bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Alright, I've dealt with this too long and it's time to make a thread. Long story:
Stock clutch and everything was working fine, but I like to upgrade things before they break, so I went ahead and got the philistine Tilton kit and installed it some time in November. I noticed an increase in pedal pressure, but it's hard to remember since I swapped in a C6 clutch, flywheel, and slave from Gripforce a few weeks later. With the new clutch, it started becoming more apparent that the pedal was a lot stiffer than it should be.

After a couple months of driving, my calf started to bother me. I exchanged master cylinders two times with philistine just to make sure that wasn't it. The 2nd exchange was even for a smaller diameter unit. All yielded the same pedal pressure. My calf was getting worse, so a few weeks ago, I ordered an OEM master and installed it two Mondays ago. The first week of driving was glorious. I had OEM pedal feel back and gears were disengaging excellently. I then did another clutch bleed the next weekend to account for any stray air.

Just this past Monday, I noticed that the pedal was a little stiffer than the previous week. By the end of the week, it basically felt just like the Tilton cylinders felt and started bothering my knee and calf. At this point, I'm at a total loss as to what the problem could be. The only reason I can think of for the pedal pressure increasing after the second bleeding session is there was a tiny bit of air in it before, which made for a soft pedal, but enough pressure to disengage the clutch *shrug*. Both sides of the quick disconnect fitting are new and seeing as it worked fine last week, it wouldn't point to a problem with them.

One thing I noticed when messing with the clutch today is that when pumping the pedal, I can hear the slave making a rubber squeaking sound. Perhaps that's normal, but it stuck out to me today. I'm about to go insane trying to hunt down where the problem is. Time to trade in for an auto V2, haha.

Any thoughts?

hefftone

I think you have something in your line that's blocking....I basically have the same stuff as you. Tick line, remote bleeder, c6 clutch and slave.
Philistine could probably confirm, but the tightest passage way has to be the "check valve connection." I would undo that on both sides, and pull the check from the remote bleeder and pull or push fluid like crazy through each half of the system, and I'd do it in both directions..... Pour the fluid through a coffee filter in case there is some debris.
My clutch is a little firmer than before...noticeably but not drastic. It disengages about half way down the poedal travel....to bad my trans just shifts like ****, its so clunkyt must be out of Fred Flintstones car.
If its not a blockage then it would only leave the clutch slave, but that seems unlikely. Have you tried side stepping the clutch from the floor, let the PP force the fluid back upwards?

ls1247

iTrader: (2)

I'd take the needle and spring out of the check valve to see if it could be restricting flow somehow. At least it wouldn't cost anything.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

It doesn't make sense for there to be a restriction in the line....the pedal was light as a feather for a week, then I did more bleeding, then bam. Doesn't make sense. I can try removing the check valve components, which will get a little messy, but it's worth a shot.

hefftone

Its about the least invasive thing you could do.

Although....how is the pedal effort if you remove the speed bleeder from the remote? If it flows like if its still hard then it must be blockage if not, I'd say more likely to be slave.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Not sure how doing anything with the bleeder would help...

ls1247

iTrader: (2)

I'm talking about the clutch line disconnect which has a check valve in it.

It has a spring loaded needle that seats in an orifice and, based on a conversation I had with someone at Tick, there have been a few isolated issues with it.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

I was replying to hefftone. I am very familiar with the quick disconnect as I've have both pieces apart too many times now, hah.

hefftone

If you remove the bleeders check valve, you uncork the line at the very end of the system......depress the pedal. If it flows really easily then you are less likely to have a blockage at the checkvalve....where if you have a blockage/debris the pedal may be a little stiffer....use you hand not your foot.
With my PMC I can still push the clutch pedal to the floor by hand (although I still have the assist spring in place.)

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Alright, took the bleeder valve out and the pedal goes to the floor real easy. When I put the valve back in and pushed the pedal, it goes down until the last 10%, then it's still fairly stiff. So I guess that sounds like slave...I'm just so confused how it drove awesomely for a week.

