Clutch issue

[secondchance]

I have seen similar posts but below described what happened last night.
I live in a high rise condo and park below grade between two columns. Car drove fine with no issues (this is my daily driver as long as no rain) and last night as I tried to shift in to 1st, approaching the entry into the garage, I felt the pedal travel was very short but was able to disengage and find the 1st gear. As I approached my space I pulled out of 1st into neutral while slowing down and cutting the wheel. As I tried to shift into the 1st gear again, pedal moved down only 1/3 or 1/2 the travel and could not disenage the clutch so I used the forward momentum to park the car.
I checked the slave cylinder and the fluid was at "add" mark but still present and no visual sign of leakage. The clutch pedal, when pushed, travels about a half way down and feels solid. Since the pedal refuses to travel down far enough to engage the safety switch I cannot even start the car.
Last time we (WAZOO) serviced the clutch was about 3,000 miles ago when we dropped the transmission to replace the dual mass flywheel. At that time the slave cylinder was replaced with a new unit from Power Torque System and the clutch, pressure plate and the throwout bearing was reinstalled since these only had about 20,000 miles on them and looked fine visually.
What has me puzzled is a rapid loss of clutch travel and no noise whatsoever as the clutch failed.
Any idea guys???

[Scrrem]

Yun,
It sound like the shift fork may have been bent or become partially disengaged. The pedal comes to a dead stop before it gets to the floor?
Rich

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by Scrrem

Yun,
It sound like the shift fork may have been bent or become partially disengaged. The pedal comes to a dead stop before it gets to the floor?
Rich

Yes. Goes down only half way. Do you think my super-human strength bent the folk?

[scottfab]

This is only hypothesis but..........
Sure does sound like one of those instances where a lot of clutch slip caused over heating and bonding of the clutch plate to the flywheel. Pressing the clutch peddle then puts a lot of strain on the fork.
Did you have a lot of city stop and go before the incident?

The one and only time this happened to me (stock clutch plate) I parked it
and got ready to drop the tranny the next day. To my surprise the clutch worked fine the next day. Months later when I pulled the ZF6 to rebuild it I found the slightly bent fork. I straightened it and the issue has not returned in 13yrs. I am however mindful of excess slippage in traffic.
I wonder too if getting WOT a lot with a HO motor won't over power the clutch and cause slippage and heat such that a supper heated clutch plate wouldn't stick to the flywheel?
The other possible scenario would be improper rpm match when going from
4 to 5th crating great heat.

[QB93Z]

On my 1993, when the throw out bearing failed (collar broke away from the bearing ring) the pedal went to the floor, and the clutch did not disengage. After I refilled the resevoir, the clutch pedal would only move about 1 inch and was rock solid. I believed that the slave cylinder goes full travel when the clutch is not "pushing back" on the fork. Since the slave doesn't return to rest, the master can't push any more fluid into the system so it stops.

Yun, I have a new 1994-95 clutch kit including the throwout bearing, a fork, and a ball stud standing by. You are welcome to it until you get one delivered. I will be around part of the day Saturday and all day Sunday. The WAZOO loaner program is available if that helps the logistics.

Eat your Wheaties, we will have to push your Z up on to the lift.

Jim

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by QB93Z

On my 1993, when the throw out bearing failed (collar broke away from the bearing ring) the pedal went to the floor, and the clutch did not disengage. After I refilled the resevoir, the clutch pedal would only move about 1 inch and was rock solid. I believed that the slave cylinder goes full travel when the clutch is not "pushing back" on the fork. Since the slave doesn't return to rest, the master can't push any more fluid into the system so it stops.

Yun, I have a new 1994-95 clutch kit including the throwout bearing, a fork, and a ball stud standing by. You are welcome to it until you get one delivered. I will be around part of the day Saturday and all day Sunday. The WAZOO loaner program is available if that helps the logistics.

Eat your Wheaties, we will have to push your Z up on to the lift.

Jim

Thanks Jim. I will be ordering a short-throw shifter from Bill today (why fix only when you have an opportunity to make improvement while at it).
David contacted Jeff who volunteered his trailer service and, after seeing the post, Rich contacted me and made his garage available.
All has been arranged for 12/15/2012 at Rich's - WAZOO - what a club!!!

I don't eat Wheaties but I will eat plenty of kimchie that morning.

[Scrrem]

Originally Posted by secondchance

I don't eat Wheaties but I will eat plenty of kimchie that morning.

Thanks for the warning
Rich

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by Scrrem

Thanks for the warning
Rich

And you thought beans were nasty...

[tomtom72]

one more comment from the peanut gallery.....I remember speaking , well e-mailing, Bill during the hydraulic parts debacle about engagement/disengagement issues. He also reminded me to check that the locking screw on the ball stud pivot does not come loose and cause the pivot stud to change it position ( height ) *** that alters the leverage geometry which could present a pedal travel issue.

Sorry I should have taken notes, but you may want to cell Bill just to pin this down.


Tom

[secondchance]

Originally Posted by tomtom72

one more comment from the peanut gallery.....I remember speaking , well e-mailing, Bill during the hydraulic parts debacle about engagement/disengagement issues. He also reminded me to check that the locking screw on the ball stud pivot does not come loose and cause the pivot stud to change it position ( height ) *** that alters the leverage geometry which could present a pedal travel issue.

Sorry I should have taken notes, but you may want to cell Bill just to pin this down.


Tom

Stud was replaced during the flywheel replacement and the locking screw was torqued by WAZOO Dr. Phil himself!
Nore and more I think about this I am convinced the problem is with the slave cylinder rod/clutch fork, stud. This disection should be interesting.