Let's play "Diagnose the Clutch Problem"!

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

I have an unusual situation here. This is a car that was partially built by the owner.....he is the one who purchased the engine,transaxle and clutch and assembled them before shipping the car to me to finish up. Well, we got the car finished up and got in it, started it up and I couldn't get it into gear. Shut off the car and put the car in gear and started it. The clutch is always dragging....it never fully releases. Yes, we have a great pedal and you can push the clutch all the way in, start the car and the clutch drags enough to move you forward....not total engagement....just slipping. You can let the clutch pedal out a long ways before there is ANY change at all in the level of engagement and with the clutch all the way out, you do have complete engagement.....so it's not like we just need more pedal travel or more slave travel. Something else is going on. I pulled the trans today. Here is what I have:





As you can see on the pressure plate, there is a dark spot at the 12 o'clock position where you can see it has been hot. On the flywheel, you have the exact same range of hot spot at the 7 o'clock and it lines up perfectly with the hot spot on the pressure plate when you assemble the pressure plate in the same orientation that it came off.....that hot spot lines up perfectly on both surfaces. On the flywheel, it looks like the outside half of the clutch disc is making contact and that's it. The inner half of the clutch disc lining is completely untouched...like brand new. The pressure plate side is similar. I did slide the clutch disc onto the input shaft splines, and it glides on there with no problems all the way up to the bushing sleeve around the input shaft.

So....anyone have any thoughts on this? This is something I have not ran into before....

[first time builder]

I can't tell from these photos but is it possible the diaphram in the clutch cover has collapsed ?
Kenny

[rev2xs]

A warped clutch disc can cause these exact problems according to SPEC, as i had the same issue with one of their clutch kits. The disc could have been warped when the owner was originally installing it. He could have dropped the clutch disc, or even installed it around facing the wrong direction originally, then tried to force the transaxle on.

[Cattrax]

I agree with rev2xs, may be warped disc. I would also check that flywheel is square with crank/block. If the flywheel is not square on the crank, the disc will try to run at an angle between the flywheel and pp. Also is adapter plate fully seated on the block all around? Either could cause the problem. Check both with a dial indicator. Trans people like to see within 0.002" square and concentric as I recall. From photo it looks like bellhousing made contact all around the top (nothing pinched between).
Good Luck.
Ken

[Cattrax]

PS: On second thought, if it was a warped disc, it would drag all the way around, would it not? Also with my theory of the flywheel not being square, the hot spots would be across from each other, not lined up. So much for my theory. If it holds well but does not release fully, maybe something is caught between the pressure plate and the hat, not letting one spot retract.
Ken

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Well, I believe the mystery is solved. I finally had time to actually pick up the pressure plate and look it over:





In the photo of the pressure plate above where the dark spot is at 12 o'clock, when you flip it over, these cracks are at about the 10:30 and 1:30.

Looks like it's time for some new parts.....

[first time builder]

And the cracks caused the diaphram to collapse. I have seen many collapse without the cracks. Usually from over centering the throw out bearing. (to much travel of throw out bearing)
Kenny