Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

I let my friend drive my car last week (big mistake, i know) When I got it back, it was making a weird noise from the gearbox. Like a swishy noise or something.

Today I was driving around and noticed that when I would push the clutch pedal all the way down, it would fell like something was beating on the clutch. Something was making resistance against my foot. After about 3 minutes, it got to a point where it would do it even if I was barely on the clutch and it seemed to be binding something up the harder i pushed on it. I finally said F it and put it in neutral and floored the clutch. When I did this the motor shut off.

I've been having problems since I got the car in March trying to use reverse, and today I started having problems going into 5th before this happened. If I tried going from 6th to 5th, it wouldn't go in. But I could go from 4th to 5th just fine.

Anyway, now my car won't start. It's like something has binded the driveline up. The starter kicks hard, but nothing turns.

The clutch is a Spec Stage III w/about 3k miles on it. The tranny is T56 stock. I'm putting down rwhp somewhere in the 340 range.

What's wrong with my car?

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

When you were pushing the clutch too the floor did it make a massive grinding sound as it got to the floor? If it did the only thing I can think is your clutch fork was contacting your pressure plate. Maybe its stuck against it now for some reason, maybe the hydraulic slave cylinder is stuck forcing the clutch fork against the pp. It sounds like your master cylinder or slave cylinder is messed up especially since it wasnt releasing right for a while causing missed shifts and grinding. You may also need to replace the clutch fork, possibly the clutch & PP too. I would pull the slave cylinder off the bellhousing and take a look inside and see whats going on. If you havnt done that before its on the belhousing on the driver side of the trans, two bolts hold it on. When that comes out, you'll see the fork and can see inside the bellhousing and see if there is any damage. You may just need a new clutch hydraulic system - the master cylinder, line and slave cylinder. Not a major deal.

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

I would just pull the tranny and have a look and see whats up.

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

Well, I had trouble going into reverse and 5th before I replaced the hydraulic system in June. I was told it was a synchro problem.

And yes, it is a massive grinding sound when I push the clutch down, even in neutral.

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

Kurt...gimme a call so I can take a look at it. Are you in Wilmington or Fayetteville? Call me after 9 pm...

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

I'm in Wilmington.

I will definitly give you a call at 9pm.

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

Anyone know Spec's policy on warranty refunds and exchanges?

I heard you could send them your bunk Stage III and get a Stage IV

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

I just contacted spec via email yesterday. They told me there were willing to take my new spec stg. III ceramic without a recipt and trade it in for a new spec stg. IV ceramic with the lightweight option for $125 plus shipping. I think I'm gonna do it :D

I dont know how they'd handle yours since it's still in the car working fine (as far as we know) but it's worth asking about. From what I hear the spec III series clutches are pretty much the same as the IV, except that the IV is unsprung which is why it is so much stronger. Something about the stg III using small damper springs in the disc.

TM me so I can get there tonight if you want me to, Kurt.

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

I don't know if you didn't get my PM, but I sent you directions to my place.

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

Closest one yet. Took a look at it today, and even though it wasn't contacting for the reason you thought it was, it was making contact. Why? The O'enlightened one who assembled it chose not to tighten the pivot down for the clutch fork. So it got loose and eventually let the clutch fork contact the PP to the point where it would stall the engine. At first it was acting like the engine seized, but when I realized it wouldn't turn over by hand with the clutch released in neutral, but it would do the opposite, something was up. Sure enough, the damn thing backed out 1/4 inch. I dont think that clutch replacement at this time is necessary since the problem only happened for a short time, and I dont see any major damage or tons of metal, but it would really piss me off.

People suck. Unbelieveable... :eek:

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

Lets not say any names yet...

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

Did someone say SPEC....???

:) ... :D ..... :mad:

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

Just to clear this up.....

I'm not the one who did the installation. But as I said above, I won't say any names.....yet.


And Dave...
I've pretty much decided to do it myself over here in Wilmington. I pretty much understand that I don't need to completely take the tranny out. Just tell me what to do and tell me the tools I need, and I'll see how far I can get with it over here. Worse case scenario is I don't get it done, and end up towing it over to Fayetteville (which I would have to do anyway).
Reason I made this decision is cause I got that job at the airport and I'll be able to buy some tools tomorrow. Let me know....

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

...after giving it some thought it would be best to pull the tranny. Reason is because there was an awful lot of sideloading on that bolt while it was on it's last few threads. Need to check and make sure it's going to be OK. Also wouldn't hurt to clean out the metal shavings and take pictures for your future reference, and it really isn't too much more work anyway.

Call me and I'll tell you what you need.

Re: Did I break the clutch or the tranny?
 

Thanks for the heads up man. I was considering getting a set of ramps. Would those work better than jack stands?

I'll give you a call tomorrow. I saw your post at 10:50 and decided it would be too late to call you.