My clutch master has less than 10k on it, my slave has less than 500 on it, my line was just replaced and the clutch was bled properly. Me and my friend put his tranny in my car because it had perfect synchros. After the install my clutch (which had like 10,000 miles and felt great before) engaged really late and finally started slipping in low RPMs (say hard throttle in 4th or 5th at like 50mph). We replaced the clutch disc/pp/tob and the clutch engaged great. I broke it in in for about 300 miles and then started driving it hard, well 800 miles later its slipping again; but only in high RPMs this time, I can go WOT in 5th at 40mph but when I redline second and shift to 3rd it will slip a little and then finally catch as I let off. Even when the new clutch had like 500 miles when I redlined first and shifted fast to 2nd it would slip ever so slightly and finally catch, it wasn't crisp like it used to be...

So what could it be? Warped flywheel? Pilot bearing? Not long enough break-in (only 300mi)?

I'll probably pull the trans next weekend again and do the disc and pilot bearing, should I have the flywheel resurfaced as well?

 

id say the break in procedure

 

no stop driving it like a grandma! Slipping the clutch it what wears it down not dropping it or being ruff on it. Think about it.

 

Did you replace the rear engine oil seal?

I would try resurfacing the flywheel and the oil seal.
Also, make sure you have the disc lined up properly.

 

+1 for rear engine oil seal

 

have you driven thru a lot of standing water? if a lot of that gets splashed in there (or just pours in, if you're fording rivers and killing oxen), that'll kill the clutch disk. Happened on my parent's car (not a 7, but still a manual)

 

I've seen many people go thru clutches, simply because they're not taking their foot completely off the pedal between shifts... its not a dead pedal.

 

No, could the oil seal have anything to do with my problem?

During the breakin I didn't go over like 4000, I did rev-match when downshifting, didn't go WOT till about 300 miles. At like 460mi. I did take it to a twisty where I was constantly shifting/rev-matching and engine braking. Now that I think about it, it might have just been the damn break-in lol.

I did adjust it from the nut on the master cylinder to get rid of some of the play when the last clutch felt like ****, could that make it not fully disengage?

And thats a no on the water.

 

YES & YES

 

the oil seal could be leaking, getting oil on the friction surface or flywheel, making them slip

 

Yea, but wouldnt you see clues in between clutch installations that oil had saturated the disk. After all, the OP has gone thru a couple of clutches...

 

Yes, and this is likely a large part of your problem if you adjusted it too far.

 

Mchack: Thats what I thought...

lol damn aint that a bitch, yay for laziness! Thank god it only takes like an hour to pull the trans on this car, <3 RX7s

 

I don't see it mentioned.........did you machine the flywheel?

 

I'm not saying that's the only problem... you need to figure out exactly why the clutch is slipping.

I would try just putting some freeplay in the pedal and seeing if it still slips.

Obviously it's going to be due to a lack of friction. Possible causes that I can think of:

- oil on friction surface
- clutch disc worn too thin (specs are in haynes and fsm)
- clutch not engaging all the way (pedal adjustment or f'd up parts)

Oh, and your pilot bearing isn't going to have anything to do with it. Those are mainly additional support for the trans input shaft bearing.

 

If you are saying that the clutch engages when the clutch pedal is almost fully released?

If so you need to adjust the nut behind the clutch pedal itself.

 

lol way to take like 50k miles off the life of the clutch. Adjusted it today and that bitch is fine. Thanks for all the help guys

 

I'll bet that was one tight clutch pedal though!

 

nah not really its wierd, this new clutch is the lightest clutch I've ever felt. I could probably push it down with my hand with not much effort (5/8 120lbs lol). The pressure plate was wider than the one that was on there and it was on the expensive side ($250) for a stock clutch.

 

clutch adjusted inproperly, probably
when the clutch pedal isnt touched, can you reach over (on the transmission) and push the clutch fork toward the slave cylinder?