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I have a 2001 S2k with the Speedcraft turbo kit. I currently have a Spoon Flywheel and Star Stage II clutch with the reduced weight pressure plate. The car has 48k miles, the clutch/FW were installed at 27k miles and the turbo was installed a month later. After the turbo was installed the car produced about 307~309rwhp. I have never dumped the clutch. The car does see a lot of stop and go traffic on a regular basis here in DC rush hour.
The factory and aftermarket clutch had the same engagement point until recently. The friction point was always just below the halfway point of the pedal's throw. Now the engagement point is almost instant as I let off the clutch. The clutch pedal feels limp until just about to the floor. It does hold if I WOT to redline. Sometimes when I put the car in neutral and release the clutch the pedal will stick for a second. Over the last few days it has locked me out of gears when I tried to downshift. If I double clutch it lets me into the gear.
I am not sure what is causing this. It almost feels as though there is pressure loss in the pedal. Does anyone know what this could be or what I need to do to fix it? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. If there is any other information that I need to provide to help diagnose this please let me know.
With a lot of power, a performance clutch, and driving in traffic, I would not be surprised that your FD is gone after 20K miles. The Star PP has enough pressure to work with a worn out FD. I would tear it down for replacement before damage is done.
Check the fluid level and condition of the fluid in your clutch master cylinder resevoir ... then flush and bleed it. If you've never changed the fluid, the clutch master cylinder may be going bad due to corrosion and or seal deterioration. The slave cylinder may also be going bad.
The OEM brake fluid used in the clutch MC will last probably 2 years, if you're lucky. Less if you're close to water.
Switch to a high quality fluid such as ATE Super Blue. For the money, it's probably the best fluid out there. Other great fluids include Stainless Steel Brakes own brand.
Products such as Motul withstand the heat better than most, but Motul seems to act like a sponge when it comes holding onto water.
Both Super Blue and SSBs fluid reject water better than most other brake fluids and have very high wet and dry boiling points. They also last quite a bit longer than most other fluids.
Change your Brake and clutch fluids once a year and you'll never have a problem. More if you track your car.
Start with the fluid, Master Cylinder, slave cylinder, and then you may have to go big with the clutch.
Go from the easiest to the hardest. Bleeding your clutch takes 20 minutes, tops.
If you change out the Master cylinder, you might as well change out everything but the hard line - master and slave cylinder and the flex hose. I think Spoon offers a SS braided line as well.
I cannot speak to all of your mentioned issues you describe. However, your "stick point" you describe points to a worn throw-out bearing guide. This guide is a fixed tubular item that allows the throw-out bearing to travel by applied direction of the pivot-fork in tandem with your clutch pedal actuation. That your clutch pedal has seemed to "stick" to the floor of a sort, that was my own experience.
I suffered this "stickiness" in the pedal and replaced my clutch items with new OEM items (sorry, still NA ). While doing the work, I identified this worn guide and replaced it. Best guess was that my service tech, during the clutch buzz TSB some 30K miles previously, had over-greased the throw-out bearing upon reinstallation. Extra grease bound shavings from the clutch pad. Those shavings slowly, frictionally, wore away on the guide at the pressure side of the pivot actuation. Replaced guide...no more stuck pedal.
Again, just the guide and your sticking problem to speak of here. I cannot speak with experience on any of your other issues I'm afraid. Here's a pic of my old guide:
There is the possibility that the tech did not put enough grease on the throwout guide.
Friction material wears away in the form of dust, not in the form of shavings. Given a clutch is not used to launch the car from high rpm's, the amount of wear should not cause excessive build-up of friction dust.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by slipstream444
Check the fluid level and condition of the fluid in your clutch master cylinder resevoir ... then flush and bleed it.
06-12-2004, 11:16 AM
Clutch Engagement Issue, seeking help
). While doing the work, I identified this worn guide and replaced it. Best guess was that my service tech, during the clutch buzz TSB some 30K miles previously, had over-greased the throw-out bearing upon reinstallation. Extra grease bound shavings from the clutch pad. Those shavings slowly, frictionally, wore away on the guide at the pressure side of the pivot actuation. Replaced guide...no more stuck pedal.
