Clutch not engaging. Series V

[Paul Dills]

I was out for a drive. After stopping at a stop sign I carried on, 1st gear, 2nd gear then the car wouldn’t go into 3rd as the car slowed I tried shifting to second gear it wouldn’t engage, as I continued to roll I tried shifting to 1st it wouldn’t engage.
I was stopped.
Turned off the engine and looked for something obvious, nothing.
When the engine was not running, I was able to shift through all gears. Once I started the car with the clutch peddle down, I could not move the shifter into any of the gears.
Parked in the garage now, I can put the car in 1st If I turn the ignition. With the car still in 1st it will jump forward as its in gear. Once the car is running the gear shifter will not engage.
I haven’t had a chance to do much more, what’s not working?
Thoughts

[Bob and Jean Webb]

The first thing to do is to check to see if there is fluid in the clutch master cylinder.

[Paul Dills]

The Clutch master cylinder level is slightly below the Max fill line where it was the last time I checked. No loss of fluid there

[Gary and Maureen Corbett]

Paul – Hi, sorry to hear about your clutch trobles. I think your clutch disc may have failed and some loose bits are now locking it to the flywheel. A second possibility is the pressure plate has failed – the diaphram spring can fatique and the fingers can crack, so the pressure plate continues to clamp the clutch disc even with the clutch pedal pushed to the floor. I’ve had both types of failures on different cars. Unfortunately I think you’re going to have to pull the transmission to replace the clutch. The good news is the parts are readily available.

Gary

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