New Aftermarket clutch works well and gets into gears smoothly but 1st and reverse gears makes my engine shutter like no other.

New Aftermarket clutch works well and gets into gears smoothly but 1st and reverse gears makes my engine shutter like no other. I was wondering if it could be the install's problem or the clutch still needs to be broken in? I feel the clutch pedal getting lighter because of the break-in but the shutter from reverse and 1st does not get any better at all.
My car has a manual transmission.
Experienced mechanics share their insights in answering this question :
The shuddering you feel may be a warped or contaminated pressure plate/flywheel. I normally send the flywheel to a machine shop to have it resurfaced when I install a new clutch. This helps prevent the shuddering you described. Contamination from oil or grease can also cause that feeling, but not as severe. You don’t really need to break in a clutch, but sometimes they will grab a bit better after a while.

If you’d like to have this looked at, consider YourMechanic, as a certified technician can diagnose the shuddering you’re experiencing and fix it from there. Best of luck.

How to Identify and Fix Common car Problems ?

Our sources include academic articles, blog posts, and personal essays from experienced mechanics :

It`s probably clutch related, for example due to worn out friction material and/or a pressure plate defect BUT it`s also possible that the motor mounts could be implicated and the engine as well if the engine is bogging down (due to an ignition, fuel, or air induction fault) under the load experienced when you start in …
This is often a sign of low transmission fluid or a faulty transmission control solenoid. As you know, automatic transmissions use pressurized hydraulic fluid to change gears.
Discs sometimes lose their shape and friction if they overheat too much and too often. If these parts lose their shape, then they wobble about as they turn. Your clutch can`t get a completely engaged grip on them. It jolts about and sends vibrations through to your pedal.
Shaking or vibration may be caused by many different things such as faulty spark plugs, poor fuel pressure or misfires. Other things such as a faulty idle air control valve may cause the engine idle to drop below the normal idling RPM which may also cause the motor to shake or vibrate more than normal.
Automatic transmissions that shift hard, jerk or shake during a shift change may mean your transmission fluid needs changed or fluid level is low. In manual transmission vehicles, abnormal gear shifts could indicate damaged gear synchros, worn clutches or other, more severe issues.
Low automatic transmission fluid can cause shaking. If the shaking is accompanied by the check engine light, it`s time to visit a mechanic. Drivers of manual cars might discover their clutch master cylinder is the source of the shaking.
Your car shaking on idle is a pretty common occurrence, especially when you are at a stoplight waiting to drive off. Your car`s transmission gears, rotating crankshaft, as well as other inner working components, can cause vibrations that will be felt in the cabin of the vehicle.
It really boils down to your driving experience. Chatter usually happens as the clutch is engaging. It occurs when the pressure plate is alternatively grabbing and slipping the clutch disc, making the car shake as the engagement is occurring.
Potential causes of a vehicle shaking at idle include a loose gas cap, loose battery cables, a worn throttle sensor, a damaged engine mount, or bad spark plugs. Perform a general inspection of your engine bay to look for damage. If you can`t repair the problem yourself, take the vehicle to a mechanic.
You usually notice your car shuddering because it feels like it`s vibrating. Your car will vibrate even when you`re not going very fast. The shuddering makes the car lag and is very noticeable. Some vehicles have a transmission temperature indicator that will let you know when your car`s transmission is overheating.
When an engine or transmission mount fails, the result usually is harsh vibration from the movement between the body and drivetrain. When a mount fails, the rubber inside typically either has broken or deteriorated enough that it no longer will dampen movement, creating violent shakes or shutters.
A clutch that doesn`t engage fully or slips under a heavier load leads to one of two things. It usually means that the friction disc is worn out or the pressure plate has lost all tension. When the clutch is pressed down, the diaphragm spring presses the friction disc to the flywheel.
The most common reason for a car to shake is related to tires. If the tires are out of balance then the steering wheel can shake. This shaking starts at around 50-55 miles per hour (mph). It gets worse around 60 mph but starts to get better at high speeds.
Improperly functioning spark plugs cause an uneven burn of fuel in the engine, resulting in fluctuating RPMs and a louder noise. You might also experience increased vibrations of your vehicle while sitting idle or while traveling at low speeds. These vibrations originate from the engine and can shake the entire car.
The clutch judder happens only when the car is cold and will eventually disappear after 20-30 mins of solid driving. Once fully warmed up it is almost impossible to make the clutch judder – it will in fact stall before it will produce the judder.
Apart from the clutch itself, poor engine setting or worn engine or transmission mounts can prevent smooth clutch engagement. Other possible causes for grabbing clutches are installation of the wrong clutch disk or incorrect installation.
Clutch chatter is typically, the result of an uneven surface, uneven pressure applied, and/or loose disc damper springs. A glazed flywheel and/or pressure plate surface (the result of excessive heat) could also create a chatter. Another possibility for clutch chatter, broken or sagging engine or transmission mounts.
Excessive tensioner movement – Worn-out coil springs can also cause drive belt tensioners to loosen their grip on the drive belt, resulting in excessive vibration and rattling. Too little tension will also lead to belt slippage.
This is a common symptom of a plug or wire electrical current problem. Air or Vacuum Hose — Another common cause for engine vibration and power loss is when air or vacuum hoses come loose, begin to leak, or rupture. The three necessities for all combustion engines are air, fuel, and spark.
One of the most noticeable symptoms of torque converter shudder is vibrations or shaking while driving. These vibrations can be felt through the steering wheel, floorboard, or seat of the vehicle. The severity of the vibrations may vary depending on the extent of the shudder and the speed of the vehicle.
To test the torque converter, you must step on the pedal to the floor and accelerate your engine for up to five seconds. The reading for the revolutions per minute (RPM) will max out at the stall speed.
SYMPTOMS – Failed in the Open Position

