Rawr256

So I finished up a turbo build on the car and was having overheating issues and wanted to tidy up some things. In my spare time I worked on everything in front of the engine and nothing remotely related to the trans/clutch/pedals.

Fast forward to today, wife gets in to take the car for a spin for the first time the turbo has been put on and gets in cranks and the car instantly lurches forward and stalls. I instantly think she didn't press the clutch then she gives me a look like I'm the dumbass and tells me she had to push the pedal in to even get it to crank over.

I pull out the mity vac and check the reservoir expecting it empty and find plenty of oil. Pull what I can anyway and it was such a small amount I doubt it had any effect. Thought the line to the slave might have popped off, got underneath and checked and no sign of leaks and tight as ever. Check the bell housing, bone dry. Check the res again and still full. I am at a total loss. Did I seriously just lose my clutch backing into the garage to do the work on the car? Had full smooth engagement and even when I romped on it showed no signs of giving up 1 - 3 WOT gear changes.

More background on the trans/clutch itself. It's a Monster stage 3. Earlier this year I pulled my Tick Master and threw in the stock knowing I would need it for a twin disk clutch and changed the slave while I was at it, so while the master is old the slave has probably less then 3k miles on it. Clutch and Master have probably 40k or so on them with cammed power behind them except for the last 5 miles if that.

Anyone have suggestions on anything else to check before I go yank the trans out? After having the car out of commission for the turbo goodies for three months I am getting antsy and this is just a ball breaker.

sleepinghawk

I'm sure you're get a response from Monster people, if you haven't messaged them. When my pedal went completely out it was just a simple drive to Lowes.It was moving forward at a light. My fluid was full, but black. Never changed it before this happened. Had 65,000 miles on stock clutch, never seen the track. Did the mighty vac thing, new OEM mc. Still no gears while the motor was running. Installed, new Tick speed bleeder, new LS7 clutch, new slave. Still no gears. Tried pumping out the air, and all of a sudden, next day see fluid on my rubber driver side mat. The new oem mc was leaking out the shaft. Ordered new Tick MC and now it's all fixed.
My clutch had the burned signs, and I'll never know for sure, but it might of been my original OEM MC. It was the 2nd oem mc that was still causing my problems after everything got replaced.

Rawr256

Thanks for the info. I have my old Tick MC sitting by the car, gonna throw it in at some point today and hope that cures it. If it's the fix then will just get a new OEM MC with a twin disc setup.

I have the old one out and everything looks good, no leaks or anything down the shaft or anywhere else. Really hoping the Tick fixes it because after spending the last two months putting the car together I can tell you how excited I would be to pull the trans.

sleepinghawk

Yea after spending $800 on the clutch then the speed bleeder, which was the best investment, I had to spend another $400 for the Tick MC. It was well worth it. The quality of the mc is there. I don't mind spending extra to make things better. It was the fact that it was winter and it was taking months to do a easy clutch replacement outside after working outside all day at work.

Rawr256

Well got the Tick MC in there and same as with the other master. Only thing is when bleeding the Tick I am getting air with my mityvac even after letting it sit under pressure for two hours and pumping it by hand for another 30. My guess is the slave completely crapped out. Guess tomorrow I get to work on pulling the trans out. Just what I want to do after getting all the engine side of everything together.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

Typically when the slave fails it pukes fluid everywhere...

Can you actually depress the clutch pedal down with any resistance or is it just limp?

Rawr256

Full pedal feeling and no fluid leaking underneath. Almost wondering if i didnt lose something on the clutch assembly itself thats causing the issue?

The mc adjustment hasnt changed from where it was originally but i will try extending it before i look at pulling the trans. Any other thoughts or places to check out?

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

Where is the clutch pedal in relation to the brake pedal?

Rawr256

Just slightly below the brake pedal where it was with the mc previously installed.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

Flush the hydraulics and readjust the setup. Report back with what you find.

Rawr256

Did a complete bleed tonight. Had nothing from the mityvac on pumping it out other then brake fluid coming from the res above the master. Then checked out the slave and constant stream of fluid when bleeding down there.

I started over with the Tick MC at the fully closed position and came all the way out with the thing (at least it stopped and was clearly further then the stock pedal was) and still, nothing with the car when running. There is no way the tick is bad because it was working perfectly fine when I pulled it from the car and the stock master was working just fine also.

Did something internally in the clutch assembly come loose? I have never had this many problems at any point in dealing with this clutch or buddies ever in other fbody's so whatever is wrong is completely new on me. It seems the hydraulics check out, the only thing I could think is the slave may have a seal bad in it now from over pressurizing or something but who knows.

Any other input?

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

If you're certain the slave and the master are both healthy then the next thing you'll need to look at is the clutch itself.

I'd pull it down and shoot pics to me. Take a look at the pilot bearing to make sure it didn't fail, and of course the obvious.

Rawr256

Well dropped the trans over the weekend. Everything clutch wise looked good and pilot was flush in there with no issues, at least it didn't feel worn or any word marks on it. Pressure plate fingers were all even and didn't look messed up or anything, so for what it's worth the Monster is holding up from the outside. Would have snagged pictures but every I end up dropping that behemoth I always forget to drain it and well, you can figure the rest out from there.

While it was all out I figured wtf, just change the slave anyway to completely rule it out. Before throwing it all back in wife helped me with bench bleeding the system, threw it all back in and still bled it and same thing as before. Spent an hour bleeding and getting constant streams of fluid so finding it really hard to believe that there is still air in there but maybe. When I pop the bleeder on the slave I get a hiss and then fluid, is this still all air in there?

The one thing I did notice is that last time with the mityvac on there, I was always getting bubbles coming up, even after it sitting overnight so I am thinking the old slave was damaged somehow. Before coming in for the night, I hooked up the mityvac and while cleaning up kept an eye on it, no bubbles. Unless anyone has any other input, will spend an hour or so bleeding tomorrow and see what I can't get.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

When you say "bench bled the system" can you explain what exactly you did so I'm on the same page?

Also, depending on how you're bleeding it will depend if fluid comes out immediately when you crack the bleeder, honestly though, it shouldn't "hiss" before fluid comes out as that is air in the system.

Let me know and we'll continue to diagnose your issue.

Rawr256

Basically bled it like mentioned in the how to bleed a tick properly thread at the top, just outside of the car.

Will let ya know what happens tonight after spending more time bleeding. The hiss noise sometimes is more pronounced then others. Other thing that is odd is from the start the pedal has been stiff and feels the same as it always has as i recall.

Rawr256

Bled 32 oz through the clutch line last night and towards the end my wife said the pedal went from stiff to soft. Just ordered up a speed bleeder and going to hope this solves my problem. Was also thinking while I have to obviously drop the trans again, I'll probably measure just to make sure I don't need a shim for some reason. Would be weird I need one suddenly after so long running the Monster 2.

Thanks for all the input and guidance also Steve. I appreciate the responses in trying to help troubleshoot.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

No worries man!

Give me a shout via email to steve@monsterclutches.com and I'll go over all this with you. I'm heading out of town this weekend, but, will have my cell on me so I can respond to emails.

Rawr256

Tick speed bleeder installed. Bled it just how they say and pedal feel didn't change at all. Did measurements to check for a shim and everything lines up damn near equal, if anything maybe off a hundredth or so. At this point I am completely stumped. Tempted to order a new clutch assembly but can't see how it failed at all, especially while backing in the garage. Have had no slipping or anything. May go try throwing in another MC a buddy has that is known to work and see if that works.