My shifter has been getting stiffer for a while, I ordered some new trany oil for it, but the problem is getting worse rather quickly. The shifter is reluctant to go into gear hot or cold, and I almost can't get it into reverse. With the car sitting on a level surface it will roll slightly forward or backward when I push the shifter into forward or reverse. There's no grinding noise, tho there is a very small sound as I let out the clutch (a faint rattle and a small squeek); it is an 03 with 116k miles.

Is this the old oil telling me to change it or is it a real mechanical problem? The car power off will happily go into any gear, start the motor and 1-4 are usually stiff and reverse is very hard.

 

How old is the clutch? An slipping?

 

I've gotten on it a number of times recently to see if it would slip, and didn't detect any. The transmission failed at 12k miles and was rebuilt by the dealer. When I get the car in gear it behaves normally.

 

Put the car in 5th gear and see if it stalls or it slips. When my tranny went in the evo I could not put it into 4th at all. When my clutch went in my audi i could not shift i had to muscle it in. Seems like it may be a clutch issue but hard to say. You could drain the tranny fluid and see if there is any material in there that comes out. Also check the shifter bushing making sure there are not funky..

 

I just changed the oil, there was some metal on the magnet, and the fluid was dark but not completely opaque. I didn't see any crap in the oil. The problem still persists: 1-5 are stiff, R is almost not possible. I turn off the motor and I can get any gear easily, including reverse.

Does any one know of where to take it in the Virginia Beach area?

 

im having this EXACT same issue...

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...lp-needed.html

if i get off work early today im going to mitsubishi and letting them check it for $75... :/

 

PLEASE let me know if you find out something. My car's original owner put in a HD clutch and blew up the trany soon after. The T was rebuilt by Hall Mitsubishi, I don't know if it has the HD clutch now or not. Probably not.

I'm working on adjusting the clutch, I don't know anything about that sort of thing. The how-to shows a wrench point by the threads for an 8mm wrench, my 03 doesn't seem to have that. The whole shaft has a lot of clear grease on it and so far I can't turn it.

 

I tried adjusting the clutch out. It helped some, but reverse is still difficult. It also threw the friction point off; I don't like it. It feels like a temporary don't-call-it-a-fix. I have a reference to a transmission repair place on Virginia Beach Blvd. that I will probably talk to. It might wind up having to go to the dealer (shudder).

I tried 5th gear from a standstill, stalled the motor.

 

I am having the issue that the side to side motion of the shifter is not smooth. It feels as if something is binding the whole shifter mechanism. I doubt it is the transmission internals. I intend to remove the battery and inspect the shifter linkage on the transmission to see if it is damaged in some way or another. One worry is my battery is still a factory oem so it may be leaking horrible things onto the transmission.

In which directions or in what specific way are your evo gear selectors, shifter, stiff?

Edit

I think this may be my issue:
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...ing-funny.html

 

My side to side action is ok, it's when I push it into the gear gate that I get resistance. When I push it in the car will roll in the direction of that gear. It's hard to push it. Reverse is very hard. I adjusted the clutch pedal out, that made it a little better but it is far from OK. I'm probably going to have to take it to get it worked on next week.

 

@ rartist - Have you checked if you are loosing clutch oil? I had a similar problem once on my Evo3 and discovered she was loosing some clutch fluid. The culprit was a worn out Slave Cylinder piston seal, after I changed the piston and added new Dot-4 clutch fluid the tranny was back to normal!

 

Sounds like the clutch is going out to me.

 

@lillev23 - might be the clutch going out but I think if that was the case the gears would at least engage and slip! In this situation it seams like the gears won't "easily" engage while the engine is running. If the clutch is worn out then the gears would easily engage but the car would just rev with little to no movement when a gear is engaged... correct me if I'm wrong!?

 

The trany is not loosing oil, the floor of my garage is dry and so is the unit. The car is at Car-Life Transmissions on VABeach Blvd getting taken apart to figure out what's going on with it. Probably going to get rebuilt. I never got the clutch to slip at all, though shifting made a bunch of strange little noises. The preliminary diagnosis has 3rd & 4th damaged. The original owner bought the car with his daddy's credit card while he was deployed, and blew the trany up at 12k miles (didn't show up on the Car Fax). It was "rebuilt" by Hall Mitsu and sold; god knows what was recycled from the original.

I should learn more about it today, I probably will put a new clutch in it while I have it out.