lt4obsesses

Okay, new clutch flywheel, clutch is carolina clutch stage II, and flywheel is eckler's iron single mass, ( direct fit replacement). Got everything together, trans went in fairly smoothly. Had to get new engine ground strap, on clean on frame, not shared.

Trouble...go to start and get one clunk and then the dash lights go off and come back on but dim. Double checked all grounds and starter mount.

Battery was disconnected during the whole time of work.

Thinking either power of the starter needs to be shimmed. Any thoughts are highly appreciated

tahoemedic

sounds like the starter doesn't like the new flywheel...seems like the silinoid is engaged but not matching the teeth on the flywheel, locking it out.

Black89Z51

It's either a starter/flywheel problem or there is a loose wiring connection. Pulling that much amperage from a loose connection has a tendency to cut power to everything.

Check the connections at the battery and starter, and ohm your new ground strap to the connection points to make sure you have a good ground.

lt4obsesses

Yes, yes and yes. This thing is frustrating the (insert explicitive) outta me. After some charging and some tightening, I managed to get it multiple click. I'm doing this at a DIY shop that rents out lift bays. There are several well experienced guys around there that are scrathing their heads too.

It does sound like the starter is not engaging the flywheel. But...when I jump the starter, it cranks the engine. But turn the key and no deal. One of the guys turned the flywheel with a pry bar, and it turns as it should, so there's no lock up in the clutch assembly. Also turned the crank from the front of the engine with no issues. The one thing no tried, now that i think of it was turning the crank with the clutch pedal depressed.

Right now, the battery is on a charger. It was fine when I drove the car there, but it was worked hard today. So, we'll see in the morning. But I'm not optimistic.

My thoughts are possibly starter/flywheel. Shimmed the starter at one point, and it clicked(clunked) faster. Or possibly the starter needs replaced. But then, if it's a lock out issue, a new starter won't fix that.

Or, I just need to scuff clean the old DMF, no leaks but perhpas a little beyond spec on movement, and order the oem type clutch. ...and taking this thing apart again is the last thing I want to do.

LouisvilleLT4

I'd treat it like a fresh diagnosis job, as though you didn't just change the FW, and basically follow the no-crank flowchart in the FSM. You never know if something weird like the clutch pedal switch or security system got perturbed during all this, so you might as well assume nothing and properly rule each thing out. I was in a similar, no-click state last month and it turned out to be my key pellet reader of all things, but the flowchart led me right to it.

tahoemedic

Sounds like something is amiss in the ignition key or as previously mentioned, the clutch start cancel switch is out of adjustment or faulty. I'd start there rather than put anymore money into throwing parts at it.

lt4obsesses

So, I'm sitting here at home, thinking about this. Then suddenly I remembered something I forgot about completely. Someone once told me that to eliminate the cags, you just disconnect it. Well, I left it disconnected during assembly, and completely forgot about till now. Could this be the issue? I would be highly embarassed, but also relieved if so.

Nevermind, a quick search revealed many unplugged cags on running cars.

LouisvilleLT4

That's the spirit. Never forget that problems might be from something stupid and unforeseen.

People even drive around with it plugged in? How do they not go berserk after the 20th or 30th time it blocks them from what they were doing?

lt4obsesses

And that's the part that's driving me crazy, is it some little thing overlooked? But I have this deep down gut feeling that the problem is the flywheel, I just don't want this to be the case.



Or that folks pay money for a gadget to turn it off? Funny thing about me is that while it was kind of a pita at first, I guess I adjusted the way I drive to a point where I rarely notice it.

rklessdriver

To me it just sounds like a low/weak battery or bad ground....

Tthe first thing I'd do is double check all the grounds and the starter hot wire from the battery, to make sure you didn't pinch it between the bellhousing and the block.

