Tranny/Clutch go boom or dont work yea...help? im stuupid lol

[chevyracer5613]

yes i am a newbie to DSM's but not to cars....i have always been a big muscle car fan (i have a 69 firebird w/400 BB) now i wanted to have a lil fun with a 4cyl

i was able to snag this car for $700 , even with the problems i think it was a good deal
http://www.carrracing.net/TSI/

now to the first problem

crank up the engine = squealing not like belts like metal on metal maybe , if ya rev it up a few times it slowly goes away....if you just sit there in neutral
now for the "distubing" part .....the clutch is messed up i dunno whats wrong with it , the dude i bought it from had his mechanic adjust it and bleed it a couple times blah blah blah i have no real pressure on the pedal and have to pull it back up with my foot only to hear a type of suction noise ( cant spot any leaks and fluid levels are full) with that being said i wanted to get it away from his house and to mine so i put it in first gear hit the starter ...jerk forward a lil and go along my merry way....take a couple of turns out the neighborhood and get back to a low speed and the car starts making noise and virbratin and surging a little....i take the rpms up a lil and it goes away...i shift into second and it does the same thing ( low rpm but not the same rpm) so i pull over and pop the hood and listen closely and pinpoint the "clanking" to the tranny. also im not sure if its related but when the idle drops down low it maks a weird clanking noise closer to the turbo (it was a 14 g now 16 g (the change the wheel or something)) b/c it used to be a automatic and it was converted to a 5spd. and aside from a couple other frustrating little problems i decide to get back in and head home so i put it in first gear...look around for traffic and hit the starter expect to lurch forward.....nope.....engine just turn overs and everything but doesnt pull me forward....noise is still there....still the same...but now im not moving.

also to add to it by this time it was late a night and i pop the hood again and have my friend rev the engine and i look towards the bottem of the tranny and see sparks everytime he lets off the gas (and the blow off valves goes pshhh ) so i quickly tell him to shut it off b/c i have a gas leak as well (gas and sparks dont mix well unless its in a combustion chamber )

so please someone ...anyone who is smarter then me with DSM's point me in the right direction

uhh now im gonna spout out some random "facts" about the car that i know hopefully it'll help

dude man says the injectors were swapper to manual injectors ???
new tranny with hardened synchrons (chryogenically)
new XTD 11lb fly wheel
new XTD 6 puck ceramic clutch ( because the old stock clutch wore out from to much power or something...... i was told i also ###### need a longer master cylinder rod????)
ugh eprom ecu
clipped turbo to a big 16 g
some un need vaccum lines blocked off or something
o yea i like penguins....no that doesnt help but who cares
supposedly dynoed 250 FWHP

if you have read to this point thank you for even that!

David Carr
[email protected]

 

[yokotabrat]

Wow, that's a lot to take in. It sounds like you've got a couple of different issues.

The clutch pedal sticking to the floor indicates a hydraulic issue in the clutch system. I don't know if I'd trust the previous owner hearing the condition the car is in, so I'd start basic with a proper fluid bleed. Also, a typical symptom of a dying master cylinder is fluid leaking from the back of the master down the firewall under the dash. If you look under and follow the clutch pedal, you'll see where the pedal activates the master cylinder. Under here is also where you'll see a threaded rod attached to the back of the master. This is where the clutch can be adjusted. You may want to play with that. Also, check the condition of the slave cylinder. If you pull back the rubber boot on the end of the slave, make sure there is no fluid leaking from there.

The sparks from the tranny is a new one. Since this was an auto to manual conversion, I'd be concerned whether this was done properly. You'll probably need to pull the tranny to determine if there is something rubbing. I'd wonder if something was left behind that should have been uninstalled, or if it was just done improperly.

If the car wasn't moving when it was in first gear, I'd start by checking the shift cables. You can manually move the shift lever on the tranny if you want to try it that way, or just have someone shift gears while watching to make sure everything looks good with the cables. Hope this helps to get you started.

 

[chevyracer5613]

as far as the shift cables go i had my buddy move all 5 gears and reverse and the lil lever of the tranny moved each time...although it did hit the air cleaner on the turbo...(i just wire tied it up a lil to move it out the way) im gonna have MY mechanic and i check it out tomorrow hopefully he will know exacly what to do and it wont cost much

also the guy i bought it from said this

since it was a automatic the ecu think the turbo has a recirculating valve but since they swapped it to a stick its got a blow off valve... he says that it might be bad for the ecu but he doesnt konw...?

also

there is a tube that runs from the blow off valve to the air cleaner...i dont konw if thats how a normal recirculating valve works or not but it was not hooked up

and what i dont get is he said new tranny , new fly wheel and pressure plate , new clutch ...so what else can effect it going into gear

o yea i assume the tranny itself is good just because w/the engine off its slides into all gears nice and easy (maybe im stupid for thinkin that i dunno)

but the pedal jsut confuses me , i pressed it A BUNCH and the fluid level didnt drop any but each time with the pedal i pressed it to the floor and had to pull it back up.... tomorrow im gonna check out the MC and SC althought supposeddly those are new also

thnx for ure time and thoughts!!!

(off topic but when i drove it...it was pretty "peppy" in first gear...kind of shocked me for a lil 4cyl ! )

 

[toybreaker]

It sounds like the previous owner had a bit o' time on their hands....those auto to 5-speed conversions sound like a bunch of work to me....

