Ok , so today on my way to work ( its a 5 mile drive ) I go through some school area traffic . in that traffic area when I PRESSED in the clutch pedal , I started to hear a clacking noise I turned down the stereo and tried it again and there it was .. I was stuck in a traffic jam I let go of the clutch pedal and put it in neutral . and it stopped , I pressed the pedal down and it started so I kept it out .after a couple minutes that clacking stopped and the jam finally passed I turned in to the nearest gas station , and when I pressed the pedal again . the clutch DID NOT disengage and the car stalled . at first I thought I'd made a mistake and left the car in first or something so I put it in neutral , started the car .

and now the clutch would Not go into any gear not first not reverse .. Normally I would figured slave or master.. But . that clacking sound that happened minutes before the clutch giving out is what is worrying me .

I read a couple threads about the fork bending and causing a wall effect , but I havent had any issues with my trans or clutch until today ..

The clutch itself I dont know what brand it is as it came with the Long block . But it is unsprung , and quite heavy plate .

Very grippy clutch .

the trans is a JDM trans with unknown millage , but I havent had any issues apart from today . the master , and slave are both used . The trans has new fluid royal purple .

any ideas if maybe that claking was just the master / slave going bad and causing the clutch not to disengage completely , or if I may have a bigger issue at hand .

 

My guess is a problem with the clutch arm or the clutch it's self.

Does the pedal spring back like normal?

You are just going to have to get under the car and remove the inspection plate and take a look.

 

yup in hte process of doing that

 

Throw out bearing possibly. Usually they make a whirring noise before they die.

 

ahh ic.. well I got it up getting some lunc hthen going to open the little hatch and take a peek

 

ok so I cant see anything after looking at the trans from unde the car .. everything seems fine .. I cant seem to press the clutch pedal since I dont have anyone home at hte moment I have to wait , so I've been reading .

One possibility is the trhowout bearing .

BUt I read that if its the throwout bearing , you should FEEL it in the clutch pedal . I dont have any feel in the pedal at all it feels smooth

does that eliminate the TOB as a possible cause ? or well atleast throw it to the back of the list ?

also the pedal does not feel light I've had a slave go bad before ( but it was leaking my slave and master are not leaking ) , and the pedal was soft . my pedal seems as thoguh it was normal like the weight of the clutch is still on it ...

I'm gonna throw this out in the air but .. if the fork is bent ? would the weight of the clutch still be there , and its just not pushing the fork far enough to disengage the clutch ?

P.S. I honestly dont have much experience with working on clutches .

 

The throw out bearing seized on my buddies rx8 and the clutch felt sort of spongy. He also dropped a spring out of the disc when it happened. He couldn't put it in gear with it running. The clutch was stuck in the engaged position.

 

Here is a thread where someone had a different problem not being able to get it in gear but there is a nice vid showing movement of the clutch fork.https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...unning-961658/

this was copy/paste from the thread.

 

Thanks Well I got someone to give me a hand , pressed the clutch pedal while I looked at the little peep hole . and the clutch moves when the pedal is depressed ,

But it does not move enough to disengage the clutch and allow it to shift

 

So you are not getting enough movement at the throw out bearing? It does not move as much as it does in the video I posted?

 

yes it moves less then on the video

 

Ok a little internet diagnosis .

Since the clutch is moving , no leaks from either slave or master . but hte clutch isnt moving ENOUGH to disengage


What could be thecause of this?

and what could have caused this ?

I'm just trying to get an estimate , and order patrts first if possible sothe car isnt down longer hten it needs to be .

if it is the clutch arm , are there aftermarket versions?

 

Could be the clutch arm.
Could be the clutch.
Could be the clutch hydraulics.
Could be the Throw out bearing.

The grinding you describe prior to the clutch not working is what confuses me. Are the fingers of the clutch moving or just bending?

What brand clutch? Miles?

You installed all used parts, that makes it a bit harder to figure out what the problem is as it could be anything.

I would try bleeding the system and see if you somehow got air in the system. If that does not help and you are sure you got all of the air out then your next step would most likely be to pull the trans.

Post a vid of the clutch in action

 

Thanks for the advice , I'm sure there is no air in the system I bled it yesterday while I was down there for good measure . no air at all in the system .

the car is at my dads . since I cant work on the car at my place. I wont be able to get to the car till the weekend
But thanks I THINK I'm leaning towards it being the clutch arm , and the TOB a second place culprit

Thanks

BUT my question now is if it IS the clutch arm . where do I find them? do I need to buy a used one? or do they sell them aftermarket ?

 

Clutch arms are available from Mazda/Ray at Malloy. They're not terribly priced.

Other possibility is a delaminated clutch disc - the facing comes off the disc, jams up everything, makes for a problem.

Regardless it's time to pull the tranny out and have a look, you'll have all your answers there. At this point it doesn't look like something that could be fixed with the tranny in the car. I'd also wait to order parts until you get it apart and see what blew up.

Dale

 

Yup, looks like you will be pulling the transmission.

 

yeah I figured as much .


and ofcourse I wont be buying anything just wanted to know howmuch I could be wasting .

I dont think its the clutch itself .. it grips VERY Well .. to damn well LOL


I can not slip this clutch almost anythying there is a very little slip play for this clutch

I know the TOB is 90 , I guess I'll be MSGing roy I'll probably have the car towed to my friend's shop since it would be alot easier to just do it there with his tranny puller , and lift . plus I still smell the royal purple in my hair from the last time I filled the tranny fluid haha . ( I didnt have the little squirt bottle But he does )

 

alright some bad news for me ray is gone till the 11th , I want to get the car running this weekend because of a track event the week after LoL anyone know of another place I could locate said parts?

 

^ Surely someone else at Malloy can help you get a clutch arm?

I have been able to get easy parts like that from people other than Ray.

 

yeahh I thought about that after I made that post lol, well I'm going to give them a call during lunch break and see what I can figure out . THanks

 

this happen twice to me in a 3 year time frame.for some reason one of the ends of the throw out bearing clip was bent( has two ends the clutch fork slides into). First time this happened the clutch fork tip snapped off in which the throw out bearing was going in and out on a angle ,then wouldn't go in gear....replaced fork and bought a new clutch kit.....Second time this happened,the throw bearing clip yet again, this time bent to **** on one side ,made a strange noise when ever I put the clutch in until it finally locked me out of gear.looked under and seen the same thing on your video you just posted....replaced the clutch with ACT kit this time. .....I'm not bashing the "exedy" brand at all but both times it was the exedy brand throw out bearing that snapped.not to sure who to blame maybe its me and poor shifting.

 

i'll be replacing parts with OEM parts .

but Just out of curiosity and I do have a lack of experience with clutches . but to my understanding , the clutch ARM , is in fact the clutch FORK correct?

 

Yes, same thing. It is what directly connects to, and mechanically moves the throw out bearing.

 

Thanks I thought thats what it was but wanted to be sure

 

it wasnt either of our conjectures.. its a cracked pressure plate .. what on earth could of caused that?

and I took it to a shop that specializes in RX7's because he said he might have a spare , But he says the pressure plate is completely different from most rx7's

he's telling me I may have a 99 + pressure plate and flywheel which is different ??? tomorrow i'm going to take some pictures of it .

But is there any truth to this?

also hes saying I'm gonna need to change the clutch as well if I swap to a pressure plate that he has from a series 6

My clutch is really grippy and i loved the feel of it . i would verymuch rather stay with my clutch if its an aftermarket pressure plate *assuming * can i get one by itself ?

and should the brand be on the pressure plate?