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Clutch Problem

Old Apr 12, 2003 | 11:44 PM
  #1  
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From: fl
Question Clutch Problem

The other day I wne to shift and it was kinda clunky??? getting out of gear I went to shift and I couldn't get the dam thing in gear at all.

First thought was the slave cyl. or such not working properly I ve tried to bleed theat ant it seem to be moving the fork BUT ... I am realy not sure its moving far enough??

So now with the car off I can shirt throiugh the gears no problem if I start the car I cant get it in gear it will start to grind... If I try to start it in gear in luches forward its already engaged.


Well I have a centerforce dual friction clutch about 16,000 miles on it

I dont really race it around...well not too much, .....a friend of mine said once he broke a spring and it got wedged in there and he had to change the tranny


Before I embark on some exploratory expedition and start pulling the tranny out to see whats up I thought I'd ask you guys for help or ideas????
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Old Apr 12, 2003 | 11:55 PM
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Weird Cat Man
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From: A pale blue dot
You will want to verify that the pressure plate is actually MOVING and disengaging the clutch. Jack up the car and safely support it and remove the small inspection cover on the bottom of the bellhousing. Using a flashlight, watch the pressure plate while a friend pushes the pedal in. The release bearing should pull away from the engine and pull on the pressure plate. Sounds to me like maybe you already did that... But just in case you didn't actually look with your eyes, now's the time. It doesn't move a WHOLE lot, but maybe 1/3 inch??

Another possibility is that the pressure plate is disengaging properly but the pilot bearing has destroyed itself and somehow welded your input shaft to your eccentric shaft. I've never heard of this happening on an RX-7 specifically but I've heard of it on other cars.

There are other wacky things it could be like a part is somehow jammed in between the clutch and pressure plate causing it to not disengage, but now we're really guessing here.

Can you tell us how much the release bearing is moving?

Brian
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Old Apr 13, 2003 | 09:04 AM
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I had a similar problem with 1st FD. It turns out that the previous owner had a bad habit of resting his weight on the shifter while driving, causing ware to Something, I cant remember what its called but it was expensive to replace. hope ur lucky and its just the bearing
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Old Apr 13, 2003 | 10:20 AM
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From: fl
ITS MOVING BUT NOT MUCH

I took another look at the pressure plate from underneath

It look like the Pressure plate is only moving like 1/8th of an inch??

I can clearly see that its moving back , perhaps its not moving far enough???

I tried to bleed the slave cyl. but it sstill seems to be about the same.

I also tried to adjust the clutch pedal to get a bit more

Still I can not get it into gear once its started

or starting with it in gear an clutch pressed its already engaged

Does this mean it might be the slave or Master cylnder

Do I have to replace both or is there a way to check.
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Old Apr 13, 2003 | 10:49 AM
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From: A pale blue dot
1/8 inch of movement doesn't sound like enough. Here are some things to think about/check.

1. Try to adjust the pedal to have it push in farther. Maybe you already tried this. There is a lock nut you loosen and then you turn the rod I think is how you do it.

2. Is it possible you got air in your clutch system by having the back 1/3 of the brake resevoir too low at any time? If air got in there, you need to bleed out the whole master/hoses/slave system to make sure it has no air, not just one or two pumps and then declare it 'bled'.

At this stage, based on only 1/8 inch movement it is sounding to me like it's either a pedal adjustment problem or air in the fluid or too low of pressure like might be caused by a faulty cylinder somewhere.

Brian
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Old Apr 13, 2003 | 11:02 AM
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From: fl
I tried the pedal adjustment to get it as far as possible

I was bleeding it at the slave cyl. and did this quite a bit not just once or twice.......soooo.....

So I am think one of the two cyl. so I quess I'll start with the cheaper of the two and go from ther

I just didnt want to start changing things if it migh be something else
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Old Apr 13, 2003 | 04:35 PM
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From: A pale blue dot
You should see if anyone sells a rebuild kit. The rubber seals would be FAR cheaper than buying a whole new part.

Brian
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Old Apr 13, 2003 | 04:43 PM
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From: Hawaii
first of all, I hope you are wearing some kinda protective goggles when looking thru the service hole in the tranny/clutch!!! Nothing says ouch like some chunk of metal taking out your eye!!!

as for the next thing you should check, have you checked your master clutch cylinder, its fairly easy to take out (2 bolts in the drivers cabin and the hard pipe line in the engine bay is the only thing holding it in. try taking it out, filling it up with fluid and pushing it in with a stick while holding on to the hard pipe end with your finger as to not let any fluid go thru, if the fluid comes back out the resorvior end, you need either a rebuild or a new one. I suggest just buying a new one (mazdatrix has it for 100 bucks new while http://www.mazdaformance.com/?source=rx7club.com has them for like 70 bucks). I suggest buying new cuz it will be sure to work. It is faily easy to rebuild one but why risk it? (well other then the 50-70 dollar savings if you are sure your able to do it correctly...)

other then that, if your fork is not broken, check the hard pipe lines as well as your slave cylinder to see if that is leaking.

good luck
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Old Apr 15, 2003 | 09:16 AM
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From: fl
I rebuit both the slave and master last nigh ans still the same thing it only seems to moving the PPlate abot 1/8" SHOULD it be more ????
doesnt seem like its moving far enough.
HELLLLPPPP
Nless7 mentioned another possibility andybody have any ideas

I quess I'll try and verify my rebuilds arenot leaking in ht mean time
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Old Apr 15, 2003 | 09:38 AM
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Oji San
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Is the fork bent? Try comparing what yours looks like to some pics of the fork on here. I don't have any pics unfortunately try searching or somebody may be kind enough to post a pic in this thread. Good luck.
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