Did a re-bleed and pedal is the same. Anybody else's slave cylinder make a squeaking noise with the car off?

Sssnake

Mine does this as well. Try this - GO BEAT ON IT. 3000 RPM clutch dump or bang through the gears with full throttle after the shift and it will get as light as a feather again. I don't know why but this is fairly repeatable on mine. I had assumed it was something to do with the shaft alignment on the tilton (my mount has been through hell). However, no amount of alignment change seemed to fix it (yes I can alter the alignment on mine). Shortly after I went out to do a few pulls and log the data. After having the rear end nearly pass me on a 2-3 shift at around 70 mph, I cleaned out my undies, took a deep breath, and noticed the clutch pedal was MUUUUUUUCH easier to depress. I don't believe that I have trash in my lines but I cannot explain why this happens.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

I will try almost anything at this point. I do a WOT pull every now and then commuting to work, though, so I'm not just babying it around. Maybe I'll try to be a little more aggressive this week. I'm about to order a new slave, but if that turns out not to fix it, gonna Hulk smash something.

tommycompton

iTrader: (1)

When I swapped clutches with an ls7 slave, the pedal wouldn't depress. Couldn't bleed it, nothing. I swapped the quick connect on the slave fitting with the stock one, then it worked perfectly. Not sure why it wouldn't seat properly, maybe a dud or a slight difference with the ls7 disconnect. Might be worth a try to swap it if you have your old slave handy.
Mine completely locked up the clutch pedal, but maybe in your case it's just not fully opening the valve?

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Mine depresses fully and has very good flow while bleeding. It's just very very springy at the last 20% of the stroke. The first 80% is like stock, more or less. I have brand new quick disconnect fittings.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

On second thought (and after driving this morning) it's more like 80% of the stroke is firm/springy...the last 20% the resistance goes away and the pedal easily slams to the floor and also springs back quickly...something that makes smooth engagement a lot harder.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Ordered a new slave cyl and going to install next weekend. Gonna go through all the hydraulic lines and make sure there's no crud in there, etc. I'll disassemble my current slave cyl as well. This is most definitely the most frustrating issue I've ever had on a car, since it affects driveability 100%.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

I'm more or less at the point of defeat. I dropped the trans today, put in a brand fcking new slave from Rock Auto, checked the Tick slave line and fittings for obstructions, put the trans back on (didn't bolt anything else up), bled the slave, and the pedal is STILL THE SAME. I was about to pull the clutch and throw my old stock one on, but that wouldn't make sense because the pedal was light WITH the current clutch for that one week.

So if we know that a light pedal IS possible with the current pressure plate, and I have a brand new master, brand new slave, and hydraulic lines have been checked for blockages...???????

I can't keep driving my car like this forever. My calf will eventually totally cramp up then I'll be up ****'s creek. Maybe it's time to look for a cheap automatic car while I figure this out.

itsdaveonline

Not that it's much help. But my pedal is pretty stiff too. I just learned to live with it After installing the PMC it did help the overall clutch feel, but was certainly not THE fix.

I remember reading thousands of posts and many people had this issue with the ls7 clutch all with various fixes. If you find the culprit please post it up.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

I've lived with it since December, but now I don't have a choice. My left calf is sore pretty much 24/7 now since it gets an awkward 1 hour workout every day.

Not that it helps my case much, but I had my wife try out the pedal (she has driven manual her whole life) and she agrees that the pedal has a very weird springiness near the bottom of the stroke. Does she have strong legs? No. But does she know what a clutch should feel like? Yes.

I've driven a 6-puck clutch for 2 years, as well as other upgraded clutches on my previous cars. They were stiffer, yes, but I could *easily* daily drive them. The resistance in my current clutch is a totally different type of stiffness that's hard to explain.

heavymetals

iTrader: (3)

Could be the pressure plate is binding as there are a lot of moving parts there.

One of the "fingers" could be bent.