Grrr! CLUTCH PROBLEMS!

[PaulN]

Friday I waas coming back from doing some shopping with my wife in the Talon. We had been driving it all day and it was fine, no problems noted. That evening when pulling into our drive I pushed the clutch in to down shift when the weirdest thing happened. It went to the floor and and wouldn't come up. Here I am in the middle of an intersection on a hill and I can't get my car into any gear. I coasted it backwards out of the way and pumped like crazy and was finally able to get the clutch to work so I could get it in gear. We got the house and it did it again in my driveway. Clutch went right to the floor and wouldn't return.

The enxt day I bled the clutch and it felt strong, so I took it for a ride through my development. Not even 10 minutes in it did it again.

Monday I replaced both the master and slave cylinder. There was some fluid on the spring under the dash that connects to the actuator rod so I figured the master was the culprit. Got it all bled and everything felt better than it ever did since I have had this car. I took it for a ride and it did it again. During this ride, when the clutch was working I noticed/heard this loud vibration as the car gained RPM's, and right before the clutch would act up I could feel this minor grinding feeeling in the clutch peddle and bam the clutch went to the floor, wouldn't return and the car won't shift. I got home in 1st gear and stopped in the driveway with the car out of gear. I can not get it in gear, peddle still on the floor. So I shut the car off, put the car in first start it with the car in gear and the clutch grabbed a little and the car lurched forward a little bit but then the clutch released and was working again. It's been sitting since.

Does anyone have any clue what in the world is going on? The car has only 5000 miles on it since I put a new engine, axles, clutch, pressure plate, tob, brakes/pads, waterpump, timing belt etc. Everything was great and then all of the sudden

This thing was supposed to be my daily driver, but it's fighting me every step of the way. Please help!

 

[No_Skillz]

Check your clutch reservoir level to see if you are leaking fluid. If not, you can rule out hydraulic problems and look into mechanical.

 

[PaulN]

Hydraulics are all new. I just replaced everything on Monday.

 

[CrashGNX]

Yeah I just replace the motor and clutch (centerforce dual friction) I can pump the clutch up and it works for a min then I gotta pump it a bit more .. so on so on ... gonna replace the slave and master and see what happens. will post as to what I find.

 

[DGajre777]

The lines might have a leak.

 

[PaulN]

And the bad vibration coming from the transmission side fo the car that wasn't there before?

How does one tell if the pressure plate and/or clutch disc somehow broke?

 

[TurboAnything]

Could also be your throwout bearing getting stuck when you depress the clutch, hence the vibration when you gain RPMs. I have seen this happen before on these cars.

 

[CrashGNX]

I previously had a 1g NT eclipse to the same kind of thing and it turned out that a metal piece broke off the clutch disk and was getting wedged between the disc and pressure plate not letting it release. I fixed the issue on my 92 talon tsi this weekend by adjusting the pushrod on the back of the master cylinder.

FYI ... you can break engine blocks, motor mounts off engine blocks, and split transmissions by dumping the clutch to scare the crap outta some ford driver that just cut you off !

 

[PaulN]

I previously had a 1g NT eclipse to the same kind of thing and it turned out that a metal piece broke off the clutch disk and was getting wedged between the disc and pressure plate not letting it release. I fixed the issue on my 92 talon tsi this weekend by adjusting the pushrod on the back of the master cylinder.

FYI ... you can break engine blocks, motor mounts off engine blocks, and split transmissions by dumping the clutch to scare the crap outta some ford driver that just cut you off !

I don't see any thing on the block broke, hopefully it's not that. I was think maybe my clutch came apart. It's a cheapp Autozone part, so hopefully that's the problem. I am just not in the mood to pull the tranny. I was hoping beyond hope that it was something simple, but I think I know better than that.

 

[PaulN]

Dropped the tranny today....

WTF


One flywheel bolt backed out enough to rub the clutch disc causing the weird clutch engagement problems and upon further investigation the other 5 bolts were loose as well probably causing the vibration.

Not sure what or how the hell that happened, but it got a brand new OEM Clutch, Pressure Plate, Release bearing and release fork....you know...since I was in there anyway.


Let this be a lesson for you all. RED Loctite is your friend!

 

[onegee]

I'm having the same problem as you.

Clutch won't disengage. I'm thinking its the clutch also. I replaced the clutch hydraulic system and it still feels the same. Maybe a broken clutch fork.

*sigh*

I'll report back. I have a very bad vibration in the clutch pedal when its pushed half away. I ordered all the clutch replacement odds and ends so hopefully the tranny itself is fine.