New clutch issues

[mikevar94]

Alight guys please I need help. I'm so frustrated at this point. Almost makes me wanna put a for sale sign on it. I just put in a competition stage 2 clutch. It was done by a local shop. They put it in and when I got it back it was slipping like crazy. I brought it back. Now they claimed they have fixed it. I just picked it up for the second time and now it's EXTREMELY hard to shift. Especially into 1st and reverse. I feel like Im breaking it. After some driving I stopped and looked up what this could be and found it its clutch drag. I did the test btw where you put it in gear and revved and guess what...she starts moving. I figure oh maybe the pedal needs to be adjusted so I look underneath at the rod adjuster and notice that its maxed out all the way to end of the rod. You can barely even see a thread. I tried tightening it the problem got worse so my guess is that the mechanic that worked on my car went thru this also and just maxed it out because it shifts at that point but barely. Can anyone tell me what I need to do?! It's a Saturday night and they're closed tomorrow and I can't keep getting rides to work like this. When I was driving it for the 20mins after I picked it up today, the clutch felt great (besides the shifting). Catches nicely, no slipping, pedal felt nice. It had more resistance but not too much more. This leads me to believe that it's not a clutch issue and more of an adjustment issue. Maybe needs to be bled more? Anything could help!

Btw, in the how to properly adjust you clutch pedal video from jack transmission, he talks about adjusting the button right in front of the pedal that is pressed in when its not depressed. Think that needs adjusting?

Also something's I may have forgot...when I was messing around with the pedal adjustment the pedal just sank to the floor and stayed there when I just applied a little bit of pressure. That kinda makes me think it needs to be bled. Also my shifter kinda feels loose. Like there's about 1cm of play when moving side to side in neutral. Kinda hard to explain but it didn't do that with the oem clutch.

 

[92AWDHX40]

I would pull it apart and inspect it for anything unusual a bad tob is it oem? Is the transmission damaged could be, clutch broken possible, need bleeding possible, gonna have to tear it apart I had a shop do mine when I was in college far from home, never again I do my own , about 99 percent of my own dsm stuff.

 

[Quadsportz]

Might have to put a shim behind the piviot ball. It's a dsm thing. Most mechanic's never even heard of doing that before.

 

[mikevar94]

You don't think it could need bleeding?

 

[92AWDHX40]

Anything is possible like I mentioned do it again.

 

[Twinturbo120]

You mentioned the pedal sank to the floor and stayed there. You have air in the line, bleed it. Make sure you do it How to Bleed a Hydraulic Clutch - Team Rip Engineering

 

[mikevar94]

You mentioned the pedal sank to the floor and stayed there. You have air in the line, bleed it. Make sure you do it How to Bleed a Hydraulic Clutch - Team Rip Engineering

Could that be the reason for the clutch drag?

 

[92AWDHX40]

That would be a reason you cant put it in gear if you have air in the system.

 

[mikevar94]

That would be a reason you cant put it in gear if you have air in the system.

Okay I'll bleed it tomorrow and see if that helps.

 

[james2042]

Don't do anything drastic till you bleed it. Then follow Jack's video and have a friend help adjust it. That is much easier then tearing it out to find it just needs bleeding and adjustments. My new act clutch was shifting fine but slipping. It was bled good but never adjusted properly . That's a fairly simple process and should solve the problem. Good luck with it.

 

[mikevar94]

Don't do anything drastic till you bleed it. Then follow Jack's video and have a friend help adjust it. That is much easier then tearing it out to find it just needs bleeding and adjustments. My new act clutch was shifting fine but slipping. It was bled good but never adjusted properly . That's a fairly simple process and should solve the problem. Good luck with it.

Thanks a lot for input man. I think I'm just going to have the shop that installed it bleed it just because I spent all of that money on it. Also it's like 20 degrees out and I don't have a garage haha. Just hopefully that's all it needs. I'm just scared I'm going to mess up my syncos (or whatever they're called) driving it down to the shop.

 

[nelliott500]

I wouldn't do anything to it. I would take it to the shop first chance you have and tell them you want to know exactly what the problem is and what they're doing to fix it. It sounds like they're clueless and I can't believe they feel comfortable giving your car back to you when it still has problems.

 

[myblackhatch]

I wouldn't do anything to it. I would take it to the shop first chance you have and tell them you want to know exactly what the problem is and what they're doing to fix it. It sounds like they're clueless and I can't believe they feel comfortable giving your car back to you when it still has problems.

I second that..

 

[mikevar94]

Yep calling first thing in the morning!

 

[nelliott500]

Also, if you do try to do anything and they find out that you did, they will easily turn it on you and you'll be in worse shape than you already are.

