Sorry for the long read but I want to provide as many details as possible as I get this figured out. I'll try to make this as short and simple as possible. I'm having clutch/transmission issues on my 01Z. It had 136K when I bought it 6 months ago, now it has 140K. When I first got it, it shifted fine. Then it started to get a large amount of “play” (the first half of the total pedal travel wouldn’t do anything) after a few high rpm pulls/shifts. If I coasted for like 10-15 seconds pumping the pedal it would come back.

Then the grand finale. Cruising in second, went to put it in 3rd and I had lost prettymuch all clutch pressure. I couldn’t get it out of second and pumping the clutch did nothing. I ended up having to force it out of second. I came to a stop ,shut the car off, and started it back up all while pumping the clutch. It finally got some pressure, but I immidietly noticed that all gears are much notchier AND I was left with a fourth gear grind. Ever since that moment, the clutch has been much softer, gears are harder to get into, and I have a fourth gear grind unless I put it in slowly while blipping the throttle. It also left me with a weird phenomena where, if I put the car in neutral while rolling, and try to move the shifter over to the right, it won’t go past the “5th and 6th gear area” but as soon as I come to a stop, I can move it all the way over to the right. I have also noticed that since that moment, if I have it in any gear and move shifter up and down with light pressure, there is slightly more play. Might not be related.

I should also mention that I have noticed throwout bearing/pilot bearing noise or whatever its called at idle that started shortly after I got it. It seemed to be slowly getting louder and almost sounds like a diesel. When I pushed the clutch in the noise went away. Also, the car sat for about a month up until a few days ago when I got her running again, and ever since then the clutch has been super soft, about as soft as your average 4cyl. It’s barely drivable the way it is so I need to get this figured out soon. I’m in the middle of installing a remote bleeder with the drivetrain in but I realized it would be near impossible. With the inspection cover off though and with someone pushing the clutch, it seems like the slave is working properly but then again I don’t know much in that area. It is pushing the teeth on the pressure plate and seems to be disengaging the clutch about 1mm. Trying to bleed the clutch with the OEM bleeder I dripped a lot of brake fluid onto the slave cylinder itself and now when you press the clutch it squeaks enough that you can feel it through the pedal. Also worth mentioning is that on the OEM bleeder there was a lot of white “corrosion” looking stuff on the end that screws into the slave, and it was only on the cone tip that touches the fluid. Lastly, when I went to check the pedal stiffness since yesterday, when I bled it, it feels slightly lighter.

Service record that came with the car show:
-- (1/20/2011) At 122K, From Chevy dealership, "Customer states clutch is slipping" and also "customer states shifter is stiff" . The diagnosis was "replace burnt, worn , damaged aftermarket clutch, master cylinder and clutch actuator” , and they listed 3 part #’s
1) 012570806 clutch/pressure plate
2) 089059282 updated slave cylinder cylinder
3) 012564455 master cylinder

--(4/13/2011) At 123K, from Jeff’s Transmissions, R&R transmission overhaul with syncro set, bearing and seal kit,shift ctrl assembly, gear oil, and case

--(12/10/2011) At 126K, from Tune N Lube, “Install torque tube” and has “$675” in parts for “other, belts” which I can only assume is the torque tube itself. The labor for this was $500. Also shows $30 “bearing assembly” in the parts

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Sounds like the fluid is very low in your brake master cylinder and/or the slave cylinder has blown. Have you noticed anything leaking from under the car recently?

 

What would the brake master cylinder have to do with anything? I changed and bled my brake fluid a few weeks before all this started because I was getting some fade when autocrossing and the fluid was disgusting. To answer your question, no I have not noticed anything leaking under the car at all, where I normally park is dry.

 

Best guess is that you have multiple issues here. You are going to have to start tearing into the car to resolve. Here is what i would do:

1. Prepare yourself to do a LOT of searching on this forum, all the issues you have have been resolved here. Though i suspect this will be tricky as you likely have multiple issues.

2. Look at the shifter. If jiffy lube had the torque tube out they had the shifter out along with the rear subframe and trans/diff. As that is how you get the torque tube out/in. The bolt for the linkage MUST be blue locktighted and likely wasn't or wasn't aligned correctly. This is one of few reasons you wouldn't be able to move the shifter to the area of the 5/6 gate. Putting the car into 5th or 6th could be many issues but if you are having an issue moving the shifter right to the 5/6 gate the most likely issue is the shift linkage. It could be upside down at the trans, i have no idea what that could do. It could be an internal trans issue, but that would be unlikely. My assumption would be there is a loose bolt or alignment issue with the shift linkage/box at the shifter causing some type of problem there. I would start with that issue cause it is very easy to address. The center console comes out in 10-15 mins and you can see what kind of hacks you were dealing with.

