I had clutch problems a while back with the clutch pedal going all the way to the floor and not coming back up. Replaced the slave cylinder which didn't solve the problem so I then replaced the master. Problem solved.



Today, without warning, the car decided it would not shift or go into gear with the car running. Clutch pedal felt completely normal.



With the car running and the clutch pushed in, there's lots of clattering. I'm using an Exedy Hyper Pro single.



With the car off, I jacked it up, removed the inspection plate, and took a gander. I had suspected a snapped clutch fork. It looks to be intact.



Next, I had a friend push the clutch in while I was watching. The fork moved and it looked like the clutch disengaged slightly, but not as much as I thought it would.



I inspected the clutch slave and master cylinder for external leaks. Again, I have full hydraulic pressure with no bleed down. I am assuming an air bubble would eventually make the clutch pedal go soft.



I cannot shift into gear at all while the car is running. I can turn the car off, put the gear selector in first, start the car and the car will lurch forward and eventually start as the starter motor moves the car along. Naturally, this makes the car absolutely useless.



Anyway, advice as to what this could be would be greatly appreciated. The clutch has less than 5,000 miles on it. I'm really hoping it's the throwout bearing and not the pressure plate.



I just installed a brand new GT4088 and $7K engine...to say the least it's really frustrating!

a blown pilot can cause this, the input shaft cannot move independently from the motor causing it to not shift and such.



Prolly going to have to pull the trans out...

Fantastic....I think by the time I have all the bugs worked out ofthe car, I'll have to have both of my arms replaced. Thanks for the "input" :-) I appreciate the help. It should be a fun weekend.

Michel

I also checked the clutch disengagement again and it's definitely disengaging. I can "rattle" the clutch disk back and forth. Must have damaged the pilot bearing putting the engine in sigh...

Well something like that happened to me on my 8. The clutch disc exploded(hub part). So only switched gears when you had it in gear and then started it. But also it would lunge forward. So if yours does not have symptoms like this I fear it may be serious.

how did you put your engine in? did you try to put the clutch disc on the engine and bolt the pressure plate on before you actually put the engine to the tranni? Just wondering.

I examined the clutch disk through the clutch inspection port and the disk itself is intact.



As for the installation, slid the clutch onto the input shaft along with the disk (in the right direction!) and installed the engine. I then tightened the pressure plate up through the clutch inspection port, rotating the engine with a socket on the front main pulley bolt.



Picked up a throwout and pilot bearing today (apparently it could be either) and will begin disassembly soon. I'll be throwing on an xcessive cast aluminum oil pan while I'm down there.

gotta agree with Booby on this one... definately sounds like the pilot bearing.

[quote name='rfreeman27' date='Apr 14 2005, 09:33 PM']a blown pilot can cause this, the input shaft cannot move independently from the motor causing it to not shift and such.



Prolly going to have to pull the trans out...


[/quote]



Yup you nailed it. I had the same problem. The pilot bearing shreaded and all the inner race and needles got destroyed and jammed the input shaft from advancing. When I pulled the tranny all that was left of the pilot bearing was metal shavings, random needles from the bearing, and the outer casing of the bearing.

also another note:



When you get this fixed, make sure that u adjust the clutch pedal's fulcrum point after installing an aftermarket clutch and pressure plate.. it is in the instructions to do so, so that you are not causing any undo wear to the parts.

Did that a long time ago when N-Tech Engineering installed the Exedy. I'm 100% positive I screwed the pilot bearing installing the engine.

Michel

I have the same problem you are having. Could you enlighten me as to which one was the actual culprit? Due to where I live at it's hard for me to work on my car until a garage gets free so i'm having to pull my transmission off while im in a parking lot. Not fun. So to save myself having to do that, post up could you? And how hard is it to replace a pilot bearing?



T.c.

In my case it was the pilot bearing siezing the input shaft to the e-shaft. I had to grind it out with a dremel after yanking the engine and transmission as one piece. I then had to forcibly twist the driveshaft with a pry bar while keeping the e-shaft from not spinning. Fun it was not. Hopefully I'll never ever have to go through it again!



Give me specifics on your issues.

Michel

damn near exactly similiar to yours, except i haven't replaced my slave cylinder yet, and i need to pull the transmission to see what else is going on. It could very well be my throw-out bearing. When they DO go, what are the symptoms like? I press in on the clutch, and I hear this "whirrrr" sound. I take my foot off, no sound. Also I can't shift. But, I can put the car into gear and it'll move itself then but still it's pretty much useless. Any ideas/thoughts would be appreciated. Oh and I felt down in the bottom of the trans mission, nothings down there that I can see/tell that would make me think the pilot bearings gone but hey i could be wrong. Also, the plate for engaging the clutch where the slave cylinder pushes out on won't move reguardless how much I try to push on it by hand. I thought it would of been a bit easier to do that then it is now.



T.c.

The whir sound is fairly normal...some TOB's are more noisy than others. Mine is fairly quiet but it could be yours is a bit more worn. If you can press the clutch pedal and your TOB pushes the disk forward (indicated by the whirring sound) but the car does not disengage or allow the car to be shifted, then it's probably the pilot bearing.



Generally speaking symptoms for the following are:

Clutch or slave cylinder-pedal goes to the floor and has to be pumped to get hydraulic pressure



Pilot bearing-car cannot be shifted at all, even when the car is standing still but running. E-shaft and transmission input shaft are "fused" by the bad pilot bearing



TOB-very very noisy (sometimes) and pushing the clutch doesn't do anything. Sometimes the snap ring can come off causing similar symptoms. When it goes bad, it too can keep the clutch from disengaging (or incompletely disengaging, drags a bit) and can be very similar to the pilot bearing symptoms.



Clutch fork-sometimes they break in half. Pressing on the pedal does not release the clutch disk.



I would get a friend to step on the pedal first while you're inspecting the clutch under the car (car off). You shouldn't be able to move anything by hand without great effort.



20/20 hindsight, I would have used the same trick to separate the e-shaft and transmission input shaft while everything was still IN the car instead of pulling the engine and transmission. I tried and tried to get the tranny out to no avail. Had I kept the engine from turning over and used a pry bar to turn the drive shaft (through the U-joint near the diff by sliding it through), the two would have separated and I would have been able to remove the tranny and leave the engine where it was.

I was wondering refering back to twinturborx7pete how do you adjust it properly? i have a ACT s/S clutch and I didn't adjust it makes me wonder if not adjusting it is causing my rattling / clunking problems nows.