Help! My Z wont go into gear!
 

I have an 06Z with 60xxx miles. Ive owner the car since new, and have had nothing but good things to say about it. It has not been abused or beat on, and ive never had any problems with it until today. I change the clutch fluid regularly using the Ranger method.

I drove home through some torrential rain today and parked in my driveway. I was unhappy with my parking job so I backed up a few feet and pulled forward once more, with no issues.

A few hours later, I got back in the car to run a few errands. It started right up but would not go into gear. I turned the car off, checked my clutch fluid, pumped the clutch for a few minutes, and started it back up but it still wouldnt go into gear. With the car turned off, the transmission will engage. I put it in reverse, depressed the clutch, and turned the engine on. The car immediately jolted into reverse, WITH THE CLUTCH ENGAGED.

Needless to say, the clutch is malfunctioning, but why? There were no issues prior to parking it earlier today. There was no particular event that occured to cause the problem. Any ideas as to what the issue is?

Just a thought if clutch disk got wet maybe it stuck to the flywheel and pressure plate. If car was hot and allowed to cool down. Clutch master cylinder failure or slave cylinder.
z51vett

Thanks for the response, the hot to cold theory sounds logical.

With the car off and the transmission in first stick your foot out the door and see if the car will roll backwards. Then depress the clutch and see if it will roll that tells if the clutch is releasing. Sounds like it is not releasing. If it is clear ahead then put it in first and crank it up This may unstick the clutch. You can shut it off or stall it with the e-brake. My guess is that the slave is gone but often the fluid will leak out with that. Might be time to give it a ride on a flatbed to the service man.

:iagree: with below. Same thing happened to me when my hydrallics failed on my '10 Z with approx 3k miles at the time.

The below info is the SAME thing Ranger had me do when this occured on my Z and he was gracious enough to speak with me on the phone taht Saturday morning.

Mine had been sitting in my shop for a few weeks at the time this past winter and I had got in it to move the Z so I could sweep floor. The pedal dropped to floor. He had me do the instructions above and long story short it was both the master cylinder and the actuator was leaking (GM tech term for slave)....

If this is the problem your looking at approx $1200 out the door parts/labor at the dealer. At least thats what mine came to this past Feb 2011....

Tim

That was replacing both mc and slave (actuator)

I hope that was covered under warranty :eek:

I've checked for fluid leaks but havent found any. A master cylinder failure makes sense, but my pedal did not drop to the floor. I find it strange that this problem occured while it was sitting rather than driving and shifting aggressively.

Yeah that is strange. My problem was the opposite. The clutch would perform fine until I would line up on the dragstrip and then boom, bang off the rev limiter and no shifting ability. Get off the track and drive with no problem. Line up again, launch off the line and bang off the limiter and no shift ability until I get off the track and drive home with no issues.....weird. Needless to say my car is in for a new clutch, flywheel and slave as we speak.:willy:

I'd try bleeding the clutch as that's a lot easier and cheaper than a new slave and master cylinder.

have you seen where the bleed nut is?

I would check the master first as it is the easiest to get to, actually started to see a number of them fail here at the shop.

If the slave fails, from what I have seen here it typically drains out of the bellhousing.

Lol good point. Maybe the OP has very tiny hands and arms with long fingers.

Anthony has a point with the MC.

Mine had been sitting when MC crapped out.

Hey Anthony,

Yep, when my slave was leaking that is precisely where it was found and was not visible until it was opened up.

Mine was sitting in my shop (thankfully) when this happened and was able to raise it enough to check for leaks, which none were found.

After talking on phone with Ranger I told dealership it was slave (actuator) so they did that first and found fluid had been leaking. It was still mushy so the replaced mc then.

After those two items repld it was like new again. I think the vendor who makes OEM parts for our Z's has crappy QC. JMO....because my Z was only 7-8 months old with 3xxx miles when clutch hydrallics failed.
Tim

At least the slaves I have seen here that die generally leave a very small puddle on the ground under the bellhousing so for me that has been an easy one to spot. The master cylinders generally seem to just have an internal leak with no external signs of fluid leaking, they just do not make any pressure to release the clutch.

Update Alert: It started out strange and only got stranger.

I had the car towed to the dealership yesterday. Prior to leaving my house, I repeatedly started the car in gear and stalled it out, in order to confirm my previous diagnosis. The service tech started it in gear with the clutch depressed, and the car immediately jolted forward, as it had been doing. This confirmed that the clutch was not disengaging. Supposedly the service department was swamped, and they were unable to start working on the car until this morning. When they started the car today, the issue vanished..... That's right, the clutch functioned normally, they never even put it on the lift.

So, what was the issue? Should this be something that should continute to concern me each time I need to use the car? Or was the issue simply a result of driving in the rain and through some puddles?

I don't think that is from driving through water...my car has seen heavy rain, standing water, snow, ice...you name it.

Could have been the clutch was hot and the clutch stuck, but that generally only comes from a car sitting for years, or the clutch getting to hot and sitting engaged.

Are aftermarket clutches better suited to handle heat and slippage?