We have an r53 with the manual transmission. When I was driving it to class the other day in stop and go traffic I noticed it was progressively getting harder to go into gear. At a stop light I went to put it into first with the clutch in and it wouldn't go. I had to turn the car off and put it in first then turn it back on for it to take off. On the way home it was almost as if I had to float the gears to go to the next gear. A few weeks after this incident I started the car and put it in first with the clutch in as if nothing was wrong.

It seems like the clutch isn't disengaging when the transmission gets warm. Any suggestions of what it might be?

 

1st thing, check your clutch fluid level. Best case, it got low & you can just add fluid & bleed the system.

 

Moving you to the Stock Problems/Issues section.

You have "pedal" when it is cold but once it get hot you cannot feel the clutch engaging?

 

May sound out of line but in stop and go do you keep it in gear and hold the clutch disengaged? If this is what you are doing you are putting unnecessary wear and tear on the TO bearing. If so, just pop it out of gear and get your foot off the clutch when at a full stop. Another thing is to be in the habit of depressing the pedal clear to the floor. This won't cure your immediate problem but if it turns out to be the TO bearing you can keep the new one lasting a lot longer with these practices.

 

Pedal does get spongy when the symptoms occur. And clutch fluid resivior is same as brake resivior right? I really hope it's not the throw out bearing

 

Okay, some further information. I let the car sit for 2 weeks then took it for a drive around town. It drove perfectly fine for 45mins (city driving). Then pulled up to a drive thru and got food. Car wouldn't go into gear again. When I turned the car off put it in first and turned it on again, I was able to go. When the clutch was fully depressed, it seemed as though the clutch was very slowly disengaging.

 

Did you check your brake/clutch fluid level? Investigate whether or not you have a leak at the clutch slave?

Sounds like you were hoping the problem would go away on it's own, but that usually (almost always) not the case.

 

After finally being able to get under the car and look at, I found the mount on the bell-housing for the clutch slave cylinder is broken and the previous owner jb welded it back on.... any suggestions with this?

 

ignore it or have it welded, it's not your problem anyway.

I would flush the clutch & brakes and see if it gets better. The clutch is a pita I'm afraid.

I just had a throwout bearing fail on my r53, clutch was still good

 

I can't ignore it, there's too much play in the slave cylinder. When you push the clutch in it gives about a 1/2". Just enough for the clutch to not fully disengage

 

Might be able to make a simple metal bracket that you can use via some small tapped bolts into the aluminum casting if you do not want to go the gas welding route.

 

ahh that was not evident in the photo, if the bracket is moving around, any competent welder can fix it in a couple minutes

 

I don't think I will have it welded, being cast aluminum, finding people to weld it is hard. I feel like even if the welding job were professionally done, it will still have low stress tolerances. I'm more than likely going to buy this bracket. They are on eBay for around $120. It looks like it solves the issue by having more points the slave cylinder attaches to.
https://orranje.co.uk/product/ftt-ge...ation-one-only

 

cast aluminum is easy to weld, cast iron is easy too if you heat it first and probably stronger than the original part

that bracket looks like an easy fix though