96 Saturn SL rebuilt transmission hard to shift

CRISTIE

MEMBER
1996 SATURN SL2
150,000 MILES

Neighborhood mechanic fixed broken parking brake and clutch(both gave out while I was driving)in March 2011. Several months later clutch is extremely hard to put into gear - takes all my arm strength and have to push the heck out of the pedal. Took it back to N.M. And he said shifter is separate job and it would cost about $300. To fix it. Is this really a separate problem? What should I do?

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 AT 8:42 AM

2 Replies

HMAC300

MECHANIC
48,601 POSTS

Have the clutch rechecked. Your hydraulicsmay have a leakin the system or are going bad. This may be why it shifts so hard. Also have the trans checked to see if there is fluid in it. You can get the trans checked at any oil change place, but don't do anything else there.

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Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 AT 1:31 PM

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

Just to add to this one when you push the clutch pedal in is there pressure all the way down is it hard from the start of pressing it?Or does it drop some before it gets hard?Sounds like the clutch master/slave assembly is bad that or the pressure plate isnt releasing the clutch disc. Also make sure the floor mat isnt under the cluch pedal?Let me know what you find.

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Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 AT 4:03 PM