Ttop34

I wanted to share my clutch failure and solution to help others fix the issue if they have the same. I have 94,000 miles and still on the stock clutch. I had never replaced the clutch fluid which is what I think caused the issue. Year and modification details are in my signature.

I’ve always had issues getting into 1st gear and Reverse since I’ve had the car, and just thought that was normal. I had two or three warning signs before serious issues. The warnings were that when taking off from home in the morning, it seemed like when I pulled my foot off the clutch, it would drag and then pop up and hit my foot. I figured my heel was catching the floor mat or something and ignored it. Then coming home from work I started taking off and letting out on the clutch and the car died, like I dropped the clutch at low RPMs. I started it back up and took off down the road and the pedal stayed on the floor. I pulled over, reached down with my hand and pulled it up. As long as I shifted quickly, it seemed to work fine. I was able to get it home, at times I had to flip my foot under the pedal and pull it up while driving. I don’t suggest driving it like this. The real difficulty was parking in a tight area. There were instances where I barely let out on the clutch and I was already going, when normally I wouldn’t be. Then I would depress the pedal all the way and I would stop, but wasn’t able to pull it out of gear. The first time I was able to yank it out, but after that the only to get it out of gear was the kill the car so I could pump the clutch up again.

I originally tried the Ranger method of swapping the fluid. After this improved the situation a little, it didn’t fix it. I was able to at least get the car up on ramps.

After researching I determined that it could just be the master cylinder. I really liked the Tick adjustable clutch, but since my goal is to sale the car soon, I went with a Luk part from NAPA since it was in stock. The removal of the hard line in front of the stock master cylinder was difficult since that metal retainer sleeve was jammed in there, but since the master cylinder is plastic, I just got the Dremel after it and cut off the bottom so I could slide the sleeve out the bottom. I recommend removing the driver’s seat for this, makes it a lot easier, gives you a chance to vacuum under there and condition all surfaces of your seat that are difficult to reach otherwise. Removing and reinstalling the master cylinder was quite simple with the front driver’s side wheel off and access panel removed. Just takes a quarter twist and it’s free.

I knew bleeding the clutch was going to be a chore, so I wanted till I had somebody to pump the clutch, but I had no idea how difficult that was, wow! First, I removed the mid-section of the exhaust which isn’t easy by yourself, then removed the tunnel cover. I had a 9/16” box end wrench that is about 6” long that I was able to get up onto the bleeder screw and loosen it. A friend once showed me how you can use another box end wrench to grab onto the open end of another wrench to use as a cheater bar. You will have to do this to loosen that screw with a short wrench. I had purchased a remote bleeder, but that was pointless since there is no way to install it and tighten it without dropping the transmission out of the car. After figuring this out, I went to reinstall the stock bleeder screw and dropped it down into the bell housing. Now I had to unbolt the headers and tie them out of the way to be able to pull the flywheel inspection panel to get the screw out. I suggest doing this anyways, because the stock bleeder screw sucks and after the first shot of fluid goes through the end like it’s supposed to, the rest just drains down the side of the slave cylinder and out the bottom of the bell housing.

After filling the reservoir up with fluid and tightening the bleeder screw, I pumped the clutch pedal with my hand in hopes of building up pressure, like you do with the brakes. This was my first time bleeding a clutch. My wife was watching for bubbles as I did this. I think I pumped the clutch at least a thousand times. I got so that I could pump on it 40 times without any bubbles. Then under the car I went for the messy part. I bled a lot of nasty fluid out of the slave cylinder. Finally, after refilling the reservoir a few times, it started looking clear.

After getting the car all back together I originally thought I got fluid on my clutch plate and ruined the clutch, but it turned out to be a spark plug wire that pulled apart while pulling the headers. Now after new plugs and wires, the car is running great and the clutch is working like it should. Over-all if you can remove and reinstall the exhaust system, you should be able to handle this at home. The other difficult part is dealing with the bleeder screw. Don’t give up, persistence pays off. Hopefully this can help some people having clutch issues and they can avoid taking it to the shop for a new clutch. I don’t feel that I can replace a clutch at home, so I was looking at a charge of at least $1,700 for parts and labor. Instead I spent $70 plus tax and brake fluid I already had a big bottle of.

Pounder

Race Prepared

Ttop, my clutch pedal just started sticking & I read your post with great interest. Will begin disassembly this weekend & hope the results are as good as yours. Thanks for a great post!

Ed Ramberger

Ranger method is useless - it does nothing to change out the fluid at the slave cylinder. It just makes you feel good that the fluid in the master looks better.

dskinsler83

What is the ranger method ??

Ttop34

Here is a link to the Ranger Method: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...al-issues.html
Direct link to video:
I watched these two videos before I replaced my clutch. Tips from each of them helped me avoid the issues in replacing mine.

This video helped some when bleeding the clutch.

Ed Ramberger

A more or less useless method of bleeding the clutch. Just search it or look above at post #6. It is useless because it has you pump the pedal and exchange fluid in the master, but this does zero to exchange the fluid down the line and at the slave. Advertised as the greatest thing since sliced bread - just hype. The purpose of bleeding is to replace all the fluid - not just the master. If anyone thinks that the method replaces the fluid down to the slave, I am willing to buy some of what they are smoking.

At best that method just keeps getting a little fluid here and there from the line and you would need to "repeat the protocol" about a bazillion times and still never get the fluid down to the slave. If the fluid in the master is so bad that the pedal is sticking, ALL the fluid needs to be properly bled.