I have all of the parts that I need to do a proper clutch job, but I have been waiting for the weather to warm up and, quite honestly, I am getting lazy in my old age.

This car is my daily driver and has 338,000 miles on the clock - about 150,000 on the clutch. Over the last year and 15,000 or so miles, it has become more and more difficult to engage any gear with the engine running. If I pay close attention and try to match the engine speed to what I it should be going into the next highest gear, it is a little easier, but a good amount of force is required to change gears. This is usually accompanied by a metallic "thunk" from the transmission (M46). Matching the engine speed avoids crunching, though. I can also feel the rear end clunk when I go in and out of gear.

My best guess is that the clutch is not releasing, either because the t/o is bad or because the clutch is just plain worn out.

So, question is, am I doing any long term damage to the transmission, u-joints or rear end by driving it this way?