Clutch Woes

XR7SC_John

Registered User
Alright,

I just put a new clutch in my 89 XR7. It was so bad that, on jack stands it wouldn't turn the back tires. The clutch itself was about 1/5 as thick as the new one and even if I sat on it wouldn't grab the pressure plate. I got the car like this.. I have no CLUE how it got that bad. It works fine now, the hydraulics were all OK, (didn't replace the slave cylinder, it had been replaced about 30,000 miles ago and looked brand-new) replaced fluid, etc.. so this morning I get in it, pedal goes to the floor with almost no resistance (about as much as if there was a small spring in the pedal itself), and, of course, the clutch doesn't release. I'm stuck in 1st gear as I parked it. Pumped it a little bit, nothing. I leave, mess around with my 85 LS for a bit and come back, and it's fine. The new clutch was put in a week ago, and the car isn't licensed so it's only made one trip to the gas station and back, which totals 20 miles. Could there have just been an air bubble in the lines or something? Or do I have a problem?

Thanks,
John
 
I just replaced my clutch with a Luk OEM rebuild kit which includes the pressure plate, disc, pilot bearing, and release bearing. The main reason for doing this was the slave cylinder was leaking badly. Since the car had 93,000 miles on it I thought it wise to replace the whole clutch assembly when I did the slave. I had no problems with bleeding the hydraulic line from the master cylinder - but I never allowed the reservoir to go dry so I didn't get much air in the line at any time. I didn't replace the master cyl since it seemed to be fine. In your case you may have got some air in the line but I doubt this would allow the pedal to go to the floor at one instant and feel fine the next.

Look through the inspection port on the bell housing and confirm that the slave is engaging the release bearing and pressure plate when someone pushes on the pedal. If this is only happening intermittently then it might be your master cylinder is failing.
 
I replaced it with a kit also, pilot bearing, pressure plate, the works. (Got the OEM kit from supercoupe performance) Well, a Master Cylinder doesn't sound too bad. We'll see where it goes from here. It's been working fine all day just that one, 10 minute incident. It sat for a year before all of this with almost no fluids at all except engine oil, being said.. it was out of fluid in the clutch. Maybe the seals are leaking, just need to expand first? (My fox cat sat without oil before I got it, burned oil like crazy for about 50 miles, fine since. Someone told me it was just dried out seals) Could the same thing be happening?

Thanks,
John
 
Back
Top