Hey all. I've searched a lot for this one on multiple occasions, but still can't seem to find any answers for it. Sorry if I've missed a prior post about this!

This is for a 1990 IROC 305 TPI with T-5 (hydraulic clutch).

Anyway, there are two issues here, and they could be related:

1.) The clutch has gotten to where it has to be completely touching the floor for it to disengage. If you let off even slightly, it starts to engage (which I can tell since the gears start to grind if you try to shift into gear with the pedal even slightly off the floor). I've bled the clutch, and I'm pretty sure that's not the problem. Could it be the fork? Maybe the master cylinder? The slave cylinder's less than 2 years old, so i don't think that's the problem.

2.) After the engine has run for 20 or 30 minutes or so, and if you are at a stop with the clutch on the floor ("disengaged"), it is almost impossible to put the car into any gear. I literally have to force it. To get it into any gear, I have to downshift while I'm still moving and it will slide in at the right RPM. Basically, it feels like if I could