I was driving around on the strip tonight(not getting on it) and all of a sudden I couldn't put my car in gear. As I was coming to a stop I put the car in nuetral and after I stopped I went to put it back into gear and it wouldn't go. I tried every gear. I shut the car off and put into 1st and restarted it. With the cutch pedal to the floor the car moved. What could this be? Bad clutch? Bad slave? Bad Master? I had a friend of mine get in the car and push on the clutch pedal so I could see if the slave was moving. It did. I'm at a loss on this. I just changed the clutch about 2 months ago. Can anybody help me on this one? I'm not sure where to start. Is there a way to test the slave cylinder? Could it be my tranny? Could I have broken a gear? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

if you can shift the tranny with the engine off its the clutch.

to check the clutch:

check the clutch fluid, if its empty you need a master/slave

if it has fluid, have someone push the clutch and see if the slave moves, if it doesnt it could be the master went...

if it moves fine, you need to pull the tranny...

it could be a seized pilot bearing (you did grease it right?) a broken fork, or pressure plate



mike

 

i agree with mike..... i hope its not the clutch .... that would suck alot

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Here's what I've got so far. The master still has all of its fluid. The slave still moves. I greased the pilot bearing really good. If the pilot bearing went wouldn't it squeal like a stuck pig? Is there a way I can check the pressure plate without removing the tranny? When I put in gear it felt like the clutch was trying to hold but couldn't. Could it be the clutch disc? BTW this clutch is about 2 months old. Could it be that the line has air in it and needs to be rebleed? Again thanks for the info.

 

im no expert on this but if there was air in the line i think you would of had these problems alot sooner than 2 months.

 

The clutch pedal would loosed feeling also, i think its a bent fork or broken ppl plate. Just bleed the clutch its easy then see if that works then if not(most likely) drop the clutch, there is an inspection plate u could try peeping in( just look at the tranny you will see it)

 

That's what I thought. ****!!!!!!!!!! I was hoping I wouldn't have to drop the tranny. My friend's garage is full and I can't use it. I don't have a garage of my own, so now I'm gonna have to take it to Mazda. This is gonna get really expensive. I hope Mazda will put in an after market clutch for me. :rant:

 

You dont have to take your car to Mazda for a clutch, any mechanic or transmission shop can do it, there is nothing special about a clutch job on a RX-7.

Take my friends shop for example, he was doing a clutch on a 911 where you have to drop the engine to do it, he saved the guy a ton of money instead of him bringing it to the Porshe dealer.



If it isnt rotory specific ANY shop can work on these cars.

 

Did anyone say rear main seal. Oil on the clutch will be bad too.

 

oil on the clutch will not cause what he's experiencing though, it won't engage if you get oil on it, alot of slipping, my front trans seal leaked and got oil everywhere on the clutch... just slipped a bit and smelled like ***. The rear main leaking would probably have a tough time getting oil on the clutch since it has a counterweight and flywheel in the way.



If your slave is moving normally theres nothing wrong with the hydraulics, try move the fork with your hand (simulate the slave piston motion) if it feels free like theres very little resistance (you shouldnt be able to move it easily) then the fork is either broken/bent, or off the ball it sits on... or the pressure plate fingers are fucked (maybe throwout bearing problem too)...



If you have normal resistance (difficult to move with fingers, if possible at all) then your problem is likely something is stuck between the clutch disc and the pressure plate/flywheel keeping it engaged even when you try to disengage it, or the pilot bearing has seized.



I had this exact thing happen to me, and it was my pilot bearing. When I pulled the trans, needle bearings were found everywhere, in the clutch disk, in the damper springs, they were rolling all over the driveway... just replacing the pilot bearing fixed it... don't over-grease the pilot bearing when you reinstall it, and make sure you use the correct lube, and a pilot bearing seal. you also have to be careful when you install the trans, you can easily damage a new pilot bearing during installation if you force misaligned parts to mesh.