I Shifted Hard Into 2nd, and Now the Clutch Pedal Is All Messed Up? Help!

[project_tsi]

Last night I turned the NLTS back on and set it to 5500, and its been working great from a 7200 shift point.

Anyways I stomp on it in 1st and then shift it hard into 2nd. I shifted it really quick and hard. As I shifted into 3rd, something didn't feel right.

The clutch pedal itself now feels lower?, Like its not comming back up all the way? And now the clutch releases directly Right off the floor. You have you push the pedal 100% to the floor for it to disengage. It feels like the whole pedal now only has a few inches of entire travel from floor to top.

I know for a fact the pedal isn't coming up all the way b/c the NTLS is constantly activated, meaning the pedal isn't pushing in the switch.

The car still shifts great no grinds or anything, just the other problems I mentioned.

Its dark out now and I have no way to check it out until morning so I'm looking for ideas on what to look for/ at.

Drivetrain setup is a fresh TRE trans, new ACT flywheel, ACT 2600PP, Clutch Net 6 puck sprung disk, newer slave cyl, etc.

Thanks for the help fellas.

 

[project_tsi]

Well guys, bad news. I just spend and hour and a half pulling the pedal assembly out and theres nothing wrong with it. It had the classic symptoms of the assembly wearing out, but nope. The bushings look good, there no signs of any bad wear points. No wollowed out holes, bushings, etc. I inspected the clevis pins, and the parts that connect to the pins, and nothing is out of shape. Theres nothing from this that I can put blame to. I looked over the pedal itelf, its not broken or cracked, nor is anywhere else. This actually is a really good condition pedal assembly.

I checked out the slave, it looks good as well and only has about 5k miles since new.

However, when I crawled under there this morning, I noticed that the tab on the clutch pedal that pushes in one of the switches, well, its bent. As you can see in the pic, the tab is bent a bit, I don't know why, I did NOT do this upon removal. Any ideas, or is this suppose to be this way?

The master cylinder looks good as well as the clutch fluid resivior with no leaks, however one this I noticed is that resivior rod is near the end of its adjustment range.

I still don't think I broke the clutch disk, but is it possible I broke or bent the clutch fork? If I bent it, would it give me these problems? Just looking for some more insight here on what the hell it could be.

Let me know what you think of the pics.

Oh by the way, removing the pedal assembly was not a big pain in the ass at all IMO. I'm a big guy myself at about 280lbs. and I didn't have one problem or complaint about getting it out in a timely manner. I did find it easier to and just plain more comfortable to do it by removing the seat and also removing the steering column rather than just unbolting it, and hanging it out of the way. Don't worry, I marked the column's position on the shaft so I can line it back up.

 

[pneumo]

Yup, you got a bent tab right there. Maybe the tab is catching on something and keeping the pedal down slightly? It's worth looking into. Maybe you overpowered the pedal assembly and bent something else? A 280 pound guy with an ACT 2600 shifting fast sounds like a lot of force to me.

 

[project_tsi]

I looked it over pretty well, I didn't see anything that it could or would catch up on.

Its strange, it has all the symptoms of a worn pedal assembly, but they all happened immediately. I've checked out the pedal ass. before and it never lifted any before, but now after it comes back up, I can lift the pedal up another inch or so, and now the clutch engages directly off the floor. I thought for sure I had just broken something in the assembly but everything looks great, honestly.

 

[pneumo]

OK so it might be something else. Maybe the firewall gave way and bent outwards? How about:
loose or broken bolt holding the bellhousing to the block.
bent clutch fork-it should be centered in the square hole where it comes out of the bellhousing.
low clutch fluid level-air in the lines
check the master and slave cylinders to make sure they have full range of travel in and out.
How about a twisted shaft between the pedal and the master cyl?
That's all I can think of right now.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

pneumo, I like those ideas.
Also is the master seated securely? Possible to have ovaled the holes in the firewall or stripped the stud that holds the master in place?