My '89 convertible had a fairly smooth, light clutch when I bought it two weeks ago. About a week ago, though, it wouldn't shift gears, and the clutch pedal stuck to the floor. I traced it to air in the clutch line, bled the lines, and the pedal was much stiffer than before.

However, try as I may I cannot make it spin its tires at all now. Period. The engine RPMs just duck a bit, and the car accelerates fairly slowly at first but once it hits 4k RPM it will get up and go like normal.

The first owner test drove it as well and said that it was not normal, and it seemed like the engine wasn't transferring power fast enough to the wheels, but that once it was going acceleration was normal.

I'm also smelling "burned clutch" more easily than at first (3.5k up, whereas before I oculd get it past 4 and not smell anything).

If anybody has any suggestions I'd be more than happy to hear them. The only thing is that since this is my day-to-day car as well, I really can't just put it in the shop for clutch work on a whim, and I don't have the time, tools, or experience to fix a clutch myself other than minor stuff like bleeding the lines and adjusting normal things. So I'm hoping the clutch isn't going bad, because he said it was a relatively new one.

Also, how do most of you get major car repairs done - DIY or shop?

Thanks a lot!

 

Sounds like your clutch is worn out from a bad master and/or slave. Remember the clutch system is hydrolic so its always going to feel very light.

 

Weak pressure due to air in the system possibly glazed over the disc and/or flywheel. Might wear off but i'd replace everything and resurface the flywheel.

 

wouldn't the glazing have made it just as bad if not worse, to spin tires before he bled the lines? Digital, did you try doing a burnout or even a hard launch recently before bleeding the lines, or was there enough of a period in between that it could've gotten glazed since your last hard launch? Also, if you smell it *easier* than before, I'd tend to agree with these guys. sounds like the problem was there before if you smelled it.

 

try side stepping

 

Hmmm... I never did anything hard to it before... I just bought the car about two weeks ago (not even that, really). But I knew the guy I bought it from and he's raced it pretty hard before.

Although, I do know of a few times I peeled out by accident before I bled the clutch, and afterwards none at all.

What is glazing and how does it happen? Can you recommend performance clutch parts to replace it with? I might as well upgrade when I fix it.

Thanks a lot for the prompt replies!!!