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Clutch pedal question

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Old 04-10-2007, 08:15 AM
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tiki240
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Default Clutch pedal question

Where does your clutch begin to engage? mine is such that when i start to take my foot off the clutch pedal, the clutch begins to engage when the pedal is maybe half an inch to an inch off the floor. baisically, what im trying to figure out is if the clutch pedal is supposed to have such a long travel before the disengage point OR such a SHORT distance of travel before the engagement point. ive never had the clutch stuck to the floor problem, or felt it really slipping unless i was trying to get off the line without roasting the tires. before i spend the little nestegg ive got saved on a rippershfter, and new seats, i want to make sure that im not looking at a clutch replacement in the near future.. ive got 114k on the clock and just bought my c5 from a independant dealership this past weekend, so who knows!!
Old 04-10-2007, 09:39 AM
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dang, anyone?
Old 04-10-2007, 09:47 AM
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All my clutch action in my 97 is in the top 2 or 3 inches of the pedal throw. I have maybe an inch of play at the top. If mine was like yours, I would try bleeding/flushing the clutch slave and see if that made a difference.
Old 04-10-2007, 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted by myk7
All my clutch action in my 97 is in the top 2 or 3 inches of the pedal throw. I have maybe an inch of play at the top. If mine was like yours, I would try bleeding/flushing the clutch slave and see if that made a difference.

I changed the fluid to mine was dirty as hell... mine is on the floor as well my slave started to leak and is pretty much gone car has 69k
GM quoted me $1400 just to replace the slave
good luck hopefully the fluid change does the job
Old 04-10-2007, 02:32 PM
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wow, so i just went outside and looked at my clutch fluid resivor and wow... its black and oily.. it really looks like used motor oil... mityvac here i come.
Old 04-10-2007, 07:04 PM
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Replacing the fluid in the reservoir will certainly not hurt anything, but don't expect miracles. That's not the fluid that's being used or needs to be replaced. The fluid in the master and slave is what needs to be flushed. If you can open the bleeder on the slave, you can use the mityvac to push fluid through the system. You can even use the mityvac to pull air out of the system, but the rear seal in the master doesn't like negative pressure and pulls air in easily, you can pull bubbles all day if you use too much vacuum.
Old 04-10-2007, 09:32 PM
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Considering your mileage, you might want to consider a clutch adjustment too. It's outlined in the shop manual and basically involves dropping the center exhaust section and the lower inspection cover in order to accomplish. If a fluid change or clutch adjustment doesn't help, it may just be time for a new clutch assembly. Like brake pads, etc, it eventually wears out.
HTH,
Robert
Old 04-10-2007, 10:00 PM
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What you want to do is invest about $10 worth of DOT4 brake fluid (Prestone synthetic works well) and an hour to clean up your clutch fluid.

(1) Remove the content of the reservoir with a syringe.

(2) Clean it and the rubber boot out with a clean lint-free towel.

(3) Refill with fresh fluid to the fill line (felt with the finger inside the reservoir).

(4) Replace the cap tightly.

(5) Pump the clutch pedal 10-20 times.

(6) Reinspect the fluid color. If it is not totally clear and free of debris, start again at step (1).

May take 5-10 repetitions to get it clean. But once it is, your pedal engagement point will probably return to normal.

If not, you will have eliminated the degraded fluid as causative.

I've attached a few thumb images of what nasty fluid look like and one of the syringe I prefer. Also one of the changing kit I carry in the car.

My last two Z06s have never had a sticky clutch pedal, even through more than 400 passes at the drags. This is because I keep the fluid pristine.

Ranger
Attached Images     

Last edited by Ranger; 04-10-2007 at 10:03 PM.
Old 04-11-2007, 02:45 AM
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Originally Posted by LoneStarFRC
Considering your mileage, you might want to consider a clutch adjustment too. It's outlined in the shop manual and basically involves dropping the center exhaust section and the lower inspection cover in order to accomplish. If a fluid change or clutch adjustment doesn't help, it may just be time for a new clutch assembly. Like brake pads, etc, it eventually wears out.
HTH,
Robert
?????? Are you talking about alligning the Torque Tube? As far as I know there is no adjustment to a hydraulic clutch!

FWIW As far as I know the TT allignment is A4 specific...