Then I'd check voltage (and CCA if you have a battery tester) at the battery and charge as needed.
Will

Tom400CFI

BINGO!!!^^^ Why? The evidince is right here, in your first post: ...Dash lights go out, come back on dim. There is a clue guys. I't not starter shimming, it's not flywheels, it's not ignition switches.....it's low voltage. EIther b/c the battery is simply dead (or near dead), or due to a bad connection somewhere. Trouble shoot the low voltage situation. What does the volt gauge say when the dash is dim? What are the volts at the battery at the same time?

lt4obsesses

Narrowed down a little bit. Jumped starter again, plenty of power, and it does turn the flywheel as observed on the crank pulley. However, when clutch pedal is pressed, everything binds up and the pedal feels more like a brake than a clutch. Had someone push the pedal while I rotated the crank, and it stopped cold at that point.

I thought that the clearance of bellhousing to PP looked awfully tight, but what clearances aren't tight on these things? Ihave a new clutch master that needs to go in and the slave leaks a little, so I am going to replace those. Although I don't think that's the issue completely.

The DMF I pulled is gone, way to loose. So reusing that is not an option. I feel that the flywheel I got is either to thick for the clutch kit, or vise versa. I think a thinner clutch disk would work, don't really want to fork out for a new flywheel or clutch kit if I can avoid it.

rklessdriver

I know with the ZF6 you can't see anything in there when there is a problem.

Have the helper slowly ease the clutch in as you rotate the engine over and see if you can hear the fork draging on the pressure plate before the peddle gets all the way to the floor.

If so you probally recieved a camaro flywheel that was not machined correctly and still too thick - or maybe a camaro clutch kit but I'd guess the flywheel first because alot of these companies just try to cut .090 off the face of a Camaro FW and for use in the Corvette. If they didn't machine it correct stuff won't work.

What ever the problem at this point your taking the trans back out and laying the individual clutch and FW pieces out next to the old stuff and trying to find which new part is wrong.

Will

lt4obsesses

Interesting, and it makes sense. This was my first attempt at this, and probably got so caught up in the moment that sitting them side by side didn't really occur to me, just thinking it should be a direct replacement. That one's on me for not checking.

mtwoolford

Many cars perhaps, but not 1996 cars (first year OBII), simply disconnecting the Cags shows the computer infinite resistance (open circuit); on a 96 OBII car the computer wants to see reistance so it knows the Cags hasn't been disabled.

On my 96 I went to Corvette Central, part number 534301 for a plug dedicated to the 96 model year, for bypassing the Cags.

Not saying this is your entire problem, but it is a problem.

LouisvilleLT4

I have a '96 and can verify that the car runs fine with the CAGS unplugged. You'll just get a thrown code.

TorchTarga94

How many miles are on your car? How much slack was in the Dual Mass Flywheel? Did you see if it met the specifications listed in the FSM? I reused mine at 106k miles. I just scuffed it up with a maroon scotch brite pad as suggested by a few here on the forum as well as Bill Boudreau.

mtwoolford

Just my personal experience, a very reputable company shipped me a camaro flywheel; luckily I caught the mistake by double checking part numbers before I installed it. To be fair they probably do sell a lot more camaro flywheels than corvette flywheels...but still

RichS

Did you hook up all the ground wires to one of the studs that hold on the bell housing?

lt4obsesses

Well, I reasonably confident that all the grounds are in order and the problem is not electrical. The starter will turn the flywheel when jumped. Everything binds up when the clutch pedal is pushed in and there's no friction point. The pedal does go down with what I would call normal resistance. So, my problem is either hydraulics, clearance, or alignment. I plan to replace the clutch master and slave this weekend.

Of course I would be very pleased if it were hydraulic related and this fixed it, but I have doubt about that, but this stuff should be replaced anyway. I think there is not enough room for the release bearing to dis engage the clutch disk, or there is not enough room for the clutch to dis engage.

So, if I am going to have to go through pulling everything out again, I think I have decided to go with the light steel FW from Spec. Might as well put the part I really wanted in the first place, and I've never heard of any fitment issues with there product, and they seem to have a good quality reputation.