I drove through a pretty huge puddle last night that sprung up on me out of nowhere. I had a feeling something was wrong as I made it home and into my garage.

I can turn the car on but I can't shift into gear with the clutch depressed. It allows me to shift just fine when the car is turned off. Not sure if there's anything I can do. What do you think the puddle could have done to my car? Should I take this to a dealer? Who'll probably end up charging me an arm and a leg.

 

Ok, this is a long shot, but it is possible that some debris could have entered the area between the friction disk and the flywheel and /or pressure plate and that is not allowing complete disengagement. Long shot but not out of the realm of possibility. You need to get this checked out right away.

 

I tried starting it while I had it in 1st gear and the clutch pressed down it was as if it reacted as if the clutch was up and wouldn't turn over and I could feel the car getting ready to move. So I guess something is definitely wrong with my clutch.

 

The clutch is definately not disengaging. Does the pedal feel normal? Other than what's already suggested, and it's long shot but I wonder if the pilot bearing may be frozen. The debris between the clutch and pressure plate sounds more reasonable.

If it's the pilot bearing, you can usually shock it loose by flooring it with the clutch pressed to the floor but if it's frozen the best thing to do is to replace it so it doesn't score the input shaft of the trans.

 

I had a 1994 Honda Accord EX 5-speed that I purchased new. It was not a very good car for several reasons and I unloaded it in 1996 for a Ford Contour SE manual - much better choice.

Anyway, I suspect that the Honda had been subjected to water intrusion of some kind because months after I bought, I noticed two things. One was rust on the seat rails. Not something one is likely to see with such a car. But the other thing was the clutch started to chatter rather severely in first gear when starting from a stop. The only way I could get it to stop was to find a hill, put the car in 2nd gear, then deliberately slip (as in ride) the clutch for a few seconds (you have to know this just about killed me to do this). Everything would be fine for about two weeks, then the process would begin all over again. I would bet that rust had developed on the pressure plate and/or the flywheel and that was causing the chattering.

 

If the pressure plate is anything like the AT brake rotors it takes about 1 minute to rust after seeing water. I know it's not, just taking a jab at the brakes lol.

 

I just hope they don't tell me I'm going to need to replace the whole clutch. Could they?

 

I could see that easily happening if SouthernBoy's scenario is true. If something is stuck in there, chances are it killed the clutch and pressure plate and hopefully not the flywheel. You may get lucky and have a problem with the hydraulics that happened to start at the same time.

 

Yep. Without sending this guy into a spiral, there could be a host of things going on in there. You mentioned the pilot bearing and that is certainly a possibility. I would also worry about the transmission, though I would think that would probably be much less of a concern. And your point about the hydraulics is possible, too. I'd much rather have that.

 

I just went back and reread your original post and forgot to mention something. If you have the car in neutral, then start the engine and try to get it into a gear and it does not slip right in, STOP TRYING TO SHIFT INTO ANY GEAR IMMEDIATELY. Continuing to do this will cause significant wear on that gear's synchronizers.

 

Thanks for the tip, car's going to the dealer tommorrow. clutch lasted me 49k miles so I guess it eventually it would need to be replaced how long does the clutch usually last on these things?

 

Make sure to let us know how it turns out. Good luck with it.

 

If you really know how to properly operate a manual transmission and you have no mechanical problems with your clutch during its life, there's no reason why you should not be able to get over 200,000 miles out of it. There are exceptions to this, such as towing, racing, living in a city such as San Francisco, etc. But for normal use, it should have a long life.

And do keep us abreast of how it goes for you.

 

It's funny you mention this. I got over 200,000 out of my commuter but it was ideal conditions. I slipped the clutch at idle, barely touching the gas and didn't feed it any real throttle until it was fully engaged. Also went first, third, fifth unless I had to go quickly. The irony is the car died due to a burned clutch sort of. The trans got stuck in 5th on the way home one day. I had to drive it through 5-6 redlights starting in 5th gear. Even my clothes smelled like burning clutch when I got home.

 

I tried posting last night, but it looks like it didn't go through...

