Pressure Plate rubbing and clutch won't disengage

[Wildman]

Hey all,

I've been rebuilding my car for the past few months and I had gotten it all back together. I noticed that the clutch engage point was not very far off the floorboard. I had pulled the slave cylinder off my '94 talon partsmobile and assumed that I had not bled the system properly. I went through and system making sure that I no air in the slave, no leaks, and adjusted the pedal assembly all the way out. Still no luck, in fact it had gone from bad to worse and the clutch would not fully disengage. I had also noticed that when I would let the clutch out, I would hear a rubbing noise. So, I assumed that there had to be a problem with clutch internals. I dropped the transmission to inspect and found that my fork had been rubbing the pressure plate. The pivot ball is smooth and shiny still and the fork looks straight and in good condition. The fork lever arm seems to have enough room to travel in the housing cutout but the slave never pushes it very far. I thought maybe if I shim the pivot ball a little I could get the lever closer to the slave and it would move my pedal disengagement up, but if i did that it would move the fork more into the pressure plate.

This clutch and pressure plate had very little use prior to the rebuild but I bought a new oem throwout bearing and jesus clip. I don't remember having this problem before, though I only just bought the car and drove less than a day before the timing belt snapped and I had to rebuild. Talk about bad luck.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[G-zuz]

It does sound like you do need to shim it? Does the pivot ball any grooves in it? The main thing with knowing whether or not you need to shim is if the fork is leaning more to the left or right of the fork hole. Right is good and devil hand is bad. This is a video by Jafro, it might help.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_mNqViDt94]Trans & Clutch 3 - Fork Tech, Mounts & Service Parts - YouTube[/ame]

There is a write up on here somewhere about the clearances between shims.

 

[Wildman]

I just watched that video recently and was using it to troubleshoot problems. The pivot ball is smooth and shiny and with fork is more towards the block side than the transmission side, but not all the way over. Just enough to rub the pressure plate. That is what is baffling me. If I shim the pivot ball to try to get more clutch, I would run the fork harder into the pressure plate, right?

Here is a picture of the pressure plate

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[G-zuz]

O man, I haven't seen that before. Those wear marks along the edge of the pressure plate are from pressure plate rubbing on the transmission? If the fork is more towards the engine on the mid section of the fork hole line then the pivot should be fine. It seems like something is out of spec with the pressure plate, flywheel, or clutch. Like as if something is too thick. While your transmission is out I would check to if the whole clutch assembly is in spec. How far out is the fork exactly? If it is too far out then the fork might possibly be rubbing on the pressure plate.

 

[DSM_2GB]

Do you have an aftermarket flywheel?Fwd and awd use different flywheels.

 

[cmfd]

had the same problem. removed 1 shim readjusted my pedal. dont have a problem now. if you put another shim in then it will bring the fork closer to the flywheel

 

[Wildman]

Please Read - Need Help.

Okay. So here's what's going on. I pulled the tranny again and found that one of the alignment dowels was missing and the other was seized into the block. I replaced both of them and installed an exedy OEM clutch (because all I did was a pretty much stock rebuild, I figured that OEM was sufficient). The reason for the clutch install was that, after a little digging, I found that the diaphragm type pressure plate (shown above) is supposed to have the fingers lie flat when torqued down. As you can see in the above picture, the fingers were out. Maybe it wasn't a lot, but they were out. After reinstalling the tranny, I STILL HAD CLUTCH DRAG!!! .... I rebled the system and adjusted the master cylinder screw until it only had a few threads left whilst making sure the slave was able to be pushed in so as not to hinder the self adjustment.... Now my clutch will release.... when I jam it as hard as I can into floor! Nonetheless, it works and I am driving it.

Now here's the "fun" part: I drove it home after class yesterday, and besides the massive amount of smoke from the hemorrhaging of oil, it seemed fine. Now because I just rebuilt this car, I am reluctant to get into too much boost - 4/5 psi max and I watch it like a hawk. When I got home I started trying to fix the oil leaks which were mostly from the oil pan. I had an issue with it stalling at stop lights, so I decided to adjust my timing a little and see how it behaves (I know I should've used a timing light, but I just listened and left it where it ran the best). I also did a little boost leak test because it seemed like I wasn't pulling enough vacuum and this could have also been the reason for the stalling. I did this by blocking off the turbo inlet and could only here air seeping what sounded like into the exhaust. I drove it around last night and not many issues. Ran great.... Then this morning . I started the car and it died.... hm.... I started the car and it died.... shit.... I started the car and revved it up to keep the rpms above 1500 until it got warm... good to go. I drove down the road and noticed when I put my foot down just a little too much, the car would bog... bad. I had to slightly apply pressure to the throttle and bring the rpms up gradually. Got the car into boost about 4 psi for about 10 seconds (maybe a little less) and when I let off the throttle, had a cloud of blue behind me... tested this a few more times with the same results.... no problem in boost for as long as I wanted to hold it there and big cloud of blue after I let off.

So here's what I think: The turbo has bad seals causing the "leaking" that I heard into the exhaust and causing my bogging down when the throttle body is opened too much too quick. I honestly have no idea though and any help would be appreciated or if you could refer someone knowledgeable to this thread.

Thanks guys/gals

 

[962ndgen]

Well as for the blue smoke that definitely sounds like your burning oil, if you believe its the turbo seals mise well pull it apart and rebuild it while your there "not expensive for a stock turbo" GL!!!