Shot clutch?

[Oliver]

Yesterday as I was driving I was having the hardest time shifting into 1st gear. Every other gear was fine but getting into 1st at a stop was rediculous. I had to force the shifter into place. That cannot be good. I'm going to take it somewhere tomorrow to get it looked at.

 

Hey, just in time for the 400 mile trip home :furious:

[Vsicks Pathy]

Did you check you clutch fluid levels? That's the first place I'd look.

[Precise1]

How old and what weight is the tranny oil ? Does it match your local weather conditions ? Especially now that things are getting colder ? I put GL4 85-90 in it (instead of recommended GL4 75-90) as thats all I could find at the time and the weather is hotter here in Cali. I also put in a quart+ of lucas oil stabilizer for good luck when I overfilled the tranny case with 5 qts as per this TSB.

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2621

When it is 'cold' here, I notice the tranny shifting hard sometimes in 1st and (rarely)2nd for the first mile or so. I find that double clutching it (depressing the clutch, shifting into neutral, releasing the clutch, depressing the clutch and engaging the gear) makes it opperate smoothly at those times, especially when you are in the speed range of the gear.

Changing the fluid and bleeding the clutch, then checking/adjusting the pedal engagement is also recommended and easy to do. We'll assume the master cylinder is working right for now. You don't necessarily have a problem per se...

 

B

[94extreme]

ok, i live in the cold climate and never have shifting prob. could be what precise just said. could be your clutch is out of adjustment, etc.. and it's not fully drawing away... otherwise it could be all sorts of other things, including throwout bearing and pressure plate. start with small steps though.

[OR99.5Speed]

Okay, my clutch just went out on my 1999.5 with 100k miles. I have has this problem too for a while, in all seasons and temperatures. I will try to put it in first at say a stoplight and it will refuse, so I typically run it to fourth say and then try again. Reverse sometimes has this same problem. I am relieved to hear this is a clutch problem.

 

Is your clutch not as smooth and light as it used to be? Does it engage at a different spot in the pedal travel? You clutch may be worn but not to the point of slipping yet. When these symptoms started, I had about 92k miles.