Clutch Question

[Justin51982]

First, thank you everyone who helped with the slave cylinder in a previous post.

I have the new master and slave in, I also have the SS clutch line....I've bled and bled it...The fork moves, but in my opinion, maybe not as much as it should....With the motor off, the car easily shifts and moves in and out of gears....with the motor running and the clutch totally depressed, it won't go into gear and you can hear it grind as you start to try..If I try to start the car in gear, it lurches forward.

Given that I bought the car as a non-runner, I have no idea the condition of the clutch itself as I never drove the car before I bought it.....Does anyone have any ideas of what I could be missing or need to do next? Does it sound like I need a complete new clutch?

Thank you.

[David T]

First, thank you everyone who helped with the slave cylinder in a previous post.

I have the new master and slave in, I also have the SS clutch line....I've bled and bled it...The fork moves, but in my opinion, maybe not as much as it should....With the motor off, the car easily shifts and moves in and out of gears....with the motor running and the clutch totally depressed, it won't go into gear and you can hear it grind as you start to try..If I try to start the car in gear, it lurches forward.

Given that I bought the car as a non-runner, I have no idea the condition of the clutch itself as I never drove the car before I bought it.....Does anyone have any ideas of what I could be missing or need to do next? Does it sound like I need a complete new clutch?

Thank you.

Sounds like the clutch is "stuck", ie, the plates are rusted together from sitting. Start the car up in 4th gear, let it move, then while holding the clutch pedal down step on the brakes hard. The clutch cylinder doesn't move much to get release. If you can't unstick the clutch you will have to take it all apart.

[Justin51982]

I'll give that a go tomorrow/ this weekend....I'll have to straigthen up the garage a little and manually back the car up so I don't lurch it into something :)

The car's been sitting for 15 years so what you're suggesting is a reasonable cause and explanation for this issue.


The clutch kit isn't that bad from a cost perspective, I'm just not excited about the possibility of dropping the tranny....I can do it, I just don't want to :)

[DMC5180]

Has this car been in a high humidity environment for those 15 years? We're the brake rotors severely rusted and brake pads frozen to the rotors when you first started your resurrection process?

[Justin51982]

I bought the car just outside of Dallas, TX, and it had been sitting outside for what appears to be several years before I bought it. I'm not sure if it was outside the entire 15 or not, but I would say it's safe to assume it was not driven for 13-15, the last registration date was in Texas in 2000. I would say it's highly likely that it was outside the full 15, but if not the full 15, at least 5-7.

Yes to the rotors being a little rusty, but nothing was seized that I recall, at the same time, it looks like the calipers were replaced a while back, they look brand new but with patina and there was no fluid in the system, so that could explain that? We have to pull the car out of the spot it was in, which could have caused the rotors to free themselves, but I can't be 100% on this.

[DMC5180]

Was the brake system completely empty or just the reservoir? It may have been that they started doing a brake system rehab but for whatever reason never completed it.

[Justin51982]

the reservoir was bone dry, the system itself had a small, small amount of fluid it in, far from full.

[DMC5180]

We're there any signs of fluid leakage at bottom of the brake booster?

[Justin51982]

Not at the booster, but the old clutch master was leaking into the car.

[DMC5180]

Not at the booster, but the old clutch master was leaking into the car.

That's fairly typical.

[Justin51982]

Yeah, I kind of figured....The brakes, since I serviced them, flushed the lines and bled them seem to work great and have stayed solid....I'm really hoping I don't have to go through the misery of pulling the trans and replacing the clutch.... Hopefully what David suggested will work, unless there is something else you, or anyone think I may be missing or overlooking.

[DMC5180]

The most plausible is a stuck clutch disc. If you sit in the car and press the pedal to the floor, do you here any squeaks or creaks coming from the clutch as the release fingers are moving?

[Justin51982]

The most plausible is a stuck clutch disc. If you sit in the car and press the pedal to the floor, do you here any squeaks or creaks coming from the clutch as the release fingers are moving?

As a matter of fact yes, it does...and occasionally it feels like it gets slightly hung up on the return.

[DMC5180]

Creaky clutch is common especially with age. At least in your case it's an indication things are moving. That's a good sign. Good luck with your attempt to break things loose this weekend.

[Justin51982]

Thank you.

Here is a question and I'm sorry if it's a stupid one....As everything is more and more pointing towards a stuck clutch, I plan to try what's been suggested here.

In the mean time, is there some form or inspection point or access hole that I would at least be able to try and spray some brake clean onto the disc and flywheel?

[dn010]

You MIGHT be able to get to it from where the fork goes down into the transmission from the slave cylinder but I wouldn't attempt it. There should be a rubber cover around the fork. You could try to use a spray can with nozzle but It would be a PITA to spray in there from this access point and with the transmission in the car you'd be spraying blindly. You risk losing the spray nozzle into the transmission should it detach, and any debris around will flow onto your clutch, pressure plate and flywheel - any major dirt or particles may leave scoring if the disc decides to break loose.

[DMC5180]

Would it be possible to post a photo of your slave cylinder and fork area just so we can see if something is out of place? I would not spay anything in the clutch area.

[David T]

Would it be possible to post a photo of your slave cylinder and fork area just so we can see if something is out of place? I would not spay anything in the clutch area.

I would hesitate spraying anything into the clutch blindly. Worst case you could wind up washing out any remaining lubricant in the bearings.

[DMC-81]

Hi Justin,

I just replaced my slave and line last month, and when I was bleeding it, I couldn't get much travel either. However, it appeared as though it was bled as there was no bubbles and the pedal had resistance. In the end, I had to use a vacuum pump to draw the fluid through the line. (I think I had some air trapped in the high spot near the gearbox.)
Anyway, after I did that, it had normal travel. I took a video of the resulting fork travel at the time, but I guess I can't upload a .mov file. :nono:

I don't know if you are having the same issue, but I thought I would mention it.

Good luck resolving it.

Dana

[Justin51982]

UPDATE:

It ended up being 2 things.


The vacuum bleeder showed me that the zerk wasn't seating properly and air was getting into the system, so I switched it with the zerk from my old slave cylinder and that fixed that problem.

It still did have a stuck pressure plate though, so a few good hits to the throttle after getting it to start in second gear and it came loose....

So 6568 had it's first trip/drive in 15 years.....drove it to get it a full tank of gas....

Very exciting!

[David T]

UPDATE:

It ended up being 2 things.


The vacuum bleeder showed me that the zerk wasn't seating properly and air was getting into the system, so I switched it with the zerk from my old slave cylinder and that fixed that problem.

It still did have a stuck pressure plate though, so a few good hits to the throttle after getting it to start in second gear and it came loose....

So 6568 had it's first trip/drive in 15 years.....drove it to get it a full tank of gas....

Very exciting!

I hope you are planning on replacing the tires! They do not age well and after 15 + years they are hard as rock.

[Justin51982]

I replaced those with Uniroyal about 2 to 3 months ago :-)