I recently bought a '92 cherokee sport w/ manual transmission. It has a new clutch that is roughly two months old.

The problem: last week I wasn't able to put the car into 1st without throwing all my muscle into it. when I first started the car, it would shift fine, but the longer I drove it, the worse the problem got. there was no grinding noise. I let the car sit for a few days w/o driving it.

When I drove the car again three days later, 1st worked just fine. However, the next day I wasn't able to shift into 2nd gear. This time around, shifting became easier the longer I drove the car.

Today, the car won't shift into 3rd gear without me forcing it. 1st and 2nd aren't much of a problem anymore. Note: The car shifts like a gem when the engine is turned off.

We've already bled the clutch fluid. Does anyone know what would be causing this problem -- and why is it breaking down in sequential order (ie 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd)??

Thank you!

 

I assume the slave cylinder came in the clutch kit??? I had a ford ranger with a Hydro clutch. it was replaced right before i got the truck....all of a sudden i had the same issues you are describing.....tryed to bleed the slave cylinder....nothing...finally took tranny out to find a broken spring on the pressure plate....Clutch was a few months old. That was my experiance.......

 

If you have presure under your foot, then it can be the slave or the hydrolic. When slave goes, normally you loose the presure under your foot. I mean you loos presure all toogether after a few days (depending on how bad is the leak). Another thing is that the clutch kit doesn't come with slave so that's left the your mechanics. If he is a good guy, he will put on the slave while he has the tranny dawn. I wasn't lucky, my mechanic did a clutch job for me and charged me close to $1000 and two month later my pedal was soft. After I took dawn the transmission myself, I noticed that it had the original OEM slvae. I changed it and problem went away.

 

Could be a fluid issue. Have you checked to see what, if any, is in there? If the rear seal is bad also, the fluid will slowly leak from a weep hole at the back of the trans, just in front of the transfer case. It can also leak into the transfer case if that hole is plugged (previous owner deliberately plugged it in mine)... Be careful about forcing things...