Alright so yesterday as I was driving to the gym, I stopped at a red light and I noticed it was hard to shift into 1st and it was a bit rough getting it into 2nd and 3rd. So I keep driving and it seemed to be like I had to force it into 1st gear. So anyways I stopped at a stop sign, put it into 1st and it sounded like my car was about to die.
Well I went to my friends house and 5 hours later I drive my car and my transmission feels fine and it shifts fine. What could be the problem? Should I do a transmission flush and add new fluid? HELP! :-(

 

I would check the clutch master and slave to start with.
If either is not functioning well it could cause the clutch to not fully disengage when hot.
Remember, the clutch shares the brake fluid and the clutch slave is very hard to bleed. So don't just go to anyone to bleed or change the clutch slave if that is it.

 

+1 on checking master or slave cylinder.

 

so I drove it for about half an hour just now and when I push it into 1st gear, it's pretty rough pushing it in. So I guess when the transmission gets hot, it's not fully shifting smoothly. So I'll check both the master and slave cylinder

 

If the cylinders need replacing, based on your year model and mileage, you may want to consider doing the clutch and/or flywheel at the same time.

 

It may be as simple as moisture in the system. When it gets hot, it causes problems such as incomplete actuation or release of the clutch. I highly recommend a thorough flushing of the old fluid from the system and all new quality fluid with a proper bleeding.

If that doesn't cure it, the only other thing I can think of is a pilot bearing going bad and starting to sieze. I had a similar problem with my old Toyota 4 Runner. After it would get hot, it would be very difficult to get into gear and even with the clutch pressed all the way in, the truck would still want to creep or move forward. Just like the clutch wasn't releasing all the way. I thought it was a master or slave cylinder problem or something else wrong with the hydraulic system. It turned out that the pilot bearing (centers the transmission input shaft in the flywheel) was shot and was partially siezing when it got hot. As a result, torque was being transmitted from the flywheel, directly to the transmission input shaft, regardless of the fact that the clutch was fully disengaged. The problem was finally diagnosed properly when I took the truck in for a new clutch and the bad bearing was discovered. Unfortunately, the only way to check for this problem and postitively confirm it is by separating the engine from the transmission as if you were doing a clutch job.

If there's some way you can rule out the clutch itself (like it's only partially disengaging), you might then be more certain of a pilot bearing problem.

Good luck!

 

martinb, thanks for the post. Learn something new about manuals every day.