94 Corolla Won't go into Gear

[steveh]

I have a stock standard 94 Corolla hatch. It recently developed a problem with gearshifting.

Over the past week the problem has appeared twice for a day or so and then gone away. Mechanic has looked at

it but was not sure of the diagnosis, because it came good while he was looking at it.

He suspected something sticking in the gearbox and replaced the gearbox oil

with ordinary engine oil but that hasn't helped. As I write this the problem is back again.

Here is a summary of symptoms when the problem occurs:

Engine turned off - can change gears no problems.

Engine running I can go into neutral, but very difficult/impossible to go from neutral to any gear.

I found that by giving it a bit of a 'rev' in neutral it will generally go in, although still tighter than usual.

The slave cylinder appears to be operating OK, there is normal pedal pressure, and no obvious leaks.

As I said above the problem has gone away twice - then the gears work fine just like normal.

I would appreciate if anyone can suggest any other tests I can do to help diagnose whether it is slave, clutch, box etc.

Thanks

Steve

[SuperDave]

Checked out the master cylinder?

[rthy]

assuming its a C5* series gearbox: clutch plate? pressure plate? clutch fork? clutch fork throwout bearing?

[steveh]

Checked out the master cylinder?

Well only the obvious things - no obvious leaks, fluid level is good. Pedal seems normal. There seems

to be pretty good travel at the end of the slave.

Any other tricks to check the Master?

Steve

[123R-Prozak]

Yes

clamp the hydraulic hose from master to slave, vicegrips will do, but I use hose clamps ( it's yellow ),

then check if your clutch pedal goes to the floor

[steveh]

Yes

clamp the hydraulic hose from master to slave, vicegrips will do, but I use hose clamps ( it's yellow ),

then check if your clutch pedal goes to the floor

Thanks for that idea..

Just checking - my 'flexible' hose section seems pretty firm to touch - I guess that's

just because its full of fluid?

It would be fairly old. Any likelihood of it splitting when I clamp it?

Steve

[123R-Prozak]

Yes

clamp the hydraulic hose from master to slave, vicegrips will do, but I use hose clamps ( it's yellow ),

then check if your clutch pedal goes to the floor

Thanks for that idea..

Just checking - my 'flexible' hose section seems pretty firm to touch - I guess that's

just because its full of fluid?

It would be fairly old. Any likelihood of it splitting when I clamp it?

Steve

im kinda lost to be honest, no it wont break, its like ur brake line. just dont clamp it too hard,

and Q, why do you wanna check your master cyl? i mean, to be honest i didnt read any1's reply, if u can't select gears get it looked at, and it might be a selector problem for all god knows...