Clutch issues / Ongoing headache

[KrazyPT]

Hey guys,

I bought off the auctions a decent 420a setup, not knowing what all has been done or what hasn't been done. It was a complete shot in the dark.

When the vehicle arrived, it had a weird rattling sound when the clutch was not engaged, the moment you pushed it in, the rattle would go away. Car drove perfectly fine, was just obnoxious with the rattle while in neutral at lights. Talked to a few people and they suspected it most likely could be the clutch disc. Spoke with TMZ Performance and ordered a K70131F-SS-TZ.

Took it to my shop, they installed it in, sadly the rattle was still there. It was reduced but still somewhat there. Took it home and everything shifted fine. Few days go by, I go to take it to grab some coffee and cant get it into gear. If the vehicle is off I can shift between all the gears without a problem. With the vehicle turned on I can't cycle gears or anything. I towed it into the shop suspecting air in the cylinder. Figured to be safe since this is a unknown prior owner vehicle, I replaced the master cylinder and the slave cylinder. Got the vehicle back and everything again was perfectly fine. Shifted great, no problems, rattle sound was minimal. Let it sit over the weekend... Same thing as before, I can no longer get it into gear with it running. I've adjusted the pedal already in hopes it was that, are these systems that much of a pita to bleed?

Any suggestions or things to try, I'd gladly appreciate.

 

[motomattx]

They can be pretty bad to bleed at times, a power bleeder can make quicker work of it for sure, I haven't heard of the 420a having crankwalk issues but any engine can actually have crankwalk, you could check crankshaft end play just for peace of mind and then go from there.

 

[pieceofcloth]

When the vehicle is off, are you going thru gears without the clutch pressed?

 

[RLSchwabe]

1. Remove the shift fork boot
2. Place the car in neutral and apply the parking brake
3. Start the car
4. Get under the car with a flashlight and look into the inspection hole

Is the clutch fork vibrating? Is the throw-out bearing rattling against the pressure plate?

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

Almost sounds like a throwout bearing issue to me. Did they replace it when they did your clutch?

FYI the 420a Eclipses have what's called a modular setup, meaning the clutch disc, pressure plate and flywheel are all riveted together and serviceable as on piece.

 

[KrazyPT]

Alright, sorry for not updating. Life got busy and I haven't had the time to touch the DSM what so ever lately.

Ended up bleeding the slave cylinder and getting a shitload of air out of the setup. Started right up and got it in gear just fine, drove it without any issues.


Letting it sit for a few days with my best guess its going to do it again. If that's the case, one could only assume some line or connection is loose and air is getting in?

 

[randman2011]

My first through when you mentioned a rattle in neutral was the throwout bearing. Hopefully that was replaced at the same time as the clutch; otherwise the transmission should come out again.

Are you seeing any fluid on any of the clutch lines, transmission, or ground? If air is getting in, the fluid that's already in it needs to be going somewhere. You can try tightening the hard lines on the master cylinder if you want. I don't know how different they are from the 4G63 units, but I've had an absolutely awful time bleeding the clutches in my DSMs so I'm not surprised that there could still be air in the system.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

It's fairly simple to bleed the clutch on the N/T's. I got it right my first time and no air has came back in the system since.

It wouldn't hurt to replace the slave cylinder if it hasn't been already.