Replace clutch or something else?

On the way home I came to a stop and tried to go from 3->N and it refused to shift. I turned the car off, stomped the clutch pedal several times and forcing the shifter with both hands i was eventually able to get it into N.

Ran shifter through all the gears (while stopped) and everything worked fine. But from that point on, when driving, if I shifted under ~2,500 RPM every gear shifts fine, but if I run the RPMs up to around 4,000+ then I can't shift out of (any) gear into neutral. Once its locked in gear if I slow the car down I still can't shift it and If i come to a stop I can't shift out of gear. I have to turn the car off, start mashing the clutch pedal like a madman and force the shifter with both hands. Eventually it will pop out of gear into neutral, and then everything shifts fine (engine off or on), until I drive the car and get it up to ~4,000 RPM. Then it gets stuck again and rinse/repeat.

The clutch is stock still and wasn't showing any signs of slippage previously, but does have 250,000 miles.

Does that sound like I need to replace the clutch? Or maybe my clutch cable? I'm kinda leaning towards clutch since at low RPM I don't get stuck in gear but at high RPMs I do.

edit: I parked the car for an hour, came back and now it drives fine - all gears shift normally at all RPMs. No clutch slippage. Hmmmm.

edit 2:I let the car cool off again and went for a 20 minute drive. Everything perfectly fine at all RPM. Got home. With the car in 1st gear I rolled backwards down my driveway. Stopped. Then tried to shift and now I can't get it out of 1st gear. Tried driving forward a mile, no luck shifting it out of 1st while moving at speed. Tried stopping, engine off/on, no luck getting it out of 1st gear. It's stuck.

Holy shit that’s a lot of miles.

When this happens, is the pedal soft like no resistance?

Sounds like something is getting hung up with the PP/disc/fork.

Be easy to see, look under the car when it happens and see what the fork/cable look like.


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MG0h3 said:

Holy shit that’s a lot of miles.

When this happens, is the pedal soft like no resistance?

Sounds like something is getting hung up with the PP/disc/fork.

Be easy to see, look under the car when it happens and see what the fork/cable look like.

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Pedal feels completely normal - it's basically like I'm not clutched in even though I am.

Kinda does feel like something is hanging and not releasing because the clutch definitely isn't showing any signs of slippage.

The frustrating thing is i parked it, came back, and now it's behaving perfectly.

If the pedal had normal feel the whole time, I’d think maybe the disc is getting hung up on the inout shaft.


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I wondered if it's something with the clutch cable? Maybe it's stretching and when it gets warm it stretches just enough to not disengage the clutch enough.

I'd check your cable. I had an issue where when warm was horrible to shift like you describe. Let it sit and all was well. I had a hot spot on the cable and the shething was messed up. Changed cable and been good since. Make sure to oil your cable before install.

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01yellercobra said:

I wondered if it's something with the clutch cable? Maybe it's stretching and when it gets warm it stretches just enough to not disengage the clutch enough.

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That was my first thought because the best way I can describe it is like I was trying to shift but I'm not clutched in enough (even though I was). I've been poking my head underneath the dash to see how easy it is to remove the clutch cable since they still sell OEM 03/04 cobra cables.

MG0h3 said:

If the pedal had normal feel the whole time, I’d think maybe the disc is getting hung up on the inout shaft.

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What could cause that? Let me guess, replace with new clutch and see if fixes problem, heh.

I’m impressed you got that many miles out of a performance car. Do you just primarily cruise the car?


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efnfast said:

That was my first thought because the best way I can describe it is like I was trying to shift but I'm not clutched in enough (even though I was). I've been poking my head underneath the dash to see how easy it is to remove the clutch cable since they still sell OEM 03/04 cobra cables.



What could cause that? Let me guess, replace with new clutch and see if fixes problem, heh.

Click to expand...

Make sure you try lifting up on the clutch pedal. Factory system self adjusts.

Still seems like something else to me though.

Hopefully it’s the cable


“BLM is doing God’s work”
2KblackGT

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When I had this issue I went to clutch first

oem replacement.

However it wasn’t my issue.
@365k side by side. It still had grooves

mine was the cable causing issue. Even new out of box

i googled and seen oil cable.

so I removed cable completely from car and oiled with Wd40

been 50k since and still ok.

I did break a retainer sleeve back in 05.
This was hard to get into gear
and stick in gear but not like cable.

