Clutch pedal went SNAP!

[weith1111]

So I'm sitting at a red, goes green, press the clutch pedal down and hear a SNAP from around the pedal area, feel it in my foot too, and now the clutch pedal is a lot lighter. Almost crap my pants, but it goes into gear, engages and I take off. I limp it home trying to not use the clutch as much as possible.

I inspect:

pedal/assembly-don't see anything wrong, when i push the pedal with my hand, even 1/8" the rod starts moving into the cylinder or diaphragm on the firewall

slave cylinder-rod isn't busted/bent, no fluid leaking

It was close to the low line on the reservoir, so I topped it off and will bleed it today, which will hopefully bring the engagement off the floor. I can see the rod is only fully extended/fork bottomed out, when the pedal is to the floor. First gear is a little rumbly getting going, but the engagements into every other gear are pretty smooth.

If the bleeding works I'll be happy, but that SNAP still has me concerned.

Any ideas what else to look for? I figured it was the pedal assembly but was under the impression if it wears/breaks the pedal will move at times without actually pushing the rod. Mine seems pretty tight.

Where did that clutch fluid go? I'm not leaking any, nor have I ever.

 

[steve]

The fluid doesn't evaporate so it's leaking somewhere. Both the master into the car and the slave onto the trans are common.

Is the spring on the pedal assembly still good or did it break?
How about the two switches, one for the CSS and the other for the cruise?

Steve

 

[weith1111]

The fluid doesn't evaporate so it's leaking somewhere. Both the master into the car and the slave onto the trans are common.

Is the spring on the pedal assembly still good or did it break?
How about the two switches, one for the CSS and the other for the cruise?

Steve

The slave may be leaking a little. I have to clean the surrounding area to see what's going on, it's filthy, the oil return on the turbo had leaked for quite some time before I fixed it, dripping oil on everything. Where can the slave leak from, anywhere? As I said the rubber boot is dry inside and out. The bleed valve area was dry as well.

The master has always "leaked", but it's just wet, it never drips, gets the carpet wet, etc.

The spring, as in the 2 inch coil of 1/4 steel? It still pushes the rod and I was fumbling with everything and nothing was loose, I'll give it a direct tug, but it seemed fine on initial inspection.

Haven't tried the cruise since then, and the CSS is unplugged. I'll test the cruise, but when I was under there nothing was broken/appeared out of place.

Geez, I'd rather break something obvious.

Thanks for the help. Fearing the unknown...

 

[DSM90AWD]

Sounds alot like the clutch lever return spring. Maybe it bound up and then released, or came out of it's perch

FYI.. certain Brake/Clutch fluids tend to absorb moisture pretty readily (all do but at different rates), so if your fluid is old, may want to just purge the whole system and start fresh

 

[steve]

if your fluid is old, may want to just purge the whole system and start fresh

People hardly change their brake fluid every two years like they should and never change the brake fluid in the clutch unless it all leaks out. Bleeding the slave can be a pain but it would be a good idea to flush all the old fluid out.

Steve

 

[4pistons]

My car suffered from a soft pedal and difficult disengagement. Although I never heard a "snap" I found the pedal assembly braket was broken when I removed it to install metal bushings. This allowed the assembly to flex excessively whenever I pushed the pedal. I had to pull the entire assembly out to see it though. It's awfully hard to squirm your head way up the dash to see it.

Just as a tip check where the slave cylinder mounts AND your tranny to engine bolts. They've been known to come loose and break mounting bosses off.

Rick - '91 GSX

 

[weith1111]

Trust that I will get back to you all with the result, as soon as I get someone to help me. I'm waiting on one of my friends to be unlazy enough to come over and hit the pedal a few times so I can check for flexing and bleed the clutch. You all have good input and I will check out everything suggested, with removing the pedal assembly being last, of course (being the hardest). I double checked the spring again and everything looked in it's place. The snap I heard is leading me to believe the assembly is screwed up somewhere.

 

[weith1111]

Ok, I've been doing some more checking, and testing things out, and here are more observations:

1. Cannot downshift without matching revs. As in, engine braking, when letting the clutch back out it rattles and shakes and sounds like it will explode if I let it go. If I match revs there is no problem.

2. Started to hear the TOB squeeking. Touch the clutch pedal, squeeking stops, so it sounds like the TOB is dying.

I do have an ACT clutch and was trying to picture how the SNAP could have been one of the springs on the disc letting go, thus the pedal pressure got a lot lighter. This would also mess up the TOB, but I can't quite picture how the shaking would be a result of a spring being out. Would the disc be engaging with unequal pressure if a spring was gone?

 

[Ultimatedsm]

If one of the CLUTCH DISC torisional springs cracked (In the center of the clutch disc hub), can this cause weaker clutch pedal pressure? I did my clutch last year the clutch seemed to be fine. However, now learning about a ton of car stuff, I remembered that one of the springs in the center of the clutch disc was cracked. Ever since than, I felt like my clutch pedal was really soft and has notchy shifting

 

[4pistons]

You would never hear one of those springs breaking. And since the TOB presses against the pressure plate and not the disc it would have no effect on the pedal pressure.

The springs in the disc are there to absorb radial shocks in the engagement. They have nothing to do with the actual engagement or the pressures unless broken parts are jammed somewhere. Not impossible but unlikely. If your clutch operates properly, irregardless of the pedal feel, then your disc is probably OK.

Rick - '91 GSX

 

[weith1111]

You would never hear one of those springs breaking. And since the TOB presses against the pressure plate and not the disc it would have no effect on the pedal pressure.

The springs in the disc are there to absorb radial shocks in the engagement. They have nothing to do with the actual engagement or the pressures unless broken parts are jammed somewhere. Not impossible but unlikely. If your clutch operates properly, irregardless of the pedal feel, then your disc is probably OK.

Rick - '91 GSX

I see what you are saying about the disc not being involved in pedal pressure.

From what I read some folks had the fingers on the PP bend when their disc fell apart. I don't really know how the two are related, but the vibration I'm getting is not from a weak pedal assembly or hydraulic system that needs to be bled. Man I do not feel like dropping this tranny again.

From what you are saying about "radial shocks," could it not be I'm getting more vibration because the disc isn't absorbing everything it used to?

I would say the clutch does operate as it did before, besides the EXTREME roughness while engaging when the motor and tranny are not at the same speed (starting off in first and (down)shifting while not matching revs).

 

[dmc67]

I would check the clutch disk before I took the pedals out. b/c my N/T was shifting kinda rough and I took the tranny out and my clutch disk I could shake it and everyone of the springs were loose and my TOB was dead. and it indeed did effect the way the pedal felt.

 

[Ultimatedsm]

My story was I blew the 7 bolt motor on the track after 10 passes. I was doing 6000 RPM launches. So when I got the 6 bolt I dropped it in and saw that one of the springs on the clutch disc was cracked. Prior to this my clutch felt normal. After this swap and bleding the system a million times , my clutch pedal felt really soft and the shifting was notchy.