Hey all, new to the group. New to the stealth in general, loved it a long time. I have a hard time shifting this car. 5sp. 150k miles. Seems to be harest to shift when sitting at a light, then i push in the clutch and try to put it in first gear. Sometimes it goes well, but most times I have to let out the clutch again, then push it in and quicky put it in first. then it seems to be fine, but shifting in general shifting is not too easy. , Not very smooth I mean. Also when I put it in reverse, the reverse lights do not come on, If i push the stick forward almost to coming out of gear, the reverse lights come on.
All this leads me to believe something is out of adjustment, but I cant figure out what. i did the selector cable adjustment, it was not out that much at all though. Took it to the trans shop, and of course first thing they say is "ohh 150k miles, its a bad clutch", give up 900 bucks and we'll get it fixed. But its not slipping at all, clutch is strong. Put the car in 5th and with the brakes on release the clutch slowly and it stalls the car which makes me believe that the clutch is good still.
Any help.

 

My 92 Stealth has a rough shift to first gear when I stop. When i'm fully stopped and shift to first gear it will always grind. I found out that when you have it out of gear and you shift to second gear then put it in first it won't grind. I don't know why it works this way but it does. I'm guessing that the mileage(138,000)has alot to do with it. The clutch is just wearing out little by little. My Stealth also has a "small" grind going into 3rd gear. The rest are very smooth. When we first got the Stealth all the shifts were somewhat "notchy". The first thing that we did was replace the manual gear oil over to synthetic(amzoil)gear oil. This made a big difference. I would switch the fluid and try the 2nd to 1st gear when at a stop and see if that helps.

 

Many manuals are a touch difficult to get into first and reverse. The tips John gave you should help. Good quality gear oil will help as well with the synchro grind going into the gears too. If you think your clutch is good, but still have problems, your shift fork could be bent. Don't ever drive with your hand on the shifter unless you are shifting. The shifter and fork need to "wiggle" freely, the constant pressure of your hand on it will wear the shift fork out.

 

Many,many years ago I put Hurst shifters in rear wheel drive cars(2 Chevy Nova's) and the linkage was on the side of the gear box. If I remember right the shifters came with palstic bushings but you could replace them with metal bushings and that made a "huge" difference. I know nothing about the Stealth shifter but was wondering if the same could be done? The first thing I would do is change the gear oil with synthetic oil. You will be very surprised the difference it makes. I think it takes right at 3 quarts so the cost is not a problem. Just make sure you use the correct oil. If you do this make sure you take the "fill" plug out first just in case you have problems with the drain plug. Hope this helps.

 

I remember seeing a teschnical service bulitin (TSB) about hard shifting. There was a repair kit which actually required going into the transmission. I have never replaced a clutch so I did not understand what it was telling me, but you should be able to go to your local dealarship and they will print you a copy. I found it on a website that I mentioned in another post about repair manuals.

 

Hey all, well i replaced the fluid and it was really low. Now I see that I have a leak which explains the hard shifting. The leak seems to be coming from between 2 parts of the case. Not sure how I wiill go about repairing this. Any sugestions would be appreciated, but I am thinking if i have to remove the transaxle, I may as well replace the clutch and anything else that wears down that way.
Thanks
Chris