Clutch issues
 

Ok so I jacked the FD up and removed the inspection plate. I had my GF push in the clutch while I watched inside. The fork isn't even getting enough movement to pull the pressure plate, yet the pedal is still extremely hard to press. Any guesses?

Any tip on how to test if the fork is broken? If and which cylinder my be internally leaking?

This is some serious bullshit.

I agree it's weird that there's still a lot of pressure on the clutch pedal, but I think you just need to check every component of the clutch system (luckily there's not too many). While your GF was pushing your clutch pedal, did you check the movement of your slave cylinder? If you already checked your clutch master cylinder (can leak inside the car too) and slave cylinder for leaks, and your slave cylinder has normal movement when the clutch pedal is pressed, then you might as well drop the tranny at that point. All the remaining clutch components are inside the tranny bell housing. At that point, you can check your clutch fork, pivot ball, throwout bearing, all of which can break. I've broken a clutch fork and a throw out bearing (2 separate occasions) in the past.

If the clutch fork is broken, you'd be able to see it through the inspection plate.

I would focus more on checking out your cylinders. Are you losing any fluids?

Also, stick a big flathead or something in the inspection plate and see if you can make the clutch disengage by moving the fork.

Sometimes it's difficult to see exactly where a clutch fork is broken. What usually happens is it cracks, it doesn't completely break, so it's actually still in tact, but there's just way more flex to the clutch fork. That's why I said to check the movement of the slave cylinder, if the slave cylinder has full motion, then something's wrong inside. If the slave cylinder doesn't have full movement, then something is wrong outside.

I'm leaning towards a broken clutch fork. Fluid levels are fine. When i pulled the inspection plate the fork didn't seem to have enough force to pull the PP, but i forgot to check to see how much the slave cylinder was moving the fork on the opposite side. After work i'll take a look, but it seems i'll still be pulling the trans after all.


One question: Whats the best way you've found to properly support the engine so it doesn't tip forward? I'm already going to use a scissor jack to support the diff once i pull the PPF.

I use a tranverse engine support bar to hold my engine up. Cheapest one I know of (which is the one I use with no problems) is this one: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96524

Of course you could just support the engine by putting a hydraulic jack and block of wood underneath the front of the oil pan, but I have the support bar so I just use that. Even if you don't use anything, the engine won't tilt very much and it'll just rest on the front subframe anyways, so it's not too big of a deal.

yep its the fucking clutch fork, snapped in half >_>