But, I fear the clutch is on its way out. I honestly didn't even notice upon a test drive, though being new to RHD, I didn't really open her up and notice the slippage in the upper revs when the 2-3 shift was made. Though I do recall the pedal grabbed fairly high up so I suspected it may be impending...I worked out a better price because of my suspicions.
So, because I'd like to get a little more life out of her til I do the clutch, I have been babying the car - for the most - and very rarely tap into her. It hasn't seemed to have worsened, but here's a new rub.
As of the past month or so, the 4 to 3 (or 5 to 3) downshift results in a pretty pronounced gear crunch/grind before settling into 3rd, no matter the revs or subtlety of transition. It doesn't do this at all from 2 to 3, only on the way back to first.
At first I figured it was a transmission issue, but then I thought the clutch slave may be gone. The I read that it is fairly common on MR2's to have this grinding, and switching to GM synchromesh fluid really helps eliminate this. In otherwords, opinions all over the map.
I would suspect it's also probably just a sign that the clutch is really nearing its' life span, and this is yet another sign, so I'd best do that asap, but if it essentially drives quite fine otherwise - and zero grinding in any other gears - I'd rather hold off til it slips in all gears before I dump a grand into a new clutch, if it's a relatively minor issue. I'm not cheap, but prudent
Any thoughts/opinions are greatly appreciated!
