FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Ok, a little background. Car was bought with high miles and a leaking rear main.

Has a new LS6 in the car with an Autozone LS6 clutch kit with a Tick master.

Car is used for the street and HPDE/Trackday duty.

Car has been to 3 trackday events and has worked flawless. I dont power shift this car due to the trans has high miles, no need to on a roadcourse anyway.

I decided to see what it would run 1/4 mile, car makes 375 to the wheels and is heavy 3850lbs with me in it.

I was on NT05 non drag radials.

1st pass I kinda let the engine overcome the clutch on launch put it did fine down the track.

Next pass I missed 4th gear and when I pushed in the clutch in the shutdown area the pedal was hard I was powershifting the car.

It got worse from there, even granny shifting the car it did it and would gring going into 4th. SO I quit running the car.


I did a few 2nd through 4th run on the way home, same thing clutch hard and fights going into 4th.


Got up this morning and flushed the fluid and put in ATE Super blue brake fluid. Fluid was cloudy before the flush.

No change, same thing.

This car was doing this before I replaced the clutch and the new clutch fixed it.

What doe excess heat do to these clutches that is not reversible? Does it kill the throwout bearing, damage the pressure plate, what?


This clutch is under warranty, but I be damned if I want to pull it out.


To be clear this clutch was PERFECT before I got it hot.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Found this online today and will do it to see if it helps.

http://www.rangeracceleration.com/Clutch_Care.html

disc0monkey

iTrader: (10)

yeah if your tracking the car its good to keep the clutch fluid fresh. IMHO a remote bleeder is mandatory for these cars. Do your fluid with every oil change..takes five minutes and keeps your syncros happy.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

This procedure seems to have fixed my issues, I ran the car HARD 5 times from 2-4 gears granny shifting and it did fine.

I will drive it some more and give an update.

This procedure needs to be made a sticky in this section.

themealonwheels

iTrader: (20)

Wow, agreed! I seriously will be checking my fluid when I get home today, thanks for posting this!

dannyual777

I'm a little confused here. The link describes why and how we should change our clutch fluid. You said in your original post, "got up this morning and flushed the fluid and put in ATE Super blue brake fluid. Fluid was cloudy before the flush.

No change, same thing."

Did you flush it again and finally have success? I'm suffering from clutch problems and I'm trying to gather as much good information as possible.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

I "flushed" it, in other words, I bled it with new fluid.

The pumping of the clutch then pulling the fluid out of the reservoir does something to "clean" the system. I did this 4 times and the car is fine.

Have not powershifted the car, but when you run it hard it works perfect. Which before I couldn't do.

dannyual777

Okay, Fast. Thanks for the clarification. From all the research that I've done, it seems like a really good flushing of the clutch hydraulics does wonders for the system.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

Quick question

My fluid is black and I'm pretty sure it's standard DOT 3.

I'm going to do the afformentioned procedure to change the fluid; Suck it out with a large syringe and replace with ATE Super Blue or DOT 4.

Is it ok to be mixing the dot 3 and dot 4 during the flush procedure? I plan on probably spending an hour or so just doing the flush itself, to ensure I get EVERYTHING old out of the system.

Thoughts? Do I "need" to crack the bleeder?

HioSSilver

iTrader: (8)

It's not the fluid.....I don't know where you guys come up with this ****. I have not bled my clutch in years.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

By the way, I got the answer to my question already.

^^Huh?^^

Did you even watch the video?

dannyual777

I've owned my car since brand new over 10 yrs ago (even though it's an '02, I took delivery in '01.) I've never bled the clutch nor done anything else to it and its worked fine.....until it decided not to be fine. That being said, I've only got 25,000 miles on the car.

Now something is wrong. I'm not totally sure what but I'm going to start out with the most suspect and easiest to change "component", the fluid!

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Do you drive the car hard? Ever put a lot of heat into the clutch?

Seems as though the factory setup is the best, I had a buddy with a ws6 that had spray on it, he beat the **** out of that car for years and never had a problem.

I can tell you this, I have had 3 fox bodied 5.0 Mustangs, I beat the living crap out of all of them and never once had a shifting issue, the difference is they have a cable operated clutch.

Your lucky feel blessed, these clutches are a PITA.

HioSSilver

iTrader: (8)

The clutch is most always what is bad. The pp is to weak. It may still hold and seem fine but at high rpm's the fingers suck in and the limited throw of the hydraulic release bearing can't reach the clutch anymore.

If any of you guys have any experience with mechanical linkage you would understand this. They can also hang on the floor, but you can pull them back with your foot when they do it and it will work.

When you bleed the clutch and think it's all that bad fluid is out and now your clutch works....all you've really done is reset where the hydraulic release bearing sets.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Mine has brand new LS6 clutch in it, With a new Tick Master and new slave.

You cant over extend the pressure plate unless you have an adjustable master and you have too much travel.

On a hydraulic clutch that doesnt have an adjustable master its impossible to do this.

There is no "reset" of the release bearing on these clutches. And furthermore, how bleeding the system accomplish this?

HioSSilver

iTrader: (8)

It's not about over extending it. It's about not being able to depress it enough. Thats why you get a spacer with the spec clutches.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Really? I was under the assumption that the spacer was used when the flywheel was resurfaced, mine has a new flywheel.

As most Spec clutches DON'T come with a flywheel.

Please explain how this continues to happen with clutch kits that come with new flywheels.

IRONFIST

I came on here trying to figure out why my car is having clutch issues as described. Recent dyno runs don't show any clutch slippage... But the pedal got stuck to the floor recently, as well as grinding into certain gears on cold or hot days.
I'll try this fix and report back

HioSSilver

iTrader: (8)

I've already explained it fastfat, you just don't believe me. The same thing is wrong with Ironfist.

For those of you that think it's the fluid.......how many times a year do you bleed your brakes? They run much, much hotter than your clutch.

I have not had any clutch problems in years. Maybe you should ask how I fixed it.

dannyual777

How often would you suggest to change the fluid?

How did you fix it? You originally posted that clutches are mostly whats bad and the pressure plates are too weak.

In my case, I was trying to start the car. Transmission shifter was in first gear and the cutch pedal was depressed. I twisted the ignition key and the car lurched forward! Obviously the clutch was still engaged even though the clutch pedal was depressed. I looked down at the clutch pedal and it was stuck to the floor.

I pulled up on it with my hand but it didn't feel right. I easily depressed it back down with my hand and it stuck on the floor again. Up or down, it didn't feel right. I didn't attempt to drive the car.

About a week later, I jumped in the driver's seat and depressed the clutch pedal and it felt normal again .

Anyway, my father-in-law and I changed out the black clutch fluid yesterday. Nasty stuff! It's nice and clear now.