Hey everyone, im having a problem with the clutch on my 93. Started out getting off the highway, downshifting to 4th, it wouldnt go in, i had to revmatch to get it in. Once i stopped at the light, the car started to shake, then stalled out on me. Restarted in 1st, car jumped and stalled. Car goes into gear fine with car off, but with car on, the clutch wont disengage so i cant get into gear. I checked clutch fork, looks fine. I just replaced the slave and master with new parts, and a SS hose from mazdatrix(they sent me the miata one, but it was just like 3" longer so i used it anyways.) Got it all together, and after 20 mins of bleeding, and no more bubbles at all coming out, i am getting the same thing and thats whats shown in the video. The slave doesnt seem to be fully disengaging the clutch. Any ideas?

Short video of exactly whats going on in the bellhousing when the clutch is pushed. Doesnt seem like the pressure plate has enough travel.

http://s66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...t=100_5359.flv

 

Did you remove the fork and inspect it from all angles? I've heard of broken forks that have a partial crack and bend under load.

Dave

 

Can i remove the fork with the trans still on the car?

 

No. You have to pull the tranny. Not all forks have a clean, obvious break. Some will crack on one side.

 

I only fried a clutch disc, and that was an obvious problem, but maybe your cylinder croaked. It's not expensive, and not hard to change. But wait for input from others as I haven't had this exact problem.

 

or seized pilot bearing...

 

could be fork bent or snapped,,, pressure plate could be faulty (and not disengaging),,, or maybe somethign to do with the hydraulic set up,,, maybe a leek or air in the line???

 

What clutch are you running? I've seen a very worn ceramic 6-puck cause similar symptoms.

Did you try adjusting the length of the clutch rod to go farther into the master cylinder? It's possible that it's just barely short of fully disengaging the pressure plate.

 

it has an ACT Clutch in it. I believe its a 6puck, but im not sure, it was in the car when i bought it. The reciept he gave me just says ACT Street/Race 55% Clutch Kit. $600. It is 4 years since it was installed. It didnt slip or anything tho before this happened.

and yea, i tried adjusting the rod on the pedal, didnt seem to make a diffrence at all.

 

If your pedal has pressure when you push it in I'd be leaning towards the pilot bearing being locked up as well. If you have some one sit in the car and push in the pedal and you watch it from below through the inspection window (you should be able to tell if the pressure plate is disengauging from the disc.)

 

if you need help, i am local and could take a look at it. pm me if you're neer worcester.

 

I've had two FD's now that have had this exact same problem. Both times it was the pilot bearing. The second one's symptoms weren't even that bad, but when I pulled the tranny there was nothing left of the bearing except for the sleeve and a lot of dust/shavings. Both times there was a slight rattle with the clutch disengaged at idle.....

 

yea the pedal has nice even pressure. and like the video i took shows, the pressure plate pulls away from the clutch a bit, but not enough to disengage it. Could the pilot bearing be locked up at a certain point and still allow some movement?

 

I think you have a bent/cracked fork. To my knowledge, the pilot bearing cannot affect the disengagement of the clutch. Heavier clutches are known for being more than the original clutch forks can handle.

Also make sure that your wire ring and wedge collar are snapped together properly and undamaged. They should be holding the t/o bearing in very securely.

Dave

 

maybe thats the problem. cause the brass looking metal piece(looks like it has a bunch of little fins) sticks around 1" out of the pressure plate. is the little collar on that supposed to sit flush?

 

No, not flush. It should slide out some. The t/o bearing has a groove on the disc side, and the ring locks into this groove and also catches the fingers of the collar.

If you can get someone to gently work the clutch, push the collar/bearing a little bit into the pressure plate, and have someone put very slight pressure on with the clutch. It should slide out maybe 1/4" and then stop. If putting extra pressure on the clutch pedal draws it out further, then you'd know the wire retaining ring isn't holding it solid.

In either case (collar/ring or fork) the tranny has to come down to repair it. Rather than toast your new clutch I'd break down and drop it. Then you can verify the condition of the fork and fiddle with the pressure plate/wire ring/wedge collar/t/o bearing and be sure they all lock together precisely.

Dave

 

Ok thanks alot for the help. Im going to take the car off the road for the winter and pull the motor to clean up some stuff, so ill break into the trans at the same time. Thanks again

 

Yep these pilot bearing have been known to lock up quite solidly. ANd no aamount of pressure plate release will free the input shaft of the tranny from the crank. The starter has a fair amount of torque and you can try and break it free by pushing in the clutch hold the brake with it in say third or fourth gear and see if it will spin the engine over, if your lucky (and it's the pilot bearing and breaks free) you'll know. If it is the pilot bearing you will have one hell of a time getting the tranny out without the motor.

 

would the car run in neutral if the pilot bearing was stuck?

 

If it's seized... it's most likely in some baaadass shape if its messed up enough to actually prevent the car from starting... but if you can get it to start... there should be no problem in having it run normally. You'll just hear an annoying grinding/humming/howling sound.

Jeremy

 

as you slide the clutch towards the front of the car, about halfway the peddle begins moving on its own, and does not come back up unless you hook your foot behind the peddle and force it out. the problem doesnt seem to exist when the car if off, but when the car is on. on the embarresing ride home, i noticed the clutch was acting very unpredictable and on one red light, as i begin to rev and release the clutch, it rapidly pulled away from me and couldnt pull it out of first. as i look down to see where the **** my clutch is, it was pinned against the firewall. my guess is that the lines have weakened and allowing air pockets to enter the lines, as the clutch is pressed the air being lighter then the fluid is compressed and exits the lines causing the fluid to fill in the gaps, making the clutch sink.
(it lost some dot3 fluid, but not after a while after i got home, i didnt see it squirt but am guessing it was released all at once. about 2inch of fluid.)

have check the rod in slave cyl. fluid res. inspection plate(no liquid) now looking for some alternatives and hoping the problem is worn out lines.

Hye

 

With the car in neutral if you clutch switch is working properley and the clutch pedal is pushed in it should start and run, you just won't be able to engage any gear without it grinding.