FlyingDog

In general a bad release bearing makes noise when the clutch is engaged and no noise when the clutch is disengaged. A pilot bearing makes noise when the clutch is disengaged and not when it's engaged. Mine had the typical release/throwout bearing symptoms. I have a pilot bearing around here somewhere and I just ordered the release bearing, so I'll know if the problem is solved hopefully this weekend.

hacker-pschorr

I'm not trying to tell you which bearing is bad on your car - just pointing out a release bearing will not cause the issue I'm having. Unless maybe pieces of the bearing are dropping onto the disk, causing it to stick or something. I'm pretty sure my mechanic would have noticed this though

FlyingDog

I know you're not. I'm just rethinking the problems with mine out loud.

SharkSkin

Erik, something just occurred to me. Assuming there is nothing wrong with your intermediate shaft(or a replacement acts the same) -- If you need more friction so the T-adjusters stay put, something you might be able to do is expand the ear that the T-adj attaches to.

Looking at Matt's 3rd pic in post #62 (and below) you can see two of the three narrow edges of the ear that the fastener for the T rides in. Smack all three of those edges hard with a center punch, something like the dots I've shown, and that should expand the metal somewhat. Enough? I don't know. Maybe start by making a dent ~2mm in diameter in each spot and increasing as needed. I haven't looked at a DD clutch since last summer, but from what I remember(with the help of the pic) making this plate a few thou thicker should increase the friction on the T.

Not much to lose at this point, if the adjusters won't hold you can't use it anyway and probably wouldn't feel right about selling it.

FlyingDog

That's what I was refering to with my peening comments.

SharkSkin

Ah, I thought you were just talking about the pin, and didn't think that any of the surfaces that you can access would lend themselves to this. If you're talking about peening around the head of the pin it would be hard to do that evenly, and after a while the pin would just rotate to the position that offered the least resistance. I'm not sure peening/swaging the rivet end would help either, IIRC the pin has a shoulder on it. Making that mounting ear thicker might just do it though, and make it thicker over a large enough surface area that it would hold for a while.

FlyingDog

I thought it could be done either way, but I just checked the pictures. You're right.

Mrmerlin

Hey how about this try cleaning the spacer pawls with some brake cleaner then get some bearing retaining fluid the green stuff by Loctite and apply it after setting up the IP, at this point what have you got to lose? Try it on your old IP if you still have it, plus I think that it might be a good idea to use some valve lapping paste on the new splines to disc interface to smoothen the parts , the only thing is to make shure that everything is very clean, so it wont wear the pieces prematurely, and a good hi heat grease

hacker-pschorr

Well, went for another long drive last night. Again I was shifting a lot, just for the sake of shifting (down the highway, going from 5th - 4th - 3rd then back up again) went through downtown, lots of stop / go traffic etc.... Not once did the clutch hang up.

I do have a new shaft & pilot bearing on the work bench ready to do in.

SharkSkin

That would bug me, having a seemingly chronic problem go away all by itself.... but, it sounds like you're having fun.

hacker-pschorr

It all started here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268926

I've noticed since that thread I can tell when the clutch is not disengaged by pedal feel. This seamed like a hydraulic issues since what mechanically in the clutch could “come and go” causing the pedal feel to be firm / soft at random?

Well today it stopped working 100% - I cannot disengage the clutch at all. I popped the hood, on the brake booster was brake fluid. Not much, just a drop or two. The reservoir is full, so it’s not low on fluid. Something in the clutch hydraulic system backed up causing fluid to either **** out the cap or maybe a leak in the blue hose?

The clutch master, slave, pressure line and blue hose are only a few years old. What the heck would cause this? The only part of the clutch I’ve been in contact with is the slave – wrestling with it to remove it in order to install a flywheel lock tool.

Is there anyway I could have damaged the slave in such a way it is causing the fluid in the system to back up? I dunno, I’m totally lost here. Right now pushing in the clutch pedal takes almost no effort – no pressure on the other end.

I could just replace the master / slave (again) but I would really like to understand what is going on. Any idea out there? I finally dialed in the fuel system for the supercharger, and now I cannot drive the car, this is killing me!!!


EDIT - I have not changed anything since starting the thread above. The car has been sitting (check the weather) since then. I finally took the car out Sunday - it was working fine so I took it to work yesterday. That is when everything went south.

Tom. M

Pull your master cylinder from inside the car (remove the pedal linkage, remove circlip..and pull the cylinder out of the bore)...when you get to the second rubber seal..tilt the cylinder down a bit and listen for air....let the air bleed out till fluid runs out..

I'm guessing you have trapped air in the master.....

Good luck and let us know how it all transpires..

later,
Tom
89GT

FlyingDog

I was worried about the slave seals as I was wrestling with mine. I can't see any way damage down there would cause the fluid to go shooting out the top unless you filled the resevoir with the piston out all the way (slave removed).

As soon as you push the pedal forward a fraction of an inch, the master seals the system off from the blue hose. At that point, it's a closed system. If the slave is clogged or unable to move for some reason, you should have a very hard pedal. How is your chassis to engine hose? Any fluid coming into the passenger compartment? Have you hooked up a power bleeder to see if there are leaks anywhere?

SharkSkin

Could you have let air in when you were fooling with the slave? It might have traveled upward and stuck in the master as Tom suggests... Is the fluid you're seeing definitely a leak, or is it possible that you caused fluid to overflow while messing with the slave? Might you have spilled some?

Mrmerlin

Hi, first a few questions. What kind of brake fluid are you using?, Is the resivour full for the cluch , if you look carefully you will see and additional area for the clutch resivour inside the tank. Did you rebleed the slave after working on the flywheel lock?,Is there fluid dripping from the bottom of the clutch /bellhousing.
There are a few ways to bleed the clutch/brake system, depends on your equiptment, we use a master cylinider resivour cap that is driiled to fit a air line chuck, then screwed onto the master and about 10 to 14 PSI is applied, any more and you risk blowing the resivour off the master cylinder or blowing the blue line off the resivour, with the resivour full open the clutch slave and let fluid come out dont let a lot as the clutch resivour is smaller than the brake and fills slowly so you could drain the clutch master without emtying the brake portion and then it will be blowing air, the other way a bit messy but it works is to back fill the clutch with brake fluid put in at the slave cylinder do this with a pump oil can filled with brake fluid, i would recommend that if your not already using ATE super blue that you try it it works well , we have found that mixing some of the synthetic blends after having say castrol in the system can make the seals swell and then they will start leaking shortly after, one way to tell if the brake/ clutch system has bad seals is that the brake pedal will feel like it is very hi, Goodluck, Stan