all gears neutral. was a weak shift.
 

Hi all, I need serious help. My '01 5 speed lx has no usable gear and I can't afford a mechanic. The clutch pedal needs to be depressed to move into gear, but can then be fully released in any gear and it acts exactly like neutral (no torque or grip at all). Before losing the gears entirely I started to lose grip while starting out in a gear, especially lower gears. Eventually there was poor grip no matter what gear I was in and all the way through the gear. I had to get the rpms way higher than normal to get the car to move and was going very slow while doing so. Then, all at once it crapped out on me. Before it finally feel apart a mechanic told me my master cylinder was leaking and said he would replace it for $500! I am no mechanic but have since tried to bleed the transmission (reading that it could be air in the line and I cannot see any leak by the master cylinder) but I failed to bleed it correctly. Is he right? Should I just replace the master and slave cylinders and bleed out my transmission? TY for reading my novel and offering any thoughts.

It's almost certainly a clutch problem. Do this test first though: start engine, shift into 2nd or 3rd and try to make the car go. With the clutch not working, the speedometer would of course stay at zero. If the speedometer goes up even though the car is not moving, the transmission is turning but there is a problem with an axle or CV joint.

Your story sounds like what happens during the normal routine wear out of the clutch plate. It slips more and more until eventually the car won't go at all.

To make sure it's not due to a hydraulic issue, take the boot off of the slave cylinder / clutch lever and try (by hand) to push the piston back into the slave cylinder. It should be possible to do that, and as a result the fluid will rise in the reservoir. When you have the lever slack the clutch would be fully engaged and the car should go.

Leaks of course need to be corrected in any case. But the result of having all the fluid leak out is the opposite of what you are experiencing. With no fluid the clutch will not disengage when pressing the pedal, and it becomes impossible to shift into gears with the engine running.

thanks so much for the thoughts. I'm almost certain that the speedometer stays at zero but I'll check that out as soon as I can get the car jumped (Doh!)... If it is the clutch plate that sounds like something beyond an amateurs ability to replace. I'll get you an update as soon as I can (hopefully tomorrow). Thanks again