Clutch or Transmission Problem???

[dephrag]

The past couple days I've noticed that its incredibly hard to start in 1st gear...  Either I'm spinnin out the rear wheels or, I almost stall it....I can't seem to find that in-between point anymore..  All my other gears seem to be fine, but I always look like an idiot at a stoplight..  I've only had the car about 2 months, but when I checked the tranny fluid, it was pure black and very grainy with metal chunks.. when we pulled the cap off, it had a huge afro of metal bits stuck to it.  The guy at the shop said it had probbably had never been changed since the car was bought.. (now 230K)  Does this sound like a tranny or maybe a clutch problem..  Think it might hold of needing replacement for another few months till i get some $$$ ??  btw, is the fluid in a manual tranny, supposed to be red or black???

James

[sykikchimp]

color of the fluid in the tranny depends on type of fluid, but it should never be black.. (all the tranny fluids I've bought have been a redish color)  The little afro of metal isn't necessarily a bad thing.  That magnet keeps those metal shards out of the gears.  (there are ALWAYS metal shards on there.)  

I'm thinkin maybe the flywheel needs to be resurfaced?  If the clutch was going, I don't think you would be able to chirp the gears.  I would replace the tranny fulid with some redline, or amsoil 75w90, and see if that helps.  thats the sheapest thing, and it sounds like it needs to be done badly anyways.

[dephrag]

Well I actually just changed the fluid oviously after seeing how bad it was!  ..  IF the tranny was messed up, would it just seem to affect 1st gear only?