menzzer37

So I inherited this car only a month ago and have worked out some major bugs so far. Now that I have been driving it more, I'm getting what I think is clutch slippage. When the car is cold, it goes into gear just fine. When it is warm, it sort of grind/jolts into gear at a stop with the clutch fully depressed. When doing full WOT runs, I think the clutch is free wheeling past 4K. I hear whirling from the rear and it's not squal of tires. It is an 80 4.5 US. Any thoughts?

menzzer37

Oh and the last owner said he replaced the clutch master and slave, torque tube, etc. It shifts just fine but takeoffs are somewhat hard. Seems like you have to really give it gas to go forward, but reverse will just creep no problem. Would air in the clutch system do this? I just called him and he says he never bled it!!!

Lizard928

Your car has a dual disc clutch and it is out of adjustment.

Do a search on how to do this.

menzzer37

The brake fluid is to the top of the screen in the reservoir. Would this make a difference? I take it that bleeding is not as easy as pumping the clutch with the cap off huh? If it's out of adjustment would that make it only slip and engage hard when hot?

menzzer37

I've researched both adjusting and bleeding and will attempt both tonight. any thought on the slippage past 4K rpms? Does this sound like adjustment or air? My pedal goes all the way to the floor. Again, I only have issues when it's "hot"

sharknoob

Check to see if your clutch pedal is preloaded. I had to set mine to 0 or it would slip when hot. I figured the fluid was getting hot and would expand a little

menzzer37

What does preloaded mean? Is that length adjustment?

sharknoob

On your clutch pedal is a rod threaded on one end with a lock nut the other end goes into a rubber boot on the clutch master cylinder.Pull back the rubber boot and slide it up the shaft so you can see the end. loosen the lock nut. If you turn the rod ccw it will back off of the master cylinder cw will push it in more. Set it so it just pushes on the master so its not loose. Try it out make sure your clutch does release all the way now. The book says one turn of preload, if I do this mine slips when hot.

menzzer37

I'll try that first. It holds gears fine until you reach about 3.7-4K and it just spins loose.

mark kibort

Yeah, it doesnt take much for our dual clutches to slip if there is just a tini bit of tension on the pedal. Just resting a foot on it during accel, can cause slip. (and I have the beefier pressure plate), but the fact that there is grinding in gears when driving, and slipping, points to too much pedal pressure adjsutment, and/ or synchros in the transmission. intermediate plate adjsutment, really only rears its ugly head at stand still, putting the car in 1st or reverse.

menzzer37

Slippage is my real issue/concern. I hope it's just pedal adjustment. I'll tackle this tonight and see. It really doesn't grind gears while moving. I bet it's just me getting use to rev matching a new car. The "thud/grind" in and out of 1st and reverse only occurs randomly when the car is hot. When it's in my garage and I go to back out/take off, it drops in effortlessly.

menzzer37

Ok, so here's the next question:

I took the slave cylinder off to try to bleed the system. Should the rod be all the way out? I can't even get the slave piston out of the clutch housing because it's too long! I am trying to compress it back, but it's VERY hard to do.

mark kibort

This means your intermediate plate is in adjustment. its NOT the problem. The clamping force IS the issue. either the discs have got contaminated with oil, or the pedal is out of adjustment. all you need to do is feel pedal with your foot or hand. if there is a little "dead" spade before it gets tough to depress, its adjusted fine. just before you hear the "click" should the the master start to engage.




you have to push the housing back to the bell housing and then pull it out. as it expands, the shaft moves out to make it longer. You shouldnt even be in there with the slave. you are wasting time in there. if you are getting it in gear, it is doing its job. check the pedal itself. loosen the shaft nut and rotate the shaft a turn or so to shorten the shaft. (that will make the pedal engage further down to the floor) If it is too long,it will preload the master, it would also explain why you are having trouble getting the shaft out and cant get it back in.

menzzer37

My pedal goes all the way to the floor (or did before I took the slave apart). Help me here: I compressed the piston of the slave and bled. I cannot get the rod the set on the fork and get the slave back attached. It's bottomed out in the cylinder. I can't see inside the bell, so I'm just feeling. Do I keep the rod high or low?

Mark, I took the car for a long drive after work today. When I returned to my driveway (after having the same problems), I couldnt get the car in gear without grinding hard while sitting still. Can this still have to do with the intermediary or is it a factor of the pedal? It's weird that it comes and goes.

menzzer37

Ok, The rod on the pedal was about an inch into the master! That helped the slippage a lot! I bled the slave and got some nasty gunk/bubbles out! Taking off is much much easier now

HOWEVER;

The gear grinding is worse! So I've been working on the car for a couple hours and after bleeding and adjustment of the pedal, it goes into gear smoothly and I take it on a little cruise. I run it fairly hard to test for slippage and it still may be slipping a little, but definately not as bad as it was. The roads are wet, so I could be getting tire spin. I pulled into the garage and shut her down. I spray down my tools to get the brake fluid off and start her back up again and I can't get it into gear! GRRR. Is it something to do with heat soak or is it strictly the intermediary out of adjustment. Why does it only grind sometimes? I guarantee tomorrow morning if I get into it, I'll be able to get it right into gear. It grinds so bad now that its like I'm not even pushing in the clutch.

Oh and somehow the master cylinder cap broke, so if anyone has one I can buy, I need one!!