With the transmission unable to slip, the engine will stall when the vehicle comes to a stop. This type of solenoid failure will set a Diagnostic Trouble Code causing the Check Engine Light to illuminate.

The most prevalent cause of vibration is problems with your wheels or tires. The potential problems include improper wheel and tire balance, uneven tire wear, separated tire tread, out of round tires, damaged wheels and even loose lug nuts.

Relevant Questions and Answers :

the most relevant questions and answers related to your specific issue

New Aftermarket clutch works well and gets into gears smoothly but 1st and reverse gears makes my engine shutter like no other.
ANSWER : The shuddering you feel may be a warped or contaminated pressure plate/flywheel. I normally send the flywheel to a machine shop to have it resurfaced when I install a new clutch. This helps prevent the shuddering you described. Contamination from oil or grease can also cause that feeling, but not as severe. You don’t really need to break in a clutch, but sometimes they will grab a bit better after a while.

If you’d like to have this looked at, consider YourMechanic, as a certified technician can diagnose the shuddering you’re experiencing and fix it from there. Best of luck.

Car struggles to go into the reverse gear and makes a clunking noise
ANSWER : Other consumers report the type of issue you have with various years and models of BMW but the reports are model specific. If you do a Google search ("difficulty getting reverse BMW "model, year") for your car, you can try the various strategies that I see published. I would suggest one, but I do not know which model you have. If none of those work out for you, that would point to there being a mechanical fault with the reverse synchronizer and related assembly in the transmission. That latter possibility being strongest of course if this difficulty in shifting is a "new" issue that you are experiencing. If you need help diagnosing the shifting issue, a certified professional from YourMechanic can come to your car’s location to inspect the vehicle and advise on the repair.

Warm engine, long starting and feels like it isn’t getting gas, 10 sec, then takes off like nothing wrong. Doesn’t happen all time
ANSWER : The biggest challenge with your symptoms is they are intermittent. Intermittent symptoms are often difficult to duplicate and we can’t diagnose something that is working. The biggest challenge here is recreating the symptoms. While attempting to recreate the symptoms, I would have a scanner connected and recording all the data. If the problem arises, it will be recorded and I would most likely be able to see what happened in the scan data.

