The Long Road Back

[—Bryan—]

Took a late drive last night.

Found a power plant...

20200820_233034 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20200820_233104 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

...And a train:

20200820_235331 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

The new bushings definitely do their job--I'm amazed at the difference in ride quality!

Oddly, I did have another difficulty getting the car into gear. After a few minutes' driving, though, it seemed to have passed. Much like the last few times, it happened when the car was warm and had been driven for a while then parked for a short time. Fluid levels as of this morning were normal.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Bleed it again, re-check/lay a wrench in the fittings and bleed nipple.

*second thought* take the shifter out and peep the bushings and assembly of it. Look for any damage, big knicks, gouges.

[—Bryan—]

I'll see if it repeats itself. Car drove fine this evening.

Shop forgot the gaskets on the tophats, I suspect. Pretty annoying.

[—Bryan—]

More money spent on the car: new phone mount inbound. Stay tuned.

Also bought new tophat gaskets as well as an OEM gasket for the back of the Clutch Master Cylinder (any guesses if I really need to undo the hard line for the clutch to install it, or if I can just undo the nuts, pull the MC clear, and put the gasket on?).

[— kung fu jesus —]

I think if you pop the line out of the plastic retainers on the firewall, you should get enough room to pull the cylinder off without removing the line. Just be methodical and careful.

[—Bryan—]

That makes sense. I was just worried about bending the line more than I was worried about not being able to physically move the MC.

[—Bryan—]

Turns out it was easy. Moved the Cruise Control, undid one clip on the hard line, undid the nuts, put the gasket on, assembly-reverse-of-disassembly, done.

Hardest part of the job turned out to be that the gasket is some kind of paper/styrofoam crap that creases VERY easily, and I got it too far onto one stud to allow me to get it on the other without ripping it. Thankfully, I took a deep breath and took care of that.

Hoping it gets rid of the firewall creak I was hearing occasionally when shifting.

20200826_185627 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20200826_185653 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

For those curious, the part is identical whether you have NA or NB.

[—Bryan—]

Took the car out today to go to the doctor (managed to apparently bruse either the bone or the tendons in my hip when I fell to the ice before last Friday's hockey game...) and when I stopped on the way home, I heard something from the clutch area whirring away in neutral, and it went away when I put the clutch pedal down. Right after that, the car got difficult to put into gear again.

WTF.

Seriously feeling disheartened.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Took the car out today to go to the doctor (managed to apparently bruse either the bone or the tendons in my hip when I fell to the ice before last Friday's hockey game...) and when I stopped on the way home, I heard something from the clutch area whirring away in neutral, and it went away when I put the clutch pedal down. Right after that, the car got difficult to put into gear again.

WTF.

Seriously feeling disheartened.

That shop bungled the job. I would call them immediately and tell them the issues and ask what they will do about it. I have a few suspicions about what is happening.

[—Bryan—]

I have a few suspicions about what is happening.

I'm listening.

[—Bryan—]

Called them and I'm taking the car back in Monday. Annoying, but at least they're willing to look at it.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Speculation: the intermittent gear-shifting issues that cropped up immediately after a new clutch make me wonder if the installation was done roughly or incorrectly. The whirring noise isn't uncommon on new TO and pilot bearings. The weird thing is the shifting. The TO bearing may have been mis-installed, the input shaft may have been galled when the trans was out or reinstalled and the clutch plate is is hanging on the damaged splines. A misinstalled TO bearing wouldn't be moving enough with the clutch fork throw to properly depress the pressure plate fingers.

It is possible there is still air in the clutch line.

What you are experiencing isn't normal and do not let the shop tell you it is. Do NOT tell them what you think it is, just describe the symptoms and instances as well as you can. Make them ask the questions, do not volunteer information.

[—Bryan—]

What you are experiencing isn't normal and do not let the shop tell you it is. Do NOT tell them what you think it is, just describe the symptoms and instances as well as you can. Make them ask the questions, do not volunteer information.

I tried my best to do that. The fact that it was doing it before and after the clutch hydraulics update suggests the same underlying problem, perhaps.

For what it's worth: the shop did not seem even remotely hesitant to have me bring the car back in, and did not brush off my concerns as "normal".

[— kung fu jesus —]

That is a silver lining. It will be alright.

[—Bryan—]

That is a silver lining. It will be alright.

Yeah.

If I'm honest, I was mostly just dreading messing up the family schedule (now that school has started) just to take care of "that stupid car" (I'm imagining my wife thinking that even if she actually isn't).