Once the shifter issue is figured out and resolved you can then move onto the clutch hydraulics issue.

3. Address clutch hydraulics. The system has been screwed with receintly. It sounds like the car had been torn down before to put in an after market unit. Chevy put in a new stock unit and the slave and master. And then jiffy lube putzed with it. Likely something was done incorrectly here or vehicular abuse has resulted in the parts failing quickly. The slaves on these cars suck and are known to be problematic. The stock pressure plates are also self adjusting and can be an issue with high rpm shifts. I can tell you. When i did mine last year, i could have someone hold the clutch and i could turn the driveshaft at the end of the torque tube by hand. I still didnt have enough disenguagement and could get the car to move in first with the clutch pedal pressed to the floor by revving the car. Which is the hydraulics test. Do that and see what happens. If the car moves when its at 5k in first with the clutch pressed on a flat surface, your clutch isn't disenguaging which is causing the hard shifting and funky pedal. This could be a hardware problem, the parts are cheap but changing the slave requires pulling the rear subframe and trans/diff. Or it could simply need to be bled.

4. Assuming I am right so far, the path of least resistance is bleading the clutch system. You could google the "ranger method" and try that but likely will need to do a real bleed. In theory it can be done with the drivetrain in the car. There is info around on the web. I have thin hands and have no idea how you would do it, it would suck, but i was taking out everything anyways so I didn't try. But in theory the bleeder is accesable out the top and you just let the fluid leak down inside the tube then clean it out through the inspection plate with brake cleaner. This wouldn't be fun but easier than pulling the drivetrain i imagine.

5. If bleeding it doesn't fix it, then tear it apart. It takes time but really isnt a very hard job. It will be easier with a buddy or 2, taller then normal jack stands, a trans or atv jack(this is mentioned in a number of the walkthrews). make sure you put bolts in ziplocks and label them, it will be apart a while and many are simmilar or the same so this will make sure everything gets back in the right hole. Put in a bleed hose if you take it apart, and a new slave/throwout. its way too much of a pita to screw with for the $200-250 it will cost for the parts. Buy a tool to seperate the slave/master hose. I got one from tick i think for like $5 after i realized i needed a new master to properly operate my aftermarket clutch. I took it apart with and without the tool and it sucks either way, but having the tool sucks less and for the money its worth it. Lots of walkthrews on here and the web for clutch replacement on a c5 or c6. Its all pretty much the same.

I made a number of guesses here but this is how i would go after the problem if it was my car. I suspect these steps will get it resolved but will likely require pulling the drivetrain.

 

Thanks Socko i appreciate your response. That's a good idea about how a tune n lube place might've screwed with the install the chevy dealer did. I did try the ranger method when the clutch first started acting up at high rpm but it didn't change much. The clutch fluid was dark black though, which is weird if everything was replaced 17K miles ago, although it has been 4 years since then. I also find it weird the white corrosion looking stuff on the end of the bleeder. Could that junk be gunked up in the slave?

 

Also, I have tried bleeding multiple times with the oem bleeder like you said, but its a PITA with the fluid just dribbling out and not being able to attach a hose. The real problem with the speed bleeders is they are not the right length. Why wouldn't they just make the fittings a little longer so you can just tighten them from the top like the oem bleeder

 

Also with the shift linkage, why would it matter if i was rolling or at a stop? Just weird that it all happened at the same time.

 

In between step 4 and 5, if you wished, it could be smart to address the link in the hose from the clutch master to slave. It is possible that its just jacked up. The master is changeable through the driver side wheel well and isn't really fun but its a few hour job only. For the 100ish dollars might be worth trying before ripping out the drivetain. Though its likely if you do an in car bleed if it is a problem it will leak and you will ID the issue. It is more likely the issue is in the slave than master either way and will require pulling the drivetrain.

 

I have the ecs bleed hose, its wonderful and it ties up right over the brake booster. It works very well.

Bleeding the clutch hydraulics can be a huge pita. It didn't seem hard for me but i have heard from friends it can be a huge issue to get the air out of the slave.

There jsut isnt functionality that would lock out the 5/6 gate at speed. Even if the reverse lockout was somehow over reacting I just don't know enough to know how it could come into play. It is bypassable with brute force, but I wouldn't put that much load on the linkage to test it. If that isnt the issue, which it likely isnt, it could cause damage. My guess is the gate movement is shifting around cause the bolt is loose and it allows left to right slop in the linkage. if the box is off set a little to the left it could go in 1/2 but not 5/6. Sort of a guess but its a common issue people have after pulling this stuff apart and its easy to get to so worth attacking from the top of the shifter first.

