Hard to get in gear when hot

[Teddy]

I have a SPF with 418 windsor and tremec TKO, with a Centerforce dual friction clutch. When the car is warmed up/hot, it's hard to get in gear at a stop. Shifts great otherwise. Any suggestions?
Thanks

[The Dreamer]

Was it shifting fine before? If it has never been right, then you may not be getting enough travel from your TO bearing whether you are using a hydraulic TO or slave cylinder. If it was working, you may need to only do an adjustment to take out any slack as the clutch wears.

[Teddy]

I have a hydraulic set up. Shifted fine before, just hard to get in gear at normal temp. Once rolling it works fine.

[Bill Wells]

IF you have DOT 3 fluid, check the color of your hydraulic fluid...it could be boiling and getting burned - color will quickly get darker..some do that for some reason which is why lots of folks have switched from DOT 3 to DOT 4 or DOT 5.1 . These have higher boiling temps and compensate for earlier boiling temps of the DOT 3, which can cause what you describe. Mine did the same when hot, especially in slow traffic etc, and after switching fluids my problem went away. DOT 5 is not universally recommended as it is not compatable to DOT 3 whereas DOT 4 and DOT 5.1 should be ok. You should still purge the entire system though for safety sake.

IF you do not have DOT 3, then disregard the above...and I can't help ya. Bill.

[craigayl]

Yep... What Bill Wells said...

I also had this problem... I not only changed to DOT 4 (Valoviline SynPro). I also added a heat shield between the clutch fluid line and the exhaust header. See http://craigayl.home.comcast.net/sc/...shield_001.htm

I have not had the problem since I made these changes.

Craig

[decooney]

This may or may not be related, however it was for me....

Do you have a Lakewood or other type aftermarket scattershield/bellhousing? Is it also hard to get it into reverse when hot? If yes to both of these, the next question is did you or someone align your bellhousing using the required procedure?

I chased a very similar problem arround for over two years, sort of gave up for a while, and then came back to it again later. Turned out to be a bellhousing alignment issue that would only show up when everything started getting warm. Input shaft was draging on the pilot pushing which kept it spinning enough to make it very difficult to get into gear at a stop. Followed the procedure, verified it a few times before reinstalling. Works like butter shifting now.

I learned the hard way those "procedures" are put in the installation documents for a reason. Now this step is on my critical list for every future install.

[fitzmotor]

You might also check if the disc is moving freely on the splines, if you put it in dry and some rust has formed between the shaft and the disc or if the grease has gummed up, the disc wont back away from the flywheel when the clutch releases, unfortunatly the only way to check this is to pull the trans.

[Teddy]

Thanks guys, sorry for the late reply. I adjusted the slave cylinder, and flushed and bled the fluid with valvoline synpower. Works perfect. The slave was adjusted correct, but the old fluid was no good, brown colored.