It is good you are taking notice of the conditions that the symptoms cause. This information will be valuable for a technician to pinpoint the problem. As for what the problem could be, it could be many things. The fuel pump could be binding and not delivering enough fuel, the TPS (throttle position sensor) may be glitching or a crank or camshaft sensor maybe sending false information. Camshaft and crankshaft sensors are common failures on Civics. So these two sensors would be suspect, as well as the wiring harnesses that feed them. Poor electrical connections are notorious for symptoms such as these.

The long story short is someone will need to catch the culprit sensor in action, which is the biggest challenge with intermittent problems. With my own vehicles, I often wait until the failure becomes more regular to diagnose them. It saves a lot of time.

I recommend the loss of power inspection to help you figure this out.

Good luck!

My manual car won’t go into gear, it turns on and the clutch goes down perfectly fine. It happened after my gears grinded, the car
ANSWER : If the clutch mechanism is releasing properly, and the shift linkage is not malfunctioning, your transmission will have to be removed from the vehicle and inspected. Once a transmission has been removed from a vehicle, if the problem is a broken or worn part or parts, and the transmission has 100,000 miles or more, the most cost effective approach is to just simply rebuild the whole transmission. There are transmission rebuild kits that are sold just for this purpose. Rebuilding a transmission is no big deal and is indeed easier in many respects than rebuilding an engine. You can rebuild your transmission right in your own garage. You can NOT rebuild an engine in your own garage due to the highly specialized, and extremely costly, machine shop equipment required. Occasionally, mobile mechanics will take on a transmission rebuild job especially as once the mechanic removes the transmission from the vehicle, it is just simply a modular unit that can be easily transported to a mechanic’s shop and rebuilt right there and then returned to your vehicle. If you have further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to re-contact YourMechanic as we are always here to help you.

I think my clutch or clutch master cyclinder went out
ANSWER : Hello – it sounds like the clutch hydraulics are not functioning properly. Check for adequate fluid level first – the clutch fluid reservoir is near the brake fluid reservoir on the firewall (driver side). If the fluid level is low, most likely the clutch slave cylinder is leaking and should be replaced. If the fluid level is correct, but the clutch will not disengage when you press the pedal, the clutch master cylinder (or the mechanical linkage) has likely failed.

I would recommend having your clutch issue inspected by a mobile, professional mechanic, such as one from YourMechanic, who will come to your location, diagnose this problem, give you an accurate assessment of damage and cost estimate for repairs.

I can’t go into 4th or 5th gear and clutch does not engage after a recent clutch job, clutch release while in gear does nothing.
ANSWER : I would rule out the axle not being pushed all the way in. That would effect all speeds and gears. That you can engage gears other than 4th and 5th leads me to 2 m possibilities:
1. Shift linkage mis-adjusted.
2. Possible bent shifter fork internally.

If it feels like you can engage 4th and 5th with the engine OFF, then I would lean towards a clutch release issue.

Can’t get into gear after clutch and gearbox replacement
ANSWER : New gears in a new transmission will naturally be a bit stiff at first as the gears are freshly cut and have not been worn in as with the old transmission. However the issue of whining and not going into reverse is not normal and should be looked at by a professional. Gears in a transmission have what are called synchros which are small fork like components that assist with getting the car in and out of each gear. When these are not functioning correctly, this can cause the same problem you are describing. If you would like, a certified technician from YourMechanic can inspect your vehicle in regards to its inability to switch gears , and offer a second opinion.

My truck won’t allow me to change gears even when pressing the clutch. No gears go in at all. Makes it impossible to drive.
ANSWER : Hello, this concern is possibly the slave or clutch master cylinder failure. These two components use brake fluid to apply pressure for movement of the clutch system. This fluid breaks down in time and causes the seals to fail (leak). A low fluid level would cause this concern as well as internal leakage. Replacement of components would be necessary. This type of concern would need to be inspected. If you’d like, a certified technician from YourMechanic can come to your location to diagnose your vehicle, and possibly replace your clutch master cylinder if need be.