Old 04-11-2007, 07:36 AM
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well last night i gave jmiller a call (thanks bud) and he guided me through his process with the mity vac (took a long while) however, here are the results, after the mity-vac process (probably only 20 minutes worth) my clutch pedal returned to a more normal feel for about 2 minutes of driving haha. so what i think ill do today, is try rangers way of bleeding the clutch fluid, if that works even better, then ill try bleeding it via slave cylinder this weekend. funny thing, clutch builds more pressure, the harder i drive it.. so im thinkin that fluid is just NAS-T-Y
Old 04-11-2007, 04:23 PM
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Originally Posted by tstar
?????? Are you talking about alligning the Torque Tube? As far as I know there is no adjustment to a hydraulic clutch!

FWIW As far as I know the TT allignment is A4 specific...

No. Has nothing to do with the torque tube or the hydraulics!
There are adjusting rings on the LUK (factory OEM) clutch pressure plates.

Last edited by LoneStarFRC; 04-12-2007 at 07:06 PM. Reason: Typo. Yak!
Old 04-11-2007, 08:24 PM
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Default thanks for the help

Originally Posted by Ranger
What you want to do is invest about $10 worth of DOT4 brake fluid (Prestone synthetic works well) and an hour to clean up your clutch fluid.

(1) Remove the content of the reservoir with a syringe.

(2) Clean it and the rubber boot out with a clean lint-free towel.

(3) Refill with fresh fluid to the fill line (felt with the finger inside the reservoir).

(4) Replace the cap tightly.

(5) Pump the clutch pedal 10-20 times.

(6) Reinspect the fluid color. If it is not totally clear and free of debris, start again at step (1).

May take 5-10 repetitions to get it clean. But once it is, your pedal engagement point will probably return to normal.

If not, you will have eliminated the degraded fluid as causative.

I've attached a few thumb images of what nasty fluid look like and one of the syringe I prefer. Also one of the changing kit I carry in the car.

My last two Z06s have never had a sticky clutch pedal, even through more than 400 passes at the drags. This is because I keep the fluid pristine.

Ranger
Old 04-11-2007, 08:45 PM
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reporting back in, after driving around all day ive noticed significantly better clutch feel. im thinking and praying that the culprit was that horrendous fluid that was in there, ill keep changing it out till it stays clear. also, im going to save up for a clutch and hydralics replacement before i do any power-adders aside from intake and a exhaust of some sort.
Old 04-11-2007, 08:54 PM
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^^^good to read that.

The magic is in getting the fluid clean and then keeping it that way.

Did the clutch engagement point return to normal?

Ranger
Old 04-11-2007, 10:18 PM
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Originally Posted by tiki240
reporting back in, after driving around all day ive noticed significantly better clutch feel. im thinking and praying that the culprit was that horrendous fluid that was in there, ill keep changing it out till it stays clear. also, im going to save up for a clutch and hydralics replacement before i do any power-adders aside from intake and a exhaust of some sort.
That's good.
Also, come time for clutch job, specify the '04 Z06 clutch slave cylinder/throwout bearing to be used. There was a significant improvement in the design and is a direct fit replacement too; no modifications required.
Old 04-11-2007, 11:43 PM
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Originally Posted by LoneStarFRC
No. Has nothing to do with the torque tube or the hydraulics!
There are adjusting rings on the pressure LUK (factory OEM) clutch pressure plates.
Thanx... Learned something new!

Gotta love this Forum!
Old 04-12-2007, 08:25 AM
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Originally Posted by Ranger
^^^good to read that.

The magic is in getting the fluid clean and then keeping it that way.

Did the clutch engagement point return to normal?

Ranger
clutch feel is about 90% normal, so im hoping after a few more days of drving and changing fluid she'll be right as rain

I dont know why i used that smiley, just seemed like it wanted to be used.

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Old 04-12-2007, 08:33 AM
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Originally Posted by tiki240
Where does your clutch begin to engage? mine is such that when i start to take my foot off the clutch pedal, the clutch begins to engage when the pedal is maybe half an inch to an inch off the floor....
Originally Posted by Ranger
...Did the clutch engagement point return to normal?....
Originally Posted by tiki240
clutch feel is about 90% normal....
Again, a specific question. Did the clutch engagement point return to the normal position? If so, where does it engage now?

Ranger
Old 04-14-2007, 08:43 AM
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tiki240
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Id say it starts to engage about 3 inches maybe 3.5 inches from the floor. and starts to disengage from about an inch from the top
Old 04-14-2007, 11:28 AM
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^^^That's about normal. Glad it works out for you.

Ranger
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