so i have a bit of a problem. when the car is off i can freely go into gear but once i turn the car on i have to fight with it till its in. my first thought was my shifter cuz its the 7th gen short shifter but it wasnt. so now im thinking that im low on tranny fluid. but where do i check it and put some new fluid in and what kind of fluid do you guys put in.

It is either your clutch hydraulic system or clutch release fork could be bent (rare). You should bleed the system and try it again. If that doesn't work the you could try to adjust the pedal height and see if maybe it isn't pushing in far enough. I would think though that it would be something with the master or slave cylinder.

or the master/slave cylinder are dead on ya, but binder sort of covered that. i'd start with bleeding and go from there.

i bleed the hydro clutch system and the pedal feels the same and i still have the problem. it also isnt the clutch already troubleshoot that. i dont know how to adjust the pedal. but how do you check the tranny fluid? im hoping that is the problem cuz i cant think of anything else.

lack of gear oil would be an odd thing, you'd have heard the transmission tearing its bearings up. are there any leaks in the system? did you bleed it correctly? it takes 2 people or one person with a vac bleeder.

i dont have a vac bleeder. i just pumped the clutch pedal and just added some more fluid in for awhile. i had the pedal all the way down when a buddie turn the bleeder valve shut. theres no leaks in the hydro clutch but there is a leak from my tranny or just a very small leak from my engine(ive been watch the engine oil) other than that the slave cylinder pushes the rod all the way out.

You can check the transmission oil level by parking on a flat surface and removing the fill bolt. Fluid should be just about to the level of the fill hole, to the point where you can feel fluid in there with your finger. But like Bitter said, that's probably not the problem.

I'd guess a bad clutch master/slave cylinder if you've already bled the system correctly. I kind of have the same problem and have yet to fix it.

yea, i'd have to agree that it sounds like the slave or master is bad.

can you look and see if the slave cylinder is moving or not?

when the pledal is down the rod in the slave cylinder is pushed all the way out. theres no leaks or anything that shows a leak anywhere. im pretty stumped.

The last time you could get it in gear did you notice any odd noises? According to my manual it could be a low trans fluid level. The only other thing is syncronizers and to check those you would have to tear the tranny apart.

and the rod is moving the part its supposed to move?

turn off the car and shift without the clutch. You don't *need* the clutch to shift... if it doesn't shift... you got a bad tranny. If it does... it's the hydraulic system.

If it is hard to get into gear or you can't get it in gear it could be low fluid or bad syncronizers. If the engine is off there isn't anything to syncronize so it will shift fine. Check your fluid the way that coomer said and then let us know. Also clean all around the bottom of the transmision and see if there is a leak. It could come from the engine side and look like oil if the input shaft seal is leaking.

yes, the slave cylinder is pushing the clutch fork




well i just checked the tranny fluid. its full and doesnt look bad. i dont think i have any bad syncronizers cuz it wont let me get into any gear without grinding till its in.

hows the shift linkages? is anything loose or binding? if you unhook the shift cable from the trans does it move easily? can you move the transmission around with the shift cable unattached?

It sounds like you are going to have to recheck everything. Mainly the clutch linkage.

my car does this sometimes too... like it won't let me push the shifter into a gear... usually I just rev the engine to 2 or 3 and then it slides in (though sometimes it grinds as it does so...) I've been wondering what this was.

so my buddie comes over and wants to take a look at it. so i hop in and start it up and i go through all the gears like butter! i get off the clutch and look amazed. like wow my celica healed itself! so i get back on the clutch and i cant get into anything. he told me it could be my clutch. maybe its just wore out and can only engage sometimes. well i have already bought a new clutch and its just been sitting here waiting till its day. im pretty much tired of looking and checking on everything and everything works like a dream. theres nothing binding the shift linkage. tranny is full. hydro clutch it fresh bleed and pushes the clutch fork. so thats all i have left is the clutch. right? idk.

i wonder if something funky happened to the pressure plate, like some busted springs or something weird.

If it is just one or two gears then that is the fluid level or the syncro's. If it is all of them then it would be fluid level or the clutch.

it's all gears. I'm planning to do a ton of maintenance this weekend though, including:
oil & filter
fuel filter
distributor cap & rotor
transmission fluid

so hopefully that'll fix it. although, my clutch isn't in the greatest shape either, so it could be that.

i would guess pressure plate... any sounds or anything, could possibly be to bearing as well