piecesofcurb

Halo, thank you so much for the link on the first page of this thread. And thanks to txst for the instructions on how to lube the fork. I've been having the sticky clutch pedal problem for months and had nearly decided to just take it in to the dealership. I have read several threads and started several others trying to find the answer to what might be the problem. Several people had said to replace the clutch fluid. I did that and just like aRrakis, the clutch felt great for maybe 20-30 minutes and then the sticking returned. I hadn't found another reasonable diagnosis and solution until I came upon this thread. The instructions for greasing the fork sounded simple enough, so I printed them out and headed out to the garage. 30 minutes later, I was done and headed out for a drive. HOLY CRAP!!! What a difference! I can't believe I've suffered all these months when the fix was so relatively simple. Thanks again Halo and txst. I think I'll go for another drive now.

aRrakis

I didn't make it to the dealership today because of the snow.
I'm just going to lube the fork myself this weekend.
What kinds of lubricant do I need to buy?
High temperature poly-urea grease: <--- is this the magic words?


Halo,

The stickyness develops after warm up.


Song

Halo

Curb: NP. Thanks to all those who diagnosed this problem in the first place.

Any sort of high temp grease is fine. I bought "Mobil 1 High temperature grease" from the local car parts store. comes in a plastic tub and you'll end up using <1% of it for this job.

As an aside, if you don't usually go under your car, make sure you have it securely raised on jackstands with blocks behind the rear tires or use a ramp. (If you have a hydraulic lift in your garage and have been fabricating Cobras from sheet metal and iron blocks for the past 40 years then just ignore that last comment.).

aRrakis

Guess what? It was lubricating the release fork. I got underneath the car last Saturday with a tub of Mobil 1 Synth grease and 20 minutes later, the sticking is gone and hasn

2K1yellowS2K

Wow, I finally found what I was looking for! I just got mine Feb. 14 and ever since the test drive I've noticed the sticky clutch. Sometimes I'd get on it or rev high and it would suddenly feel perfectly smooth. Just last week the Maint Req'd light started flashing, but I found a post on here and quickly reset/turned that off. Glad it was nothing but a reminder!

53k miles on her, btw.

Thanks!

C6400hp

Great post.This is exactly what I am experiencing. Strange very stiff .... sticky at bottom 1 inch of travel... if the car is not running you can actually hear it squeaking at the sticky point.. I will be heading to the garage now.

LLOYDJ

Have the same problem!!!!

Will have a go at greasing the fork as explained and see if it fixes my problem!

Great Forum, saves wasting money at the dealers!!! I'm sure they would probably want to strip the car down completely to solve the problem.

Halo

Oh yeah, they would troubleshoot it from the pedal to the throwout bearing replacing parts as they go (with lots of waiting for backordered parts to arrive in between).

C6400hp

Quote:

Oh yeah, they would troubleshoot it from the pedal to the throwout bearing replacing parts as they go (with lots of waiting for backordered parts to arrive in between).


They skipped the pedal when I talked to my Dealer(Honda). Service manager drove it and said that I have a weak pressure plate and the teardown would cost over 400.00 labor. Plus PP Throwout bearing and flywheel= $1200.00....So glad I told them to F**k off. Did the fork lube when I found this post. Works great.I almost pushed the pedal through the floor when I tried it the first time. 50 miles on it tonight...smooth as butter.Great post...Thanks to all contributors:

Halo

I'm about to pass the 1000 mile mark since I did mine and still smooth as butter. At this rate my quart of high temp grease should last me until about 2184

-edit:

I think this problem underscores a problem with a relatively limited production car such as ours. The service folks don't have much idea what the common problems are or how to fix them (TSB's notwithstanding). I wonder how people will fare with their Elise's?