 

The clutch fluid gets black VERY quickly if you are hard on the clutch. 1k miles is more than enough, much less 17. that is why its insane to pull the stuff apart and not install a bleed hose so you can easily clear it all out and try to keep the slave bore from getting beat up.

 

Gotcha, I will start with the shift linkage and alignment but i don't think that's the issue. I think it may have been confusing the way I worded things but I HAVE driven the car since the incident, and can get it into all the gears, but fourth grinds if I don't go slow and it is much much harder to get it into any gear. That one "incident" when it stuck in second changed everything.

 

I can say, i hope this isnt your issue. The reason mine was apart was i lost a syncro key. that is google/searchable. Its a common t56 failure mode. When it happened my car got stuck in 4th as it was 2 of the 3 the 3/4 selector key that broke. I was hoping it was a slave issue and as soon as the car cooled a bit it was fine(this happened to me on track going for 5th at 145mph). I went back out the next session and the car got really stuck in 4th again and i ended up driving it home 80 miles in 4th gear. $11 part and $4500 later I had a rebuild trans with all selectors replaced, all billet keys and all brass fork pads, torque tube rebuilt with new bearings an guibos, and twindisk with new slave and aftermarket master. My 1/2 syncros were new and selector was beat to **** and had billet keys so the trans had been apart before, and likely abused/drag raced a good bit. Car had 39k on it. The ******* that puts in 1/2 keys and not 3/4 keys or a fork or anything should get punched in the mouth!

I broke 2 shift keys, my guess is, the first one the first session which caused some weirdness in 3/4 but no issues with anything else the second one locked the trans in 4th until luckly i got home and allowed me to pull into my garage in 1st. I messed around switching gears with the car off in my garage and eventually it got stuck in 4th again but I had 0 issues with 12356r though going into 4 was always hard, once it got stuck this time it would NOT come out. After a month down i got it running again and made my last track day of the season so i was pretty happy. But its long and expensive to remedy if its a syncro key as it requires the trans to be opened up and once you get all the stuff out you wont likely want to do it again soon so it becomes expensive to just replace everything in there.

 

The soft pedal, hard shifting, stuck in gear, and grind are likely all symptoms of the clutch not disenguaging 100% due to a clutch hydraulics issue. But the 5/6 thing really seems like some sort of linkage issue to me. when i got my car running, before i put in the tilton master, i didnt have full disenguagement and it ws very hard to shift into gears moving but the left right shifter movement was not effected casue it isnt interacting with syncros just the linkage in the trans. Mind you it svery possible all this could be caused by an external(easy to check so good to do first) or internal linkage issue. I did a LOT of reading and havent heard of people breaking their trans linkage though the 3/4 fork can break, the stock fork for 1/2 is steel so outside the guides which should only effect 1/2 shifting the act of removing the car from 2nd isnt likely the issue with 5/6. If it caused linkage damage it could be at fault, but most likely it cause something to loosen up at the shift box which is free to check out, in turn why i would say look there first. But that wont fix the pedal issue. multiple issues are always hard as hell to address at once, hopefully you con solve the linkage one first then get onto the harder work. Good luck!

 

$4500.. Yikes thats insane! At least it wasn't too catastrophic at 145mph, glad you're safe lol. and yeah who cheaps out on a transmission? If you cheap out, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

let me check but arent the 01 forks not steel? could i have damaged something when i pulled it out of second?

 

Ok here the million dollar question..if i didn't notice any clutch fluid loss or leaking, and with the inspection cover off and someone pressing the clutch, if I am literally watching the clutch be disengaged by the slave, how can the pedal still be SO soft? Maybe it's not disengaging enough like you said. Maybe somehow it still isn't bled right and there's some air. I'm also uneasy about the layer of white corrosion i found on the bleeder.

 

yes the 01's through early 03's I believe had aluminum shift forks that tend to bend

 

they have aluminium 3/4 forks not 1/2. if it was a second gear stick that you first noticed major issues bending that fork would only cause 1/2 issues and wouldnt be easy to accomplish.

do the hydraulics test. if the car moves on a flat surface with the clutch presed in 1st as you rev it up its not disenguaging. but clutch disenguagement has no effect on left right shifter movement.

 

Having been apart many times already I wouldn't personally worry about the bleeder corrosion. That corrosion isn't causing your issues.

like i said before, i could turn my driveshaft by hand with my clutch pressed before i got my trans back and reinstalled. I still wasn't close to having enough disenguagement, so seeing a little doesn't necessarily mean its enough.

 

Ok I will try that tomorrow but the rear will have to be in the air since it's on jackstands with exhaust and tunnel plate out. I take it that the wheels will spin slightly and that is normal? But if I have someone grab onto them it shouldn't be that hard to stop.