legacycentral bbs

I was driving along, near the end of a two hour drive, pulling into a tollbooth...went to put my car in gear to pull out, won't go into first. Nor 2nd...you can push it as hard as you want, but nothing happens, it won't go in, except reverse, where it grinds when you try. Does this mean my tranny is as totally shot as I expect? If so, could anyone venture a guess as to what went wrong? Or is there a chance that the clutch could have just totally failed at once and this is the case? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Micum

No clutch means it will go in gear just fine. Let out clutch pedal and you can just sit there not going anywhere. Your problem sounds much much worse.

If you shut the engine off, can you put it in gear with some effort?

It's possible your clutch master cylinder, hose(s), or slave cylinder has failed, making it impossible for you to declutch. Or maybe something inside the bellhousing. But in any case, if you can't declutch, you won't be able to engage any gears unless the engine is not running.

vrg3 is right. I vote your clutch. Has your release point gotten real close to the floor lately? If so, then your clutch may be slightly engaged, even pushed all the way in, making gear-changes difficult. This probably means the pressure plate has had it...

My Legacy became undriveable within the distance of about 6 miles, it just failed all at once. I limped it to the mechanic in 2nd gear all the way...

no crap guys...that may be it! I left it off and went for help...when I came back a couple hours later, with the engine off, I could put it into every gear, poosibly except for first...it was hard to tell about first...don't know why.
I sure hope that its the clutch!
Anyone have clutch recomendations? I have a clutchmasters stage III in there now, Its a carbon kevlar with a real stock feel....I like it, but I've read some crappy reviews of it. What do people think?
thanks
Micum

Sounds a lot like the clutch isn't disengaging.

You probably couldn't get into 1st because the teeth weren't lining up well enough. You could probably shift into 3rd then 1st, or 4th then 1st, or something, if you pushed hard. I don't think you need to worry about that, though...

Hehe... if you're super daring you could still drive the car. Just bypass the clutch safety switch so you can start the engine with 1st gear engaged to get the car moving. Then you just have to perfectly match engine speeds in order to shift without using the clutch. :)

(I'm mostly kidding. Unless you are very good at clutchless shifting, don't try it. My brother's friend's dad, though, has been driving old-skool Nissan Zs ever since they first came out, and he only really uses the clutch to launch.0

I was shifting w/o the clutch for a couple months. Then i wasn't paying attention one day and GRRRIIIIINNNDDDD bye bye 4th gear synchro. So I dont suggest doing it.

On a side note, my mum's 92 camry you can do it without thinking.

Yeah, Toyota transmissions are just somehow very good for clutchless shifting.

I third the Toyota transmissions. I knew a guy who never used the clutch on his Celica once it was rolling. Did this for years and he wasn't even that good a driver.

Steve

Just an update...like anyone cares....
It seems the stealership I took it to thinks the clutch master and slave cylinders are shot. Sounds expensive. Although not as bad as a tranny.
Micum

Hey, we care!

If it's just the master and slave cylinder, that's not too bad... You can replace those yourself pretty easily if you want. How much did they quote?

I know a new master cylinder is around $80 from Advance Auto Parts (that's the price for a Legacy Turbo and I'm pretty sure it's the same as the 97 GT's). Don't know about a slave though. There are some "universal" aftermarket slave cylinders that you can make fit; I think someone on NASIOC did on his RS.