Clutch Problems

Hey guys,

I've been having problems with my clutch (4 puk copper) ever since it was re surfaced. I bedded it in while running in the motor so i went easy on it for 1700km. So I thought it would be perfectly fine after that but isn't.

Now, when ever I drive for a while the clutch seems to get too hot and just starts to slip when I push the car. Even if I baby the clutch for 20km's then decide to push it, it slips.

I decided to have a look 2day and see if I could figure out whats going on. I checked the clutch master cylinder reservoir and it was empty 😮 ... it seems that the fluid has leaked out by the push rod becasue I can see the fluid in my footwell 🙁

The clutch still releases fine... Could this be why my clutch is slipping? I can't see why the clutch would slip because of leaking fluid. Also, how do I get it to stop leaking? Is there a seal to replace?

Here is a pic of the footwell:

That sucks. Sorry I got no advice on how to sort it.

WHat I do know is that puk clutches apparently start to slip constantly if you happen to slip it occasionally - like a person does in daily driving in traffic etc. But don't quote me. that's just what I heard.

i got the same clutch and it has taken a long time to start working still not 100% slips when hot but nowhere near as bad when it first was done. was feb had it done but dont drive the car very much.

done know about the seals

Trance that could cause the clutch to slip. You can get a pressure build up in the clutch line which prevents the clutch from engaging 100%.

Rats clutch took ages to settle down but is good now as far as I know.

you can rebuild those clutch master cylinders quite easily.

take it out, and go to you local spares store with it as a sample. they should be able to match up the seals and things easily. sokar had his done recently - no problem, and IIRC so did pinkfluff!

dont forget to hone the cylinder bore again though.

i think the most difficult part of the job is removing the clutch master cylinder - but thats only true if you have a CA18det, cos the intake manifold gets in the way. if you have the SR20 highport then its not problem - mowahahahahahahaha. another good reason to go for an SR20!!!!

Gary57 wrote:

Rats clutch took ages to settle down but is good now as far as I know.

It is MUCH MUCH better, but drive hard for a while and will start slipping, cant rev up and drop the clutch, have to let it bite then floor it, drifting going to be a problem

i never had an issue with my valeo clutch on my ca18det. that was through a year of street driving and then through a year of street driving and track drifting!!!

go figure!

could it be that my engine had way less power than it should've???

Ok, so 2moro I'l pull out that master cylilder and try see whats up. I hope this could be the reason that the clutch is slipping.

Also, what fluid do you guys normaly use? DOT 3 is recomended but can I just as well use DOT 4?

My clutch was biting like a Taiwanese River Rat from the start, had to heel toe otherwize it would lock the back wheels... Now however its much like a normal clutch... But bites when it needs too...

On the fluid thing, agree with Gary and disagree, when the fluid is low normally you can't get the slave cylinder to push out the rod far enough so you'll have a hard time engaging gears, if you didn't have that problem, then it might have been that the rod became stuck thus the slippage.

On fluid, I use my motol dot 4 fluid, works like a bomb, and doesn't overheat, in Sandton Traffic.

What has started, but not an issue, if the car stands for a long time, the clutch becomes soft, have an idea that the seals are starting to get hard. Pump the clutch once or twice and its back to normal.

Vlade wrote:

Taiwanese River Rat

Awesome any info on it?

if air gets into your lines (boiling, leaks, etc) then the pedal could go squishy like that. but when the fluids heats up the air expands too, so you clutch slave could be pushing on the clutch fork/pressure plate, etc.

hey - that info was in reference to vlades story, but now i realise that might be a solution for trance too!!! have you bled the clutch properly. that clutch loop is a muthaFFA to bleed properly. so i just threw mine in my "stoopid things i dont need on my SX box"!!! 😂 😂

Thats a good point veecee. Maybe before I pull the master cylinder out I'l rather try just bleed the system well and see what happens. Because from what I can see of whats left at the bottom of the resivoir it looks like the fluid is a hellava contaminated.

Vlade wrote:

if you didn't have that problem, then it might have been that the rod became stuck thus the slippage.

This could also possibly be the problem.

looks like a thorough clutch hydraulic system check is in order???

when i got my sx the clutch fluid was black as the night - heavily contaminated. i immediately cleaned out everything!!! it can only do good!!!

but a good mod on the clutch is to remove that clutch damper loop. its there to make the pedal feel lighter. but it makes bleeding the system difficult. i'm sure there is a write-up in the articles section on how to remove it.

i've done the mod on 4 cars now, and its worked out great on all of them!!!

DO IT!!!!

Hehe, ok I'l search for the article in the morning and see what I can do.

One thing I forgot to mention, if your clutch shudders it wears out the rubbers on the slave / master cylinders rather quickly and you'll start to experience problems...

I agree that there is a problem with your hidrolics, but if your hidrolics does not work because of air or what what....the only influence it will have is that your clutch won't disengage properly, your clutch won't slip, you won't be able to change gears as easely or not at all because your clutch won't disengage.

I bank on 1 of two things, either your setting on your pedal shaft going to the master cylinder is out to far or your pressure plate is to soft to keep you clutch ingaged, I have said it before, if you go for a button clutch or stronger upgraded clutch, a dubbel diafram pressure plate will garentee success, it will work with single but at some stage single will be too soft the handle the powa and it will start to slip.

I know some people are going to disagree, thats fine, lets not start again, this is my opinion and the person needing helps perogitive to follow or not.

Hope you get it sorted soon, whatever is wrong.

Also, what fluid do you guys normaly use? DOT 3 is recomended but can I just as well use DOT 4?

As far as I know if the car's manual reccomends DOT 3 then you can use
DOT 4 but if it reccomends DOT 4 you can't use DOT 3 . 😀

Thanks for all the info guys.

I'm going to be removing the clutch damper like veecee sugested while I'm working on the clutch. I couldn't find an article in the article sections of this forum but here are some other articles on how to do it for those interested:

http://garage.projectraine.com/content_guides/240_clutchdamper/clutchdamper.html

http://www.zeroyon.com/index/content/view/32/47/

Veecee, how easy is it to bend that hard line? I don't wanna stuff it up.

Draco wrote:

I bank on 1 of two things, either your setting on your pedal shaft going to the master cylinder is out to far or your pressure plate is to soft to keep you clutch ingaged, I have said it before, if you go for a button clutch or stronger upgraded clutch, a dubbel diafram pressure plate will garentee success, it will work with single but at some stage single will be too soft the handle the powa and it will start to slip.

I may just have to go with a double diafram pressure plate if I can't get it to stop slipping.