I was saying you should check the clutch hydraulic system first. It's the easiest to see and least expensive to fix, so it's always a good place to start. It's possible the water damaged the slave cylinder or even a hydraulic line in the impact. A big enough leak will cause the exact problem your experiencing. Even just checking the fluid level in the Master cylinder can tell you there is a problem (low or no fluid).

With this type of problem, it's perfectly normal for the engine to start in neutral cause the starter dissable is part of the actual foot pedal. Unless the car is in gear, it will start like normal provided the pedal itself is in.

And it's also normal to be able to shift gears with the engine off. You can try the same thing without using the pedal and ti will still pop in and out of most, if not all, gears...

 

I had to leave the car in my driveway and let the tow truck driver come and take it while I was at work. The dealership called me and said the tow truck driver had some trouble getting it on the truck since he had the same trouble I did with the gear but eventually got it on and was able to get it into reverse some how.

The techs at the dealership said after a while they were able to get it into the gears and they test drove it and found no problems. One of the managers asked for permission take it home to test it for a longer drive just to make sure it was ok. The next day they said they couldn't find any problems anymore they checked the clutch checked the pressure plate to make sure and everything was fine. Spent $250 just to get it towed and chcked out.

 

Resurrecting thread since I found no other reporting exaclty the same symptoms and my additions don't justify an new thread.

I drove through some approximately half-wheel deep water in my 2006 6MT during a recent monsoon in Northern VA, with no adverse effect for the remainder of the journey. The next day the shifter would not put the car in any gear while the engine was running.

The clutch is original and has run from around 35,000 to the current 105,000 miles on GM Synchromesh Transmission Fluid - Friction Modified with no problems. I left the car to dry out for a few days, then tried again but observed the same symptoms. The clutch depressed normally, but the shifter stopped at it reached the gate for each gear with the engine running, making no noise.

The shifter would move into each gear slot with no problem while the engine was running, so I engaged first gear, left the clutch depressed and started the engine. The car jerked forward momentarily and there was a short clunking noise like when the brake pads come unstuck from the rotors (which may well have been exactly that), then it idled normally. I was able to slot the shifter into each gear. Putting it in reverse and releasing the clutch there was a very brief (less than a second) noise at first, but has been none since.

After whatever was stuck became unstuck, normal operation appears to have resumed. Gear changes while idle or moving seem normal after more than one engine start.

 

Way to go on the thread resurrection and your fix!

 

Thanks, though now I have to correct my two mistakes - one of which is relevant.

I have a 2005 TL and the shifter would move into each gear slot with no problem while the engine was not running.

No problems with the car since my post.

 

First, Thanx for keeping this post alive it saved me a hassle.

Just wanted to add my story,

I was driving through a flooded road on my way home from my parents, the water was about 6 inches deep flowing down the road. I was driving stupid style making as big of splash as possible, so everything was good and wet. It's about 3 miles the rest of the way to my house which I had no issues with driving, shifting or anything; everything just seemed normal. Parked outside in my driveway, I did idle briefly just to ''dry out'' and turned off my car. About 40 hours later (today) I went out to go to dinner, upon starting my car lurched forward, clutch pedal was to the floor. I looked at the linkage (couldn't see much) shifted through all the gears when the car was off (which it did freely), would start no problem in N, when running could not get it into any gear (again clutch pedal to the floor). I figured what the hell and started it in 1st gear using the starter to move with car while starting. Started, and then drove around my yard in circles a few times trying to shift or do anything no luck, shut it off still nothing.

Got on google, this thread came up first (lucky). After reading I thought it must just be ''stuck'' some how, went back out and started it in 1st again drove up slight incline pulled shifter and got it in N while idling, but again was unable to get the car to shift while running. Now while still on the incline I started the car this time in R, again pedal to the floor, car started in R drove me backwards about 5-10ft then boop freed up and clutch was active again. Test drove and shifted through all gears, everything seems normal. Clutch is back 100% to the way it was before. What exactly causes this I have no idea, it's a real strange ''hang up'' and seems dangerous with that unexpected lurch if you're in gear when you go to start.

btw my car is a 2001 VW Jetta Wolfsburg normal 5sp trans no real mods and just shy of 200K miles. I did have a acura integra before this though (it was a freakin auto though).

Happy 2017 y'all! I missed my dinner date but saved a lot of hassle and skrilla the 09 poster spent on towing ect..