Yes, yes.. i know. But i just aquired a 1996 Pontiac Firebird, with a 5-speed, from a buddy of mine for very cheap. Its in relatively good condition, and runs fine.. but theres a weird tranny/clutch problem that it has. The clutch seems like its stuck in the disengaged (pedal to the floor) position. It shifts through the gears fine, so i dont think its the tranny, but when you let off the clutch nothing happens. 1st-5th, and reverse.. same thing through all the gears. There isnt any weird sounds or anything, it just acts like the clutch is pressed to the floor at all times.
There's normal clutch pedal pressure, and it feels like it would work. Sooooo, me and my buddy are lost, and i figured some of you might have some idea what it could be.. so i extremely appreciate your help.

-Dave

 

sounds like a slave cylinder. have you checked the clutch fliud level?

 

fluid level was a bit low.. but there was still enough in it. Slave cylinder ran through my head.. but i thought that if it was the slave, that the clutch would stay engaged all the time, not the other way around. Cause i'm pretty sure that the slave's natural position is to have the clutch return to the engaged position...? Like i said before.. the pedal feels fine, its not to soft or hard. Any other ideas?
-Dave

 

sorry im a bit confused. are you saying the pedal stays at the floor or its just acting like it does.(engine revs and no movement)?

 

sorry if i'm confusing you.. i tend to confuse myself most of the time... so i'll try to explain it better this time: the clutch pedal acts like it normally should. it goes down when you push it, comes back when you let off. But the car doesnt move when you let off the clutch. We even shut it off and put it in gear and rolled it, and it rolled like it was in neutral. So it ACTS like the clutch pedal is floored, even though it's not..... Hopefully that helps, i know i'm not the best at trying to explain things at 1:40AM.

 

Bad clutch or bad presure plate or maybe broke clutch fork wedged in the case holding clutch open.

Either way you get to pull the tranny to have a look, so might as well slap a clutch kit in while it's easy.

 

is there a driveshaft in it? lol i dont know man. im guessing your going to haveto pull the tranny. it may just be that the clutch is really worn but not down far enough to cause any grinding. can you smell anything? i cant see it being a pressure plate or fork cause you said the pedal comes back up normally.

 

HAHA

I started to question wether the dirve shaft was spinning, thinking the rear end was shelled, but you'd know.

 

It sounds like the clutch disc is wasted. Pretty easy job, an afternoon with a buddy and a few beers. Get a new clutch kit and a reman flywheel.

 

lol .. Nothing is easy when working on a LT1.. nothing..

 

Hey, thanks for the replies so far.. Heres some more info..The car has the 3.8l V6, and the guy who had the car said the clutch was fairly new. And yes.. it does have a driveshaft, and no, it didnt spin. So that leads me and my buddy to believe that its the clutch. but i've never heard of something like this. soo.. i'm still confused. any other thoughts/ideas/opinions?
-Dave

 

It sounds like the pressure plate diaphram may be stuck overcenter.

 

Ohh yea, if the clutch goes out you wont move. It didnt use to happen as often becasue use to we had to climb under and manually adjust the clutch as it wore. So you had an idea of how much was left and could change it before it left you sitting somewhere. Now with hydraulic clutches they automatically adjust so you have no idea until one day it just won't move.

 

I'm with the guys on the wasted disc - doesn't matter how new or old, wasted is wasted.

Pull the inspection cover - if it looks like a mouse nest inside, it's wasted. Have someone push the pedal, is the pressure plate moving? If not, could be bad plate or bad hydraulics.

You said the driveshaft isn't moving - does it move when you push the car? If not, wasted rear end maybe.

Can't your buddy shed some light on what it did when it stopped working?