Fried Clutch Diagnosis

[turboAWDfanatic]

I installed a RRE clutch and RRE lightened flywheel, followed every single step in Haynes as well as the few writeups in the vFAQ. The install seemed to go fine. At first it grabbed really nicely, but after a few hundred miles it started to feel like a worn stock clutch. I babied the heck out of it for break in, but by 500 miles it was slipping. I tried to drive up a set of rhino ramps and burned the hell out of my clutch. Half way up the ramp I got horrible vibration sounds and some metallic chatter.

The dowel pins and all bell housing bolts were secure (nothing had backed out). Dropping the trans revealed that the pressure plate bolts and flywheel bolts were still secure. There are crazy heat marks on the pressure plate and flywheel. Also, the pressure plate was making contact with part of the transmission housing. Only one point of the pressure plate was making contact, and the burn marks on the friction surfaces are heavy on one side but light on the other. This tells me that the flywheel is either warped or was mounted crooked. Neither makes sense to me b/c I was very careful about tightening the flywheel bolts in the recommended star pattern and then torquing them to spec.

Any idea how this could have happened? Are all components trash at this point? Oh, and yes, I did have vibration noises on deceleration while in gear, but I was attributing it to motor mount inserts and the light flywheel. Pics are below.

Thanks!

Friction Surfaces (uneven wear/burns):

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Too worn for 500 mi?:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Don't think all the marks are b/c of the contact, but the top two are:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Trans:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[nightspeed87]

i had clutch problems and my cars been down from it and i think my throwout bearing broke or the pressure plate messed up or something because i couldnt go into gear after a hard pull and when i tried putting it in gear i had sparks flying from under the car and I have a fidanza lightwt 8lb flywheel and I hope i didnt mess that up or put heat marks all over it or anything. that would suck.

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

Forgot to mention, when I did the install I replaced:

- Clutch/pressure plate
- Flywheel
- Ball/Fork
- T/O Bearing (OEM style plastic sleeve)

I have recently replaced/rebuilt the master/slave cylinders. I bled the system after the clutch install "just in case". I also have the SS braided clutch fluid line. I did use the clutch alignment tool when I did the install. The trans input shaft has no in/out play, and the surface that the T/O bearing is on is not grooved or torn up.

 

[talonracn49]

Did you adjust the clutch pedal to get the engagement where it should be, and to make sure that the pedal was relieving all the pressure on the master when it was in the released position?

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

Yeah, I played with the adjustment a few times. Like I said, it seemed great right after I put it in. Grabbed hard, good engagement height w/ the pedal. I even got under the car to see that the fork wasn't being pushed over when the pedal was out.

What's really catching my attention here is the fact that the pressure plate was hitting that part of the trans. Any more ideas?

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

Major overreaction...components are fine. Talked w/ the guys at RRE. Heat spots normal, disc is fine. P-Plate and Trans contact marks most likely from contact while trying to put the trans back on after initial install.

Still not quite sure why the clutch slipped so bad giong up the ramps...not enough break-in/heat cycling yet?? The vibrations could be from an aging rear diff that was made audible by the light flywheel and stiffer motor mounts that I installed at the same time.

Since my trans is already out and has some issues I am sending it off to Jack's to get the "value" rebuild. As soon as I get it back I'll put it all back together and write a followup.

Sorry about the panic, but I'm following up on this so that others might learn from my mistakes. =P