I have no issues shifting with out using clutch so when my shifter would lock up my first thought wasn’t cable hanging tight if I didn’t use it.

roy_1031 said:

I’m impressed you got that many miles out of a performance car. Do you just primarily cruise the car?

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It's my daily driver so I don't beat on it. Ported/pullied/intake/exhaust/tune. So far fairly reliable; other than consumables all I've had to replace is the rear pinion seal, TOBx3, front hub, rear hub and swaybar end links

hotcobra03 said:

When I had this issue I went to clutch first

oem replacement.

However it wasn’t my issue.
@365k side by side. It still had grooves

mine was the cable causing issue. Even new out of box

i googled and seen oil cable.

so I removed cable completely from car and oiled with Wd40

been 50k since and still ok.

I did break a retainer sleeve back in 05.
This was hard to get into gear
and stick in gear but not like cable.

I have no issues shifting with out using clutch so when my shifter would lock up my first thought wasn’t cable hanging tight if I didn’t use it.

Click to expand...

Hopefully the cable ... that seems easy to replace (clutch would be easy too but I can't get onto my 4post lift at the moment to do it and I don't want to do it on my back)

I don't think anything's broken because on the last drive i took after it cooled off it shifted butter smooth as usual across all gears and RPMs.

Drat, don't think it's the clutch cable.

I let the car cool off and went for a 20 minute drive. Everything perfectly fine at all RPM. Got home. With the car in 1st gear I rolled backwards down my driveway. Stopped. Then tried to shift and now I can't get it out of 1st gear. Tried driving forward a mile, no luck shifting it out of 1st while moving at speed. Tried stopping, engine off/on, no luck getting it out of 1st gear. It's stuck. Grrrrrr.

efnfast said:

Drat, don't think it's the clutch cable.

I let the car cool off and went for a 20 minute drive. Everything perfectly fine at all RPM. Got home. With the car in 1st gear I rolled backwards down my driveway. Stopped. Then tried to shift and now I can't get it out of 1st gear. Tried driving forward a mile, no luck shifting it out of 1st while moving at speed. Tried stopping, engine off/on, no luck getting it out of 1st gear. It's stuck. Grrrrrr.

Click to expand...

Have you gotten under the car and inspected the cable? I had the same issues.

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04oxfordvert said:

Have you gotten under the car and inspected the cable? I had the same issues.

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Click to expand...

I'm going to investigate tomorrow and check the cable and pop off the clutch cover to see if I see anything obvious.

$100 for a new cable is a cheap fix to try, although if it were the clutch cable I don't understand why I can no longer shift the transmission with the engine off?

Wow..I am easy on my clutches....the most I have gotten from a clutch was 187k.

I don't know how much more you should expect from the thing.

efnfast said:

I'm going to investigate tomorrow and check the cable and pop off the clutch cover to see if I see anything obvious.

$100 for a new cable is a cheap fix to try, although if it were the clutch cable I don't understand why I can no longer shift the transmission with the engine off?

Click to expand...

if cable is hanging this will happen
Pulling back on fork after cover is off will tell if it was sticking

I did something different than others.

I did a single hook aluminum quadrant

heavy duty cable

heavy duty isn’t long enough to reach through fork.
I added rod to the end

my adjustment now will be add a washer to end

clutch pedal feels like a Honda to push now and I don’t need to be on floor board to shift any more

whats the clutch have to do with it not coming out of gear when the car is off? Sounds like a trans issue to me.

MG0h3 said:

If the pedal had normal feel the whole time, I’d think maybe the disc is getting hung up on the inout shaft.


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This is what was wrong with my car. I would start car, go through gears in garage just fine, put in reverse with no resistance, back out, and I could not get out of reverse. Would have to shut off car, release clutch, put in first, then start again. Would row through gears just fine. I called tranny shop, and they said I might have had a twisted input shaft. Once I pulled the tranny, found the clutch disc and tranny splines had excessive wear causing the clutch disc to get cocked. Good luck!

Unfortunately not the clutch cable - I unhooked it and modulated the clutch fork with a clamp and same story - engine off, tranmission cannot get out of 1st gear. If I undo the clamp the car acts like it's in first gear (i.e., clutch out). If I clamp the fork then it's like I'm clutch in and can roll the car forward/back but no luck getting out of first

Looks like I'm going to have to pull it apart and see if anything jumps out.

Question - if the transmission is fine (e.g., shift forks arn't bent, etc.), when the transmission is separated from the car, should I be able to use the shift lever and easily row through 1-6 gears (but not reverse because of lockout solenoid)