Clutch Problems

I have a 2001 Mazda B3000 pickup with 120Kmiles and a five speed manual transmission. Having difficult time getting the thing into gear. Check fluid levels and they are OK. I don't know much about clutches -- anyone have an idea of what's likely going on here?

 

do you mean you are having problems engaging first gear when you want to take off initially? if so, try turning off the engine and engaging the trans. does is go pretty easily now? now start it back up and see what it feels like? hard to get into 1st gear? if so, i'd say you have a clutch that's not disengaging completely...in fact, if you push pretty hard on the shifter, you may actually see the vehicle creep forward a bit. that's definately a sign that it's not disengaging all the way. causes for this...master cylinder or slave cyl are most likely. do you have to add fluid to the system? you can also have a bent release lever or binding throw out bearing/or worn front bearing retainer (this is what the t/o bearing slides on). you may just have a worn clutch disc or worn pressure plate springs. all of these things (not the master or slave) are determined by visual inspection which means that tranny is coming outta there...the hydraulic stuff can be looked at externally.

 

well, you might have 2 things happening besides already mentioned:
1. air in the hydraulic system, or fluid just old and does not compress as well as the new one
2. donno on your model, but on some, clutch can be adjusted to properly engage 1st/reverse. i know we did this on our eclipse.
best bet - go to local library, pull chilton off the shelf, and look into clutch maintenance. i'd start with changing fluid in the system, it's exactly like bleeding your brakes, just bleeding your clutch. same fluid, same protocol.

 

to get air in the system means it would have to have a leak and run completely out of fluid and have been refilled.

a fluid is a fluid and cannot be compressed...age is not a factor.

bleeding some clutches can be a real pain...if you haven't run out of fluid, it doesn't have air in it and changing the fluid won't make any difference in the engagment/disengagement process.

 

How many miles do you have? As the clutch wears the fluid will go down (not much). I would bleed system first but it either sounds like you might have a leak or you clutch is worn to the point were the slave cyl has run out of travel.