Uh oh...Lost my clutch.

Brent Mills · #1 (**permalink**) 02-27-2005, 08:00 PM

I went so long without issues, I almost felt good when something went wrong....Ok sorta....But many of you know my past adventures.

Cornered kinda hard, punched it coming out of the turn hit the clutch for 3'rd and it was spongy. Hoping I somehow introduced air to the system. It's a hydrolic throwout on a toploader...Looked under the car and didn't see any visible signs of leakage.

Still have to spend time investigating, but I just got home from work and I'm beat....two weeks now of 7 day work weeks (I know, I'm a whiner)

Brent Mills · #2 (**permalink**) 02-27-2005, 09:48 PM

The resivour wasn't especially low, so I don't think I got air into the system from there.

Didn't notice any leaks under the car, so I'll have to raise it up and have Sherrie depress the clutch and see what happens.....I really hope it's not the throwout bearing. My luck it is.

John A. Simpson · #3 (**permalink**) 02-27-2005, 10:05 PM

You sure hear about this problem with the hydraulic throwout bearings a lot. Why not contact Mike Forte and get a slave cylinder so you don't have to go inside if there's a problem. I think that's what I'll do for my car.

Excaliber · #4 (**permalink**) 02-27-2005, 11:34 PM

Man I'm really glad I got a standard throw out, what a pain in the butt when those hydro units go out.

Well, I hope it's not that!

427 S/O · #5 (**permalink**) 02-28-2005, 02:12 AM

Brent, never had a problem with my hydraulic T/O, self adjusting, low pedal pressure, best thing since sliced bread. Try bleeding the system, I installed a bleeder with a check valve to make it easier, also purchased an extra set of O-rings just in case, still setting on the shelf.

Bryan Wilson · #6 (**permalink**) 02-28-2005, 03:01 AM

Brent,
I developed a similar problem on the weekend where the clutch pedal slowly sinks to the floor if you rest your foot on the pedal.
Also when sitting at lights with foot on clutch the clutch would slowly engage.
The problem is that the heat fron the headers has cooked the rubber buckets in the clutch master cylinder.
I will be getting a master cylinder rebuild kit tomorow.
That should fix my clutch problem maybe you have the same problem.
I know this will be a fix for me as this has happened to me before.
Cheers,
Bryan Wilson

Steve R · #7 (**permalink**) 02-28-2005, 04:03 AM

Brent,
How the hell could you loose something that is so heavy? Are you sure you didn't leave it in your sock drawer?

Ron61 · #8 (**permalink**) 02-28-2005, 04:17 AM

Bryan,

Since I don't have one of these units and know absolutely nothing about them, this is more of a question that a suggestion. Is there no way that you could put some kind of heat reflecting insulation between your headers and the master cylinder? I used a chrome tape with high reflection quality on a couple of things in another car that were having heat problems as they were very close to the header tube and that solved that problem for the rest of the time that I had that vehicle.
As I stated, just asking as I don't have any idea of just how close or anything your set up is to the headers.

Ron

trularin · #9 (**permalink**) 02-28-2005, 04:31 AM

Brent, You need to put a positive stop on the clutch pedal to prevent over travel and loss of clutch while using a Hydraulic unit like yours.

Do you have a positive stop?

Mike Simard · #10 (**permalink**) 02-28-2005, 05:26 AM

Increased heat from the exhaust at full throttle could make the pedal a bit spongy. Did it improve any after resting?
BTW, I wouldn't go back to a conventional slave cylinder even if this one did overtravel. They do need to be carefully setup and it's easy to make a mistake if you don't understand the importance of setting the travel. They are initially set a slight distance from being bottomed out. This allows the clutch to wear over time which pushes the piston further back. I have a Tilton, it would have to be freakishly mis-adjusted to get piston overtravel. I don't even have a pedal stop but still have .5-.75 extra travel available.

Tommy · #11 (**permalink**) 02-28-2005, 11:30 AM

Brent -
When you said it felt spongy, did you mean the pedal feel? When my McLeod HTOB started leaking, the pedal felt fine, but the clutch would slip because of hydraulic fluid on the clutch disc. I run my Everett-Morrison on the track a lot, so I insulated all the hydraulic lines and installed an aluminum heat shield between the headers and the master cylinders. It ain't pretty, but I've never had a spongy pedal.

Keep us posted.

Brent Mills · #12 (**permalink**) 02-28-2005, 11:58 PM

I have had zero time to get into the garage and check this out. Hoping tomorrow night I'll have some answers...

As for a positive stop, I guess I didn't know I should have one, which implies that I likely do not have one.

As for spongy, it didn't just get a little soft over time or start slipping, the one time I hit it, it just went to the floor with little resistance.

decooney · #13 (**permalink**) 03-01-2005, 12:52 AM

I feel for ya Brent. After my 3rd time stranded with an internal HTOB setup, I called it a day. You can peek up in there with a flashlight with someone pressing the pedal and you'll know in about 5 seconds or less. I wonder if you popped the seal out or just have a loose line/fitting. Ugh. If you fix it and re-use it, as you are probabaly already aware, make sure you are not overdriving the bearing itself and its adjusted with exact starting clearance to manufacturer specs. Good Luck with it.

Brent Mills · #14 (**permalink**) 03-01-2005, 06:54 PM

Good news and bad news...It's not the HTOB, it was my piss poor install.

The I guess I left the braided lines floating a bit and it looks like one of them was contacting the pressure plate as it rotated and over time wore it down. Nice hole in the line. Ooops! What a dumb ass.

Not sure if I can replace just the line or not (probably), but I'll have to pull the tranny. No more than a day job thankfully.

Excaliber · #15 (**permalink**) 03-01-2005, 07:10 PM

Thats great news Brent, could have been worse.

When I pulled my trans I was blown away to see my positive battery cable (battery in the trunk) was rubbing against the rotating driveshaft/rear end coupling point. It WAS actually through the insulation and the "charred" and "welded" pieces of copper cable could clearly be seen.

Amazing it didn't burn down the car, short out the system, blow up the battery or something! Hey, wait a minute, maybe THATS why I had to replace the fairly new battery!

Richard Hudgins · #16 (**permalink**) 03-01-2005, 07:47 PM

Brent,

I advise a positive stop on the clutch pedal as you can over travel the pressure plate and make it go overcenter. (Diaphragm type pressure plate.)

It is very difficult to over travel the throw out unit as they all seem to have .750 travel and no clutch needs this much.

Do not feel bad about the hose being a bit too close to the pressure plate.

The Butcher did the same thing with his bleed line. He just stuffed it up in the bell housing to get it out of the way.

It seemed the right thing to do at the time.

Brent Mills · #17 (**permalink**) 03-02-2005, 11:03 AM

Question.... Do I need to replace the clutch disc if any of the fluid got on it, or can I just clean and rinse and it should be ok? The disc is basically new couple k miles...