Clutch issues

[Cooked Rice]

I was doing some spirited driving last night and suddenly it was hard to get into gear. I had the problem arise before, and it would go away if I let the car cool down. It happened quite a bit in the past. So I checked the fluid, and it was all mucky and brown which I thought was odd as the fluid was changed just in the spring. When I had a 5 speed conversion done. I changed the fluid, and swapped out the slave cylinder for a new one just as a precautionary. The Master cylinder looks to be a new one, that was provided when I got the 5 speed conversion.

Well anyways, shortly after I had issues with getting it into gear easily last night, my clutch started to slip. Wtf I thought. The clutch had less than 3000 KMs on it, a Centerforce Dual Friction. So I quickly drove it home and parked it in the garage. And it was late so I didn't start looking at the potential causes till this morning.

This morning I adjusted the clutch pedal, so it engaged lower down. I had a feeling that the pedal had the engagement point too high and it may have been preventing the clutch from fulling re-engaging when I let off the clutch pedal. Then I checked the fluid again, it's mucky brown again (what the hell? I changed it less than 1000KMs ago w/ a new slave). I didn't change it out as I had no turkey baster to remove the dirty fluid.

I test drove it this morning, and everything seems to be ok again. Pretty sure my clutch got a bit glazed from the slipping last night though

Anyone know why my fluid keeps going brown though?

[ercchry]

too much heat? lines running near hot areas?

or the old fluid was REALLY dirty and a few flushes have not cleaned it all up yet?

[audimaniaR8]

the fluid turns brown when it absorbs water, so you could have water in your lines, or its exposed to air, and absorbing it from the air

[ApexDrift]

Cooked Rice

how did you adjust the clutch pedal, to engage lower??
im using a exeddy stage 2 if it makes a difference...

[ercchry]

Originally posted by ApexDrift
Cooked Rice

how did you adjust the clutch pedal, to engage lower??
im using a exeddy stage 2 if it makes a difference...

the rod that goes into the master cylinder down connected to the petal inside the car is threaded and you just loosen the nut and turn the rod in or out to adjust it

[Cooked Rice]

There's a 12mm nut on the rod that goes into the master cylinder connected to the clutch pedal. Loosen it, and take a pair of small channel lock pliers to turn the rod CW or CCW. Turning it CCW will make it so you have to push the pedal down further for it to engage/dis-engage the clutch. If you go too much, you will just end up with a bunch of play. CW does the opposite, but too much CW and the clutch may never be able to fully engage it's pressure plate. It acts like if you were resting your foot on the pedal all the time.

Prior to me adjusting it, it had 0 play. Now it has probably about 1/2". But at least I know for sure when I let off the pedal, that the pressure plate is firmly down on the disc.


I'm going to go for a drive tonight again to get it warmed up. Maybe my clutch slips when it gets hot. In that case, it's new clutch time for me. Which sucks cause I have to order a new surface insert for my fidanza flywheel as they can't be resurfaced. 100 so bucks + cost of the clutch. Probably a ACT 6 puck sprung HD PP.

[ercchry]

Originally posted by Cooked Rice


I'm going to go for a drive tonight again to get it warmed up. Maybe my clutch slips when it gets hot. In that case, it's new clutch time for me. Which sucks cause I have to order a new surface insert for my fidanza flywheel as they can't be resurfaced. 100 so bucks + cost of the clutch. Probably a ACT 6 puck sprung HD PP.

i have the act 6-puck unsprung with the extreme plate, it is pretty stiff haha. but i still find it drivable in traffic

[RZRSHARP_SVX]

yeah I have the 6-puck as well and it still but no issues with slippage

[240SX92]

Hahahah

Spirited driving, I think we got almost the exact problem Ray, I was doing some spirited driving last weekend when my clutch actually went. Smelt like baaaaad burning, I could shift for about 5 minutes after, but it felt really bad, when I would let the clutch out it would get stuck half way.

Then when I got to the wal mart parking lot it just stopped working, wouldn't shift into a gear at all. Started the car in first, car jumped and wouldn't catch into second.

Got the car towed home, tried again, now it will shift into gears, but won't catch. Checked the clutch fluid mines really brown and shitty too, had Wes come look with his buddy and i've got bubbles coming up when I pump it.

Moral of the story, kicking out your ass end by clutch kicking is bad news when you have about 500 more pounds then usual.

Anyone know if I should be looking for more then just new clutch? Slave/Master too?

[Cooked Rice]

Well my clutch is ok now. I think it has something to do with the stinking fluid. Probably has quite a bit of moisture. And water expands/contracts/turns into gas with temperature. So I think it was causing my issues. I still don't know how it's getting water in there though. I think i'm going to change to DOT 5.1 vs 4 that I'm using now. I read up and it said brown fluid can be caused by heat, and boiling.