Ok guys. I'm, BY FAR, sick of replacing drivetrain parts!!! Please help me resolve this...

It started a couple weeks ago when I got out of the car, I smelled something burning. I sort of smelled like tires. But I hadn't burned the tires at all. So I let it go. Ever since then, every time I get out of my car after driving it, I smell a faint burning scent. Almost smells like a bad bearing. So I'm driving the car, and it ends up not wanting to go into 2nd gear. I pull over. I can't get the car into ANY gear at all unless I shut it off. When I start it while it's in 1st it drives as normal until I have to shift. So I had it towed home. I bled the clutch, and it was barely going into gear but it was enough to get me to work. So I drove it. by the time I got to work, the issue had fixed itself. So tonight I pull into the gas station and I smell the burning except this time it's worse. I see smoke coming out from under my hood. Great. The smoke is coming from the back of the engine bay. It smelled like burning grease. Here's another bit of info that might help. If I'm accelerating in 1st gear, lets say, up to 4000rpms and then push in the clutch to cruise in 1st with the clutch IN, the tranny is still moving around down there. It's quite loud and sounds like somewhat of a howling noise that causes a lot of vibration. This is until I take the car out of gear and into the next gear. 2nd gear does the same thing. 3500-4000rpms and push in the clutch. Same noise until I pull it out of 2nd. The same thing happens if I'm cruising at 35mph and push in the clutch and put the car in 2nd gear. I haven't tried with 3rd yet as I haven't got the rpms that high yet in 3rd then push the clutch in. Anyone have any ideas? At this point I'm stumped. At first I thought it might be the clutch. Now I'm thinking it's a bad bearing in the tranny... Please help me out here. What can I do to diagnose this? Also, when I put the new tranny in a month ago, I had to use some of the old tranny fluid in the new tranny because I didn't have enough fluid to fill it up. Could this have ruined my new tranny? Should I change the fluid before doing anything else? Thanks in advance for any insight. Sorry for this post being so long, but I know if I fully explain it now, I wont have to explain it later in the thread.

 

Did you replace the master and slave cylinder when you did the trans? Just off the top of my head, it sounds like your clutch isn't releasing all the way, and it might not be because of an air in the line issue. One of the two could be failing on you. What you smell burning might be the clutch, since you're half slipping it instead of getting it to fully disengage.

 

I'm going to be a **** for minute and tell you to just get a new car. This one just gives you too much trouble.

 

^ Only for a minute?

 

 

Ok so you think it's clutch that I'm smelling? It doesn't have that distinct clutch smell though. Also, if it wasn't fully disengaging, wouldn't it engage a lot faster when releasing the clutch. It doesn't fully engage the gears until the clutch is almost all the way off the floor. That's why I didn't think that it was the clutch not disengaging all the way.

 

I do not have the money to just go out and buy a shiny new car! I'm a broke college student who barely has money for gas to get back and forth to school and work! And if I try to sell this one in order to get a new one, I'll be without a car until I find something else. This car stays. I literally do not have any other choice. Even if I did have the money for something else, I wouldn't buy something else. I would put the money into this car to make it better. I have way too much invested in this car.

 

Here's some more evidence. This is how much my slave cylinder pushes my clutch fork when I press the clutch pedal all the way to the floor. I shot this video about a week ago. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks

YouTube - 1994 Camaor v6 5-speed Clutch Slave Cylinder

 

Not having a car like yours, I can't say if that's full travel or not. Maybe someone else with a T5 can compare with theirs? Does it seem to be any different between a cold engine and a hot engine? Possibly the master is getting sluggish or spongy with the heat.

 

Out of curiosity, did you replace the pressure plate, throwout bearing, and pilot bushing when you replaced the clutch? Not trying to assume anything here but I have seen people just buy cheap oem replacement clutch discs that didn't have any of those with it. With your clutch disengaging close to the floor that could be one of a few things. Air in your clutch lines or bad clutch master or slave cylinder; clutch pedal not adjusted properly; bent fins on your pressure plate. The rattling around you are describing could be a broken or severely worn pilot bushing, bad throwout bearing, or bent fin(s) on your pressure plate. I am leaning towards throwout bearing or pilot bushing just because it's the only thing that could cause both as well as the smell afaik.