 

[james2042]

I agree there if you can get the shop to find and fix the problem start there. Id also mention them coming to get the car if you don't feel comfy driving it. If they refuse and leave it on you the forum will help you. That video you seen is very good. I bought my gsx with a new clutch installed. Driving it home it would slip anytime I got on it. I watched that video and had a friend help me. My clutch is perfect now. Good luck and hopefully the dealer will take responsibility .

 

[mikevar94]

Thanks a lot guys. The shop said that it needs a performance clutch fork because the stock one can't hold up with a performance stage 2 clutch. Does this make sense? Someone on another thread said they're using the stock fork with a performance clutch and it works great and on another thread someone said you should upgrade the fork when upgrading the clutch. I don't get it haha. Any ideas?

 

[nelliott500]

Until you're getting in to a really seriously heavy clutch, a fork is a fork as long as it's not broken. I don't know for sure but I would think the '99 cars have the upgraded clutch fork which is a little stronger. Regardless, I would have changed the fork, pivot ball, and TOB during the clutch swap just for good measure.

So, in other words, no, it doesn't make any sense that you would need to swap out the fork unless the one that's currently in the car is broken.

This was mentioned earlier:

Might have to put a shim behind the piviot ball. It's a dsm thing. Most mechanic's never even heard of doing that before.

He could be on to something. I don't know how many miles are on your trans but as miles are put on it, the clutch fork and pivot ball begin to wear and the pivot point changes a little bit or the fork could be hitting the bell housing. This post by Lofty explains it very well.

 

[struckanerve]

Have you ever had you're slave and master cylinder replaced? Also where is the fork sitting on the slave cylinder rod? If its more towards the drivers side you are good. If the fork is more in the middle or pushed towards the passenger side, you will need to take the trans back out and shim the fork or replace fork and pivot ball. Sounds like air/bad cylinder and bad adjustment.

 

[mikevar94]

Have you ever had you're slave and master cylinder replaced? Also where is the fork sitting on the slave cylinder rod? If its more towards the drivers side you are good. If the fork is more in the middle or pushed towards the passenger side, you will need to take the trans back out and shim the fork or replace fork and pivot ball. Sounds like air/bad cylinder and bad adjustment.

yeah just changed both the master and slave cylinders with brand new ones. And also the fork came with a new pivot ball so you think a brand new pivot ball is still gonna need to be shimmed? because i could call them and tell them they may need to stick a washer in there unless the new one will be fine.

 

[nelliott500]

If you're using a brand new fork and pivot ball, you shouldn't need a shim but the only way to be sure is to bolt the trans to the block and check where the fork sits.

 

[DSM_GSX01]

Your slave master cylinder might be leaking or it might be you clutch master cylinder leaking. If they haven't been replaced you might want to look at them they are known to leak.

Also if you have a air bubble in the line it just moves back and forth and never goes out. If there is more then it will be worse. I say just bleed you system out and check for the plastic cup your fluid goes in for cracking.

 

[mikevar94]

If you're using a brand new fork and pivot ball, you shouldn't need a shim but the only way to be sure is to bolt the trans to the block and check where the fork sits.

Okay and it should sit towards the inside of the car right? If its leaning the other way then use a washer?

Your slave master cylinder might be leaking or it might be you clutch master cylinder leaking. If they haven't been replaced you might want to look at them they are known to leak.

Also if you have a air bubble in the line it just moves back and forth and never goes out. If there is more then it will be worse. I say just bleed you system out and check for the plastic cup your fluid goes in for cracking.

And they have both been replaced with brand new ones so there's no leak from there. I believe the mechanic said that they bled it also. Im really hoping its the fork. If this helps before I brought it back to them for the last time I noticed the shifter had some play. By that I mean when it's in neutral it's normal to be able to move the shifter left to right obviously but there is play right where it sits in the center. Like I can push it with a finger and it will move slightly. Doesn't that kind of tie into the clutch fork problem?

 

[nelliott500]

Okay and it should sit towards the inside of the car right? If its leaning the other way then use a washer?



And they have both been replaced with brand new ones so there's no leak from there. I believe the mechanic said that they bled it also. Im really hoping its the fork. If this helps before I brought it back to them for the last time I noticed the shifter had some play. By that I mean when it's in neutral it's normal to be able to move the shifter left to right obviously but there is play right where it sits in the center. Like I can push it with a finger and it will move slightly. Doesn't that kind of tie into the clutch fork problem?

You want the fork to be centered in the window or a little towards the driver's side.

And no, shifter play has absolutely nothing to do with the clutch fork. The fork is associated with the clutch pedal. The shifter base is mounted to the body and there is a select cable and shift cable attached to it. The other end of those cables connects to the shift bracket on the transmission. The cables move the bracket which changes what gear you're in. When replacing a clutch, there's no reason to touch the shifter so I can't imagine they did anything that would affect it. You should be able to move the shifter around in neutral and it should be pretty easy.