Clutch Tech Part 4, Exotic Clutches, Flywheels and Trouble Shooting

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My transmission grinds when I shift 

Several things can cause this. If it grinds or shifts real stiffly in every gear, I would investigate to see if the clutch adjustment is allowing full disengagement of the clutch. If that is ok, the pilot bushing in the crank may be wearing out. If it grinds when only going into one or two particular gears which can be prevented by double-clutching, the syncros may need to be replaced. Sometimes marginal syncros can be stretched a while by going to a different brand of high quality gear oil. A sometimes occurrence is that your throwout fork or pivot has bent, check it. With a hydraulic clutch, look for fluid leaks at the slave cylinder and clutch cylinder then bleed the system. Some hydraulic clutches have built in accumulators in the systems that are meant to smooth shifts. When they start to fail, they can delay the transfer of motion from your foot to the slave cylinder. Some people remove these to help speed shifting.

My clutch won’t disengage even when I push the clutch pedal in 

If the pedal feels slightly stiff but otherwise normal, a disc hub spring has probably broken out and is wedged in the pressure plate. In extreme cases the pressure plate diaphragm spring has broken or the diaphragm spring fulcrum has failed. If this is the case the pedal gets real soft. This failure is not very common. Sometimes the throwout bearing arm or pivot bends or breaks.

The clutch pedal offer resistance to pushing but the car won’t move, like it’s in neutral

Bad news, your clutch disc has probably burst. Replace disc and any other damaged parts.

My transmission makes a whirring or rough rumbling noise that goes away or changes when I push in the clutch pedal

This doesn’t have anything to do with the clutch. The transmission input shaft bearing is beginning to wear out. The transmission is in need of a rebuild.

My car shifts stiffly, especially in cold weather 

This doesn’t have anything to do with the clutch. The trans fluid is getting thick and gummy in the cold, try a high quality synthetic gear oil.

 

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