Clutch Trouble?

[WTFestiva]

Hey guys, so we just had our BP festy going again, but now have run into another issue. While driving down the road my brother was switching from 2nd to 3rd gears, he clutched in, switched gears, clutched out and nothing caught, so he ran it through all of the other gears, and got nothing. The engine runs great, no knocks no anything, but the gears are not engaging, the axles are not spinning, in any gear. My thoughts are the clutch is stuck in the engaged position, but it still has resistance in the pedal, so I'm not sure. I can't really post a video or anything like I'd want to with the internet here but I'll try to figure something out. Any help appreciated.

[scitzz]

I would think transaxle, not clutch, but that is just me.

[eurotiva]

Last time mine did this it was a broken outer CV axle. It looked like nothing was spinning, but the inner CV was spinning.

With the car off can you hear stuff moving in the Trans if you shift thru gears?

With it idling, and in gear do you hear anything in th Trans?

I know skimsucka (rj) just had a very similar problem, and it ended up being the CV too.

Hope this might help

[WTFestiva]

I'll check those soon, going to move the car into the bay now.

[scitzz]

Last time mine did this it was a broken outer CV axle. It looked like nothing was spinning, but the inner CV was spinning.

I didn't think of that, and I haven't seen it on a festy yet, but I have on other cars. Ones that get beat on rally racing sure could suffer from that!

[WTFestiva]

we just replaced the drivers side axle, i just thought it weird that it did this while driving, no jumps or snaps/sounds, and happened specifically when he was switching gears.

[scitzz]

A lot of those axles are rebuilt. I have had a couple fail within days, and once, within hours of installation.

[WTFestiva]

Alright I found the problem, the axle is slipping out of the transmission. This is what i believe caused our problem after the Ojibwe rally. With everything hooked up, how am i to prevent the axle from slipping out of the transmission again?

[bravekozak]

Is there a circlip on the end of the transaxle? If you have the Aspire suspension, you still require Festiva control arms. if you use Aspire control arms, the axle will pop out. Correct me if I am wrong.

[WTFestiva]

i belive we had the circlip on there when we installed it. i have the festiva control arms ill go see if the circlip is still on it

[scitzz]

Well, THERES your problem!

Yeah, the circlip at the end of the axle is meant to keep that from happening. Seems strange it is coming out that far. Did you aspire swap? Are you using Aspire LCA's? They are too long, from what I hear.

[WTFestiva]

no aspire swap, circlip is there, the lower arm seems like its really extended on the drivers side though, is it the sway bar?

[scitzz]

IS it possible you have the wrong LCA? Maybe a quick tape measurement, is it longer than the other one?

[WTFestiva]

The LCAs are correct, checked them with 2 others i have here from festys. Decided to re-seat the axle but it's impossible to detatch the LCA from the hub. is there something I may be missing or is there another way to get the axle off without detaching the LCA? it seems the pin for the ball joint comes out about 75% then it will not come out any further.

[scitzz]

With the pinch bolt removed, you can put a long pipe, breaker bar, or even 2X4 over the sway bar, and under the frame, from the corner of the car. Push down on the sway bar with this, and lever the control arm and ball joint out of the knuckle.