I have a 1998 Saturn SC2 manual transmission. It’s become harder and harder to shift into gear when the engine’s running at a stop light. When the car’s moving or with the ignition off, the car shifts fine. I’m now shifting to first when I coast to a stop and hold the clutch in until the light changes. If I forget to do this, shifting is almost impossible. I checked and could find no leaks in the hydraulic cylinders. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
First, look up under the dash where the clutch pedal rod passes thru the firewall to make sure that hydraulic fluid is leaking from the clutch master cylinder down the inside of the firewall. If nothing is found there, then try this.
Start the engine with the transmission in neutral. Pump the clutch pedal 3-4 times rapidly and then try shifting into first gear. If it shifts into first smoothly, the clutch master cylinder is leaking internally and requires replacement.
Tester
If, as Tester suggested, the clutch linkage checks out, the clutch itself might be “dragging”, not releasing completely. Another less likely cause is the pilot bearing (This bearing supports the end of the transmission mainshaft in the engines crankshaft) is dragging, which has the same effect as a dragging clutch, the transmission shaft is kept spinning even though the clutch is released. This puts a great strain the synchronizer as it tries to stop the spinning shaft so the gear can engage…
Thanks for the quick responses. The puzzler in all this is that the tranny shifts very smoothly when the car is moving, so much so that it only goes into first when the car is coasting to a stop. And the problem seems intermittent, although it seems to get worse as the car warms up.