[2ndgen]

On Thursday, of all days (all the shops closed for the long weekend, ugh!), I was driving in town like I normally do (yes, pull hard from ever stop light )

Suddenly the clutch engagement changed significantly.

Now it seems to have a much shorter throw, and it became much, much stiffer. Seems it now only engages much closer to the bottom, probably double or triple the pressure. The clutch seems to still engage and drive just fine--no slipping, was able to drive it home just fine otherwise.

45k miles, no CDV delete or any mods to the driveline other than a DIRS diff brace..

Monday I'll take it in and get it pulled apart and diagnosed, but hoping to get some idea of what and how bad it might be beforehand...

Any ideas?

 

[Frosty]

Sounds almost like the clutch master cylinder isn't working properly. Not sure though but that would be the first thing I'd look at.

 

[2ndgen]

Just in case it was just air somehow getting into the slave cylinder I pumped it 300 times. No change, only got a really tired leg out of it.

It is definitely much stiffer to push now.

 

[Frosty]

Yeah, don't think air. That would cause the longer pedal travel but not the extra effort. I'm leaning towards the master cylinder or an issue with the pressure plate. Those are the only things I can think of that will cause longer travel and more pressure. Tuned in for sure though.

 

[HughJass]

My SRT-10 clutch did the same thing. I replaced the clutch master cylinder and all was good.

 

[2ndgen]

Assuming that is the problem, how dangerous is it? Is it at risk of having a catastrophic failure soon, or is it safe enough to keep driving in its degraded state while I wait for parts to arrive and replace it?

 

[Frosty]

If you have another vehicle I would drive it until you can fix. I doubt anything catastrophic would occur if things got worse but it's entirely possible the clutch becomes completely disabled and you get stranded. I doubt that would happen but if you have the same luck I do anything is possible...

 

[2ndgen]

If you have another vehicle I would drive it until you can fix. I doubt anything catastrophic would occur if things got worse but it's entirely possible the clutch becomes completely disabled and you get stranded. I doubt that would happen but if you have the same luck I do anything is possible...

That's what I've been doing--driving my other car. Last thing I want is for the clutch to break and get stuck engaged... that wouldn't be fun.

 

[2ndgen]

Replaced the clutch master cylinder and it didn't fix it, in fact, as the mechanic was pulling it out of the bay it got worse--didn't want to go into gear. So, we pushed it back into the bay and pulled the clutch, and one of the springs just fell right out--so it was the clutch after all.

 

[Frosty]

Glad you got it sorted. You go with a stock clutch?

 

[2ndgen]

Glad you got it sorted. You go with a stock clutch?

No, I've had a BBG twin disk ready to go in for over a year now. So finally going to run with that.

 

[2ndgen]

The clutch on the BBG feels way different.
Compared to the stock it's super soft and nearly all of the engagement is at the very top of the pedal throw. It's going to take a bit of getting used to.