Hey everyone. It's been a while. Had to retire my tC for a while while I was in basic training and part of tech school. Anyways, I was hoping someone could help me with a problem.

My car was delivered from California to Texas. When I got the car it was very difficult to shift into any gear (manual tranny). I decided that I would change the tranny fluid (80,000 miles). Changed the fluid with the called oil and everything was find and it shifted like butter. The next day I went to drive off and I cannot get in gear at all. Its almost like the clutch is not engaging. When I try to put the car in gear it resists and the car barely moves. Almost like its just starting to go in gear. I noticed that when I got inside the car before starting up the brake pedal was extremely stiff. Almost like someone pumped the brakes while the car was off.

On top of that i let someone stay in my car to wait for a taxi (he wasn't supposed to be leaving) and he could have done anything to it. Does anyone know where I can start troubleshooting, I have access to a lift and a bunch of shop tools.

Thanks in advance,

-Joe

 

hmmm check the linkage from the shifter to the transmission, also check to make sure the trucking company didn't damage the underbody (damage to frame could cause a shift in the angles, shifting the transmission, engine). Check for that.

when it's stopped and idling, can you push the clutch pedal down and shift into every gear without grinding?

but the brakes extra hard? sounds like the caliper sliding pins or the caliper piston is sticking from a lack of usage all this time. Would be good to check the caliper's sliding pins and grease them up. Lithium glycol soap grease is what toyota uses on that.

 

Ill check that out. Today my friend and I checked the linkage and it seems to be fine. The fork pulls out when I push in the clutch pedal, but I'm not sure if it pulls enough. I've heard a lot of people telling me to try bleeding the hydraulic lines. Does that sound like it could be something? I drove the car around quite a bit for about 3 weeks before any of this happened. Could simply changing the tranny fluid mess something up?

 

No, the trans fluid is different from the clutch release fork hydraulics. That's brake fluid in the clutch pedal/release fork system. You could try bleeding it, just to cover all the possibilities. Sounds like the clutch isn't releasing. Could be the pressure plate just isnt doing its job anymore

Find out when the car is just idling, push the clutch pedal down and slide it into gears, like 1st, 3rd, 5th.. see if it grinds. But do it like this. Neutral, then the gear, then back to neutral, and try another gear. Then go through the gears, 1,2,3,4,5 like you would if you were driving. See if that makes noise. When the clutch has gone bad on me in the past in other cars, those were very difficult to do. Syncronizers usually make noise/grinding when the car is actually moving. Shifting problems while the car is sitting still has usually been the clutch/pressure plate for me in the past.

And while you were down there, no subframe or frame damage? You probably would've mentioned if ya saw something bad.

I know that a lot of people have had problems with the synchros on the tC. But that Syncro would've had to self-detonate for it to prevent anything from being shifted. others might know, hopefully someone can correct me if they had the same problems as you and it was the Syncros.

 

Here's something crazy. I went to bleed the hydraulic lines and it worked like new. I have no idea what the problem was or is.

 

hmm, when you bled it, did you see any air bubbles as you bled? If not, it could've been the brake fluid just got old. Happens the same way with brakes too, fluid gets old, loses its hydraulic properties (sucks up water as it ages).

toyota doesn't have anything in their service maintenance but honda does. Usually every 2-3 years/30k miles is what Honda calls for replacing brake fluid, which of course the clutch uses in its reservoir. I follow the 3 years/30k for replacing anything with brake fluid. That stuff definitely loses its ability over time, can really feel the difference in the brakes when replaced with new fluid.

Glad it was a cheap fix!