Thought I'd share my fantastic tales of clutch problems with you all, to possibly get some advice or at least to help out any of you that might be unlucky enough to have this problem in the future.
It first started with a noise.
Clutch disengaged I would hear a noise coming from the clutch assembly area. It was a metallic clicking noise, which increased with RPM. Once the pedal was released, and the clutch was engaged there was no noise. This I believe was caused by a dirty / stuffed throw out bearing (or thrust bearing), this item wasn't new when I last had the clutch changed and to me it seemed as though this was the only cause of this noise. I also noted that when I decelerated in gear (engine braked, if you will) that there was also a noise, hard to describe actually, but a grinding whirring kind of noise, which was loudest in 2nd and 3rd. This got worse with time, as did the 'clicking' type noise.
I was not having ANY issues with the clutch for a long time, and then it progressively got a little harder to change gear, then got worse. It got to the point where with the clutch pedal fully depressed, I could barely get it in to 1st and reverse, then one night it let go, and I could not change gear at all unless I RPM matched (no clutch required).
At this point, the pedal still felt normal, all fluids OK and no strange noises. I have burst a clutch line before and I know what happens when you do that (pedal stays on the ground). I had no funny spots on the pedal or anything, completely fine and could not get gears.
I tried a few things, one of which was to start the car (cold) in gear, with the clutch pedal in. Doing this worked fine, but once I took it out of gear and tried to put in gear again, it would fail and I would just crunch gears.
Anyway, from there I have done the following:
- Replaced throw out bearing
- Bled clutch system
- Replaced master cylinder
- Bled clutch system
- Observed clutch fork travel
All went OK, clutch fork moves OK and looks fine (not bent or damaged). The travel of the fork seems to be normal (20 to 30mm going by eye), and I have re-aligned the pin on the cylinder to the clutch fork. I believe the selector fork in the gearbox is fine, as I can get gears without an issue whilst the car is off, or when I RPM match. The two remaining things are:
- Slave cylinder
- Physical clutch problem (clutch plate fused to pressure plate, or physically damaged component of the clutch or pressure plate).
Now slave cylinder I will be replacing as soon as I can source one, and I really am hoping that it is the cause. I firmly believed that the master was the culprit, as when I wedged something between the slave cylinder pin and the clutch fork (10mm) the clutch pedal went all the way to the ground and clutch would not 'fully' disengage (if at all). From the information I was given, doing this (reducing the slave cylinder travel) would result in the clutch pedal not depressing 100%, but perhaps this is wrong. I am not totally sure on the symptoms of a shagged slave cylinder, all the information I can really find on clutch problems are related to burst lines / air pockets etc.. So if nothing else, hopefully this will serve as some information for someone in the future.
If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them, otherwise I will let you know once I have swapped the slave cylinder and report on the situation. Unfortunately, if that is not successful, the gearbox will have to come out and might be time for a new clutch and pressure plate
Dylan
