Hello All,
I just picked up a 2004 GT 6 Speed with 199,900 miles. The owner was very forth coming and I knew there was a clutch disengagement issue. So here's the problem. The owner puts in a new clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing and drives the car for 6 months without any issues. He's getting off the freeway and the car will not go into any gear without grinding once he stops. He has to turn off the car to put it into gear. Once in gear, he can drive as long as he doesn't stop the car as it will not go into gear when stopped. He replaced the clutch slave cylinder and it did not fix the issue. What's weird is the car drives fine for maybe 5 minutes and then this problem happens, not going into any gear when stopped. He sold the car to me as I like a challenge. I saw on this group where a guy took a video of the amount of travel the clutch fork is moving when the clutch pedal is pushed. It was like 5/8 of an inch. I checked mine and it's doing the same travel. I've had a clutch fail in a 1987 Dodge 2.2 and it locked the car in gear. The a rivet holding the spring pack failed and the clutch expanded and kept the car in gear. So, I'm trying to trouble shoot this logically being that it can be driven normally for the first 5 minutes and also shifts fine once in motion. Just when it stops does it have the issue without going into gear. I've replaced maybe 10 clutches so this has me stumped. I'd hate to pull it apart to find out everything is fine inside and I just missed something. I can let the car idle for 15 - 20 minutes and it will go into gear fine. It's only after its been driven for 5 minutes. I'm going to check the transmission oil level tomorrow. I figured I'd through this out here with the vast knowledge and experience with these cars. My car experience is with water cooled VW's, Chevy V-8s, V-6's and a few FWD Dodges. Some say it may be air in the lines but if the slave cylinder is moving the fork 5/8", it would seem it's OK. So the issue is the clutch is not totally disengaging after 5 minutes of driving but drives fine when driving but once you stop, there's no way to get it into 1st. I can get it into 2nd with a little grinding. I basically drove this home and it's sitting until I can figure it out. Thanks for all your knowledge!