Big Clutch Problem

[97_3clipse]

Ok, We were driving around in my Talon and every thing was fine, after about 15min of driving went buy and i came to a stop sign. Put it in first started to let the clutch in, and the pedal was all the way up but the cluch was not griping fully. So i stop and let the clutch in acouple more times ,each time the glutch was grabbing less and less. I was like "oh shit i gotta get home" so i started driving home ,wich i was only about 2 min away from. half way home i had to start using 2nd gear @ 5000rpm to get it rolling , then i rolled down my street , got to my drive way, and damn no more clucth left it wasent even engauging in 3rd and almost flooring it! my buddy pushed me up my driveway and here i am now depressed, looking at the money i might have to pay....

dose anyone know whats wrong!?!?

sorry if this thread is out of place.....

please tell me i dont need a new clutch!!!!!i hate this!!!

thanks for the help in advance

[kjewer1]

I think you might have clutch engaging and disengaging backwards. Are you saying the point where it grabs is getting closer to the floor, until eventually it didnt even release with it all the way in? If so I would suspect a hydraulic problem for sure.

Edit> I just read it again and I'm even more confused So when you release the clutch pedal the car isnt moving? Is the pedal really firm? Try to measure the pedal free play. If its real stiff the master was pumping up each time you used the pedal. Very common when the adjustment rod is screwed too far "out." If free play is normal, the pedal isnt tight/stiff, then it would be the clutch plate, disc, or flywheel. PRobably worn disc, how many miles on it?

[gthompson97]

i think what he means is when he lets off the pedal, it takes farther pedal travel each time to get the car to move, i'm thinkin along the lines that you don't have much of a clutch left, just my 2 cents.

[GotGrip666]

no hes saying his clutch basiclly went from his last statement . It sounds like your clutch plate is stuck open

[kjewer1]

Plates cant stick open. Again, I think there is an issue with terminology here that is confusing things.

[gthompson97]

Originally Posted by 97_3clipse

Put it in first started to let the clutch in, and the pedal was all the way up but the cluch was not griping fully.

by in he means letting the pedal come back to the resting position. when he lets the pedal come back, each time it would take farther and farther before the clutch would grab. by the time he got home, the clutch wasn't grabbing until he revved it up and it still wasn't hardly grabbing. again, i think you smoked the clutch.

[97_3clipse]

Originally Posted by 95 GSXracer

I think you might have clutch engaging and disengaging backwards. Are you saying the point where it grabs is getting closer to the floor, until eventually it didnt even release with it all the way in? If so I would suspect a hydraulic problem for sure.

Edit> I just read it again and I'm even more confused So when you release the clutch pedal the car isnt moving? Is the pedal really firm? Try to measure the pedal free play. If its real stiff the master was pumping up each time you used the pedal. Very common when the adjustment rod is screwed too far "out." If free play is normal, the pedal isnt tight/stiff, then it would be the clutch plate, disc, or flywheel. PRobably worn disc, how many miles on it?

yes my foot was all the way off the clutch pedal; and as the slipping got worse the less pressure there was on the pedal...when i say "let out the clutch" i mean that im lifting my foot off the floor and letting the clutch engauge. when my dad taught me to drive stick thats just the terminoligy that he used , guess it rubed off on me...i ahve 147,440 ,miles on the odometer, but the owner before me drove the car from Flanklin ,WI to Chicago, IL every moring for work for about 7 years. so they are mostly highway miles... but i do remember ,last night i was driving and the clutch engaugment point was not to my liking so i took it home and adjusted the rod ; before i had it as tight as i could turn it by hand so there was no "play" in the rod ...then when it was like that i took a wrench because my fingers were so cold and turned the rod (dont remember wich way i turned it tho) i only turned the rod about a full turn. then i just quit because i couldnt feel my fingers...ill have to check that ,but not now it a blizzard outside and ill have to dig my way to the door :-P ...

one more qestion to add to the madness...
i havent taken my car out in about 4 months sinced the tracked closed...and it sounds like i got a dead squrril stuck in my driver side front wheel well... just a knock almost sound like a flat tire but its not a consistant sound like a flat tire. it knocks more rapidly when i increase the speed ,and the knock also reacts to bumbs in the road...
what could it be?
if not ill just take a gander this weekend....

[GotGrip666]

Originally Posted by gthompson97

by in he means letting the pedal come back to the resting position. when he lets the pedal come back, each time it would take farther and farther before the clutch would grab. by the time he got home, the clutch wasn't grabbing until he revved it up and it still wasn't hardly grabbing. again, i think you smoked the clutch.

dido and before i meant the clutch wasnt grabing anymore

[kjewer1]

I have a 6 pack on a pumped up master cylinder. Readjust that rod so that there is about a quarter inch of free play in the pedal and try it again. For more detail I wrote a much longer post on this subject in a recent thread, last week perhaps. A search will turn it up, or even better maybe someone remembers what the hell the name of the thread was

I'm assuming the clutch was grabbing too close to the floor, and thats why you made the adjustment. If there could be other issues, starting with the usual bleeding/hydraulics problems. The clutch probably is quite worn at that mileage even being mostly highway. Having the master pumping up would have caused a lot of slippage and MIGHT have done that poor old bastard in... Get it all adjusted right, and take it from there.

[gen2gst95]

my car had those same symptoms last week, getting the car back tomorrow for the shop; they had to put in a new clutch. Has your car been smelling weird? if it has thats the clutch burning. Oh yeah and it cost me $761 for the labor and all that

[97_3clipse]

actually it did smell like something was burning.....

[1stGenRocks]

thats because once you pumped up the clutch master cylinder(by adjusting the rod out too far) your were basicly driving around with the clutch part way out the whole time. this means that the clutch is slipping and heats up which makes it smell like dead fish or burnt metal. your clutch may still be good. its definately going to be worn down a bunch but whether its still useable will depend on what kind of shape it was in before.

[97_3clipse]

well i took my car out agian today,and to my surprise the clucth worked perfect, but after about 15 min it started to slip agian....guess i need a new one...

[joemathews]

Have you tried adjusting the rod Kevin talked about? He doesn't put a 6 pack on things lightly

Plus, I've had trouble with that rod in my clutch assembly in the past. Don't order a new clutch so soon...if you're positive the rod is not the problem, then buy a new one. Your clutch slipping just means you don't have enough pressure--either from a worn plate or from the plate not being fully engaged.

[gen2gst95]

not to contradict joemathews, because he could own me in the face, but my clutch would slip one day, then be fine for a while, then slip, etc.
This went on for about 3 days then it just burned out and would go at all. I would have the clutch all the way out and stomp the pedal and it would go no where