Hi, I have been experiencing an issue that only occurrs when trying to downshift when under acceleration. That being said, I have no problem down shifting when the car is just rolling at any speed only when at WOT. Whenever I try to downshift it just doesn’t want to go in , as if it was blocked by some sort lock out mechanism but I experience it even when I’m downshifting from 6th and 5th under WOT again. I have no idea if this is normal , I remember being able to downshift regardless if I was WOT or not and now I can’t . And yes I do rev match everytime I downshift, I have beeen driving manual for 5 years now so I doubt it’s driver error. I will be rebuilding the shifter to see if it helps but if anyone can enlighten me with some other advice or knowledge on why this is happening, I’m all ears.

I would also like to mention the chasis sits at 133k miles and since I noticed this starting to happen , whenever I roll off into first , it sometimes shutters slightly and shifts into gears are very hard to get smoothly without feeling the engine trying to catch up to its correct rpms

 

Check your fluid level and color. If it looks dark and nasty, you may need a new Clutch Master Cylinder.

 

I had done a clutch fluid change at 130k but got very dirty quickly so I just changed it again at 133k. I thought it was normal for the clutch fluid to get dirty very quick since it’s used way more frequently than your brake fluid

 

Yeah, but our CMCs are known to fail, particularly at your mileage. I had to replace mine at about 140K and did the CMC and braided hydraulic lines so I dont have to worry about it again! If your levels are good it may be something else. But your description sounds like the CMC is failing.

A shifter rebuild and transmission fluid drain & fill would never hurt anything either.

 

You're downshifting at WOT?

Can you take us through how or why you're doing this?

 

yeah, my clutch fluid level has dropped at all and have no leaks whatsoever from what I can see

 

because I’m doing spirited driving

 

did you remove slave and bleed it upside down method so a manual method, so too replace fluid in the slave..may be water in there..

 

These are classic symptoms of clutch not fully disengaging. Quite common with our cars, and there can be several reasons that might happen, but dirty fluid is a huge clue which in your case.

A hydraulic issue can prevent full articulation of the clutch fork. In other words, not all the pedal travel is translating to clutch fork travel.

Dirty fluid is typically also contaminated with air. Air is compressible, which does this exact thing, allows pedal travel without corresponding clutch fork travel.

Solution is a full gravity bleed. All fresh fluid, while also flushing out all the air. You said you swapped fluid, but this makes me wonder what process you used. Can you plz describe?

Reason fluid keeps getting dirty is common, and due to neglect.

Fluid gets dirty, deposits form. Some of those deposits harden on master cylinder clutch rod. This causes uneven surface, which with each clutch press forces rod through seal, allowing fluid to leak out, air to leak in.

Fresh fluid acts like a detergent, cleaning these deposits, but making new fluid dirty again. This usually takes a while. Solution is to keep changing fluid until it stays clean (and making sure process used doesn't let more air in, gravity bleed works best, but vital to not let reservoir run dry during).

So working theory is more air getting in due to deposits remaining in system.

Once fluid stays clean after fluid swap, you gotta keep it clean.

Every other oil change, syringe out old fluid from resevoir, wipe clean, refill with fresh. This will keep fluid clean going fwd.

 

no I just did the gravity bleed method , and I made sure to keep it filled to avoid any air