only have enough signal out here to load a couple pages.
Side note: I would search a little further, but I only have enough signal out here to load a couple pages.
Last edited by thomthoms3; 06-30-2015 at 05:59 PM.
06-30-2015, 06:04 PM
#2
I had a similar problem in a parking lot last year. The car would go into gear fine with the car off, but with the car on I couldnt get it into gear at all. Had it towed to the shop and it turned out that I blew the pilot bearing on the clutch, so it couldnt actually engage the transmission. Hope you get it sorted quickly!
06-30-2015, 06:15 PM
#3
Registered
Drove my 8 to the Grand Canyon today and as I was looking for parking, noticed it was hard to put into gear. Eventually it got impossible to put into any of the higher gears, including reverse. It will go into first with some struggle, but when the car is off the gears slide in smoothly. I thought maybe my clutch pedal wasn't disengaging the clutch all the way, but I looked at the pedal assembly and I can't see anything wrong with it. I also started to smell a strong gas/fume smell but there was nothing visibly leaking. Any help would be great, as I am stranded at the Grand Canyon until I get this figured out. Thanks!
Side note: I would search a little further, but I only have enough signal out here to load a couple pages.
Side note: I would search a little further, but I only have enough signal out here to load a couple pages.
Could the clutch pedal have broken?
Does the clutch pedal seem too far down and close to the brake pedal?
06-30-2015, 06:46 PM
#4
I had a similar problem in a parking lot last year. The car would go into gear fine with the car off, but with the car on I couldnt get it into gear at all. Had it towed to the shop and it turned out that I blew the pilot bearing on the clutch, so it couldnt actually engage the transmission. Hope you get it sorted quickly!
06-30-2015, 07:26 PM
#5
Well, after an hour or so of sitting, it works fine now. Maybe it overheated? I'm not sure but when I let it cool down I got back in and drove it fine. The thing that concerns me was the gas/fume smell. I don't smell that anymore either. Really confused as to what happened, because I would think if I blew out a bearing, it wouldn't be working right now. Still concerning because I have another 500 miles of driving in the desert heat and high elevation and I would hate for this problem to come back in the middle of the Mohave Desert lol.
07-01-2015, 12:24 AM
#8
I'm just throwing an idea out here but I'm not sure it's the actually solution to the problem. I've had this issue when autocrossing on hot (25° C) days. Your clutch slave cylinder and lines get hot when you park the car or are idling around the pits (no airflow through the engine bay to keep things cool, and it's literally right behind the engine, so not much air at the best of times) and the fluid begins to boil. Pretty much means you can't completely disengage the clutch. It's not always noticeable until it's gotten bad and you're taking off from a standstill. Flush the clutch fluid, if the pedal feels firmer at all it's a sign the fluid had been boiled or was very old.
07-03-2015, 02:19 AM
#9
I'm just throwing an idea out here but I'm not sure it's the actually solution to the problem. I've had this issue when autocrossing on hot (25° C) days. Your clutch slave cylinder and lines get hot when you park the car or are idling around the pits (no airflow through the engine bay to keep things cool, and it's literally right behind the engine, so not much air at the best of times) and the fluid begins to boil. Pretty much means you can't completely disengage the clutch. It's not always noticeable until it's gotten bad and you're taking off from a standstill. Flush the clutch fluid, if the pedal feels firmer at all it's a sign the fluid had been boiled or was very old.
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