Did the setup on the car ever work, or is this an unfinished install?

There's about a kerbillion ways for the train to come off the tracks, starting with incompatable parts.

There's a bunch of different master and slave cylinder bore sizes that will physically fit these cars, and there's a possibility you've got some mismatching.

There is a restricter in the slave banjo bolt/slave line adapter. It's a little spring loaded dingus, installed to prevent a rapid clutch release, (warranty weasels got a little tired of destroyed drivelines and installed these to slow clutch release)....and it's possible something went awry there.

I'm a little curious about the pedal cluster and line routing as well. Is there another dsm you can use as a guide? It's actually possible there's a kink in the line or something in the pedal brackettry restricting clutch release.

I *believe* there's a spacer between the flexplate and crank flange on automatic cars that
is not used on manual tranny applications. I can see all kinds of headaches from leaving that installed....

The sparks out the bellhousing suggests a broken clutch hub dampner spring or something rubbing etc...

I'd probably flat bed the car home, and do some troubleshooting there. If there's something broken/binding up inside the bellhousing nothing good will come from further operation in it's present state. Have someone push the clutch pedal and watch the slave movement, even help the slave return and see if the pedal pops back up.

I would most definately get ALL the receipts/dyno sheets from the previous owner. For some reason people like to b.s. about their mods/installed parts on these cars, and receipts are one way of verifying what's actually been purchased. (installed is a whole other deal). 250 front wheel horse on a tsi (awd car) sounds kind of fishy...especially with 450's and no supporting fuel mods....

and I'm really curious how you can chryo-treat brass synchros....

you're a chevy guy, so you've probably seen your share of 8 second,1500 h.p. single carb small blocks on the cruise nights...that can barely do a respectable one leg traction test... WTF

CAVEAT EMPTOR.....

If you want to use this car as a daily driver/actual transportation I would humbly suggest you return the car to mostly stock...it will live a lot longer and happier life.

There's been an unbelievable number of these cars ruin't by the fast and furious crowd...The good news is they can be straightened out and returned to service by just reverting to stockish...the engineers knew a thing or two when they spec'd the fuel system, and unless you upgrade everything, you're better off to not get to carried away with boost....or you'll overrun the fuel system and have some interesting ashtrays that used to be pistons...

I believe you're about to learn how to curse like a dsm owner, and we can put any sailor to shame..

 

[chevyracer5613]

i had one of my friends come over and help bleed the clutch system to make sure there was no air in the lines....no it didnt work but we did discover some more stuff

when we opened the valve to bleed it the clutch went all the way to the floor (about a inch or so then it will go w/ the valc closed) and we go thru the proper procedure a bunch of times and it doesnt really help anything but he notice the slave cylinder not moving...or not much when i pressed the pedal.....does that help any?



"and I'm really curious how you can chryo-treat brass synchros.... "

yea im just tell yall what the previous owner told me.....i wasnt saying it was true

"I would most definately get ALL the receipts/dyno sheets from the previous owner. For some reason people like to b.s. about their mods/installed parts on these cars, "

excellent point

 

[chevyracer5613]

o yea and after the conversion it did all work properly

but supposed the clutch burnt up or something b/c stock it couldnt take the extra power added to it....hence the new clutch crap he bought...yea

 

[yokotabrat]

when we opened the valve to bleed it the clutch went all the way to the floor (about a inch or so then it will go w/ the valc closed) and we go thru the proper procedure a bunch of times and it doesnt really help anything but he notice the slave cylinder not moving...or not much when i pressed the pedal.....does that help any?

Is the slave cylinder not moving when the bleed valve is open? If so, that's what you'd expect since the system isn't applying pressure to the clutch fork because the fluid has a path to escape through with the bleed valve open. Now if the slave isn't moving when the bleed valve is closed, then there is definitely a problem there.

 

[chevyracer5613]

hey sorry i havent been able to reply lately , its been graduation weekend , kind of hectic but yea ok heres the update

when clutch is pressed slave cylinder doesnt move...althought the resioir seems to move from the pressure.....BUT when i manualy hold pressure on the slave cylinder i get full throw on the pedal and it acts like a normal pedal.......so i started examining it more and the chrome rod covered by the rubber boot falls off.... yea im so kinda confused so i put it back in and try it again and everything acts the same so i put my hang on it and i am able to jiggle it around....i dont see any fluid anywhere but i doubt that is normal.......again thnx in advance

 

[chevyracer5613]

also .... i think i do have a fly wheel problem because the starter sometime will spin the engine over and sometime it will not....yes the battery is charged

umm lets see is there anything else....o yea well i was bored and moving the gear selector throught the gears , i could feel the syncros or w/e opening so it would move in and out of gear but.....i notice aside from the noise from the synchros (or i guess thats what it is) there was little or no transmission noise....except reverse...thats the only "gear" that i hear acutal tranny noise from

also when the engine is cranked up , (even though i have no clutch) the car will go into 2 and 4th gear w/ no problem and the car doesnt move but 1 , 3 , 5 grind a lil and i have not tried to force it in gear.......i dont get why the top gears grind and i dont get why the bottem gears dont but the car doesnt move with it in that gear

 

[dsmdizzle]

The xtd clutch was the worst move I ever made! haha