5-speed help

[Paco.McGraw]

Hey yall,

I need a little help with my truck. Its a 2003 Nissan Frontier, 4 cyl, 5 spd, 2wd, 95000 miles. Since Ive had this truck, it has shifted like glass. The past week I have been having some major problems taking off in first gear, the truck shudders and takes a few seconds to catch the gear and shifting isnt so smooth anymore. I have yet to stall the truck because of this, but its come close. Ive had this truck for more than a year with basically no problems except for routine maintenance.

Gear oil in the trans and differential were changed about 8 months ago (redline mt-90 in the trans, royal purple (FREE!) 75-90 in the diff)
Plugs/Wires/distributor cap about 8 months ago
The oil is changed every 4000 miles or so with mobile 1
Replaced the battery about 6 months ago (optima red top),
Rear shocks done lastnight
Front shocks this morning
Transmission mount in about 20 minutes
Brakes tonight

There must be something my brain isn't catching right now. Any ideas? After I get her running again, Ill clean her up and post some pics.

Sam

[clm2112]

You might be due for a new clutch. If it doesn't want to engage smoothly and does that "grab, let go, grab" stuff, I would start looking at the friction material or for contamination on the face of the flywheel.

Is it a hydraulic or mechanical clutch? (i.e. is the clutch pedal directly attached to the clutch via levers/cables or is there a pair of hydraulic cylinders involved.) The reason I ask is that the hydraulic ones are somewhat self-adjusting when it comes to correcting the release point with wear. The mechanical ones usually have an adjustment on the pivot ball or some other piece of the linkage that can be adjusted to make up for wear on the clutch face.

[Paco.McGraw]

Its a hydraulic clutch. I am going to try to bleed it tomorrow morning to see if that helps, the brake fluid in there is black. I have some brake fluid left over from the brake job I did this afternoon (makes a hell of a difference having new pads and new rotors), and I don't want it to go to waste even though its cheap. If it is indeed the clutch/flywheel, Im going to let a professional do it because I don't know the first thing about how to replace one and I know things have to be pretty exact with the bearings and such. I can turn wrenches and I have a pretty nice array of tools for basic work, but nothing like I would need for a clutch I think. I read up on it.

Thanks Curt!

[clm2112]

Yeah, black fluid is not a good sign.

If it turns out to be the clutch friction material, throwout bearing, or flywheel, then yeah, it may be a good idea to let a shop do it. On most manuals, doing the clutch requires removal of the transmission. No hard in and of itself, but putting it back in while lining up the input shaft can be a bit tricky when you are fighting it on your own.

[Paco.McGraw]

Well I bled the clutch and it didn't change much. Im going to see how much it is to rent a car while I have the truck looked at. I have no problem paying a professional to take care of things I cannot do on my own, but I do need a running car to keep me going for a few days while the truck is getting fixed.

On a side note, it took me longer to bleed the clutch than it did to do the entire front brakes (pads rotors and bleeding) last night. Its much harder to bleed a clutch than to bleed brakes.

Still need to do the rear brakes but I need to save a little money for those. The right drum has a crack on the inside so I want to replace it, but I was taught with drums, if you do something to one side, do it to the other as well. Maybe Im wrong in that but its how I learned. Its going to cost me more to do the shoes and drum on one side than it did for the whole front end brakes. Its stupid if you ask me since drums are "old" technology compared to disk systems.

[clm2112]

How'd the rest of the clutch fluid look when it was bleeding out..black as the stuff you found in the resevoir? (I'm wondering if the piston in the slave cylinder is sticking due to rust)

And yes, it is common practice with brake systems to do the entire axle at once. The idea is to prevent the braking forces on the axle from being lopsided, which is what would happen if you had one new brake set on one side and not the other.

[Paco.McGraw]

The rest of the fluid was dark, but not black like in the slave cyl. It took several tries to get it done without getting air bubbles. There was some dirt or debris in the fluid coming out which I was told is not good at all, so I am going to take the truck to one of the few mechanics I trust and let him take care of whatever needs to be done. I'm gonna see if I can talk my boss into renting a car for me for a few days seeing as how I do use my truck for work sometimes. Renting a car for me is gonna be kind of expensive cause Im under 25, although my last ticket was 4 years ago and that was for loud music, not speeding or anything like that. More than likely it will be next week until I get the truck to the shop, but it will get done soon enough.

Thanks for your help and knowledge. You gearheads have helped me more than you know and many of the cars Ive had through the time Ive been here. If I ever make it out to a meet or any of yall have a reason to come to south Texas, Im buying as much beer as you want.

Sam

[Greyhare]

I would suggest having the brake/clutch fluid system flushed while the clutch is being done.

Brake fluid should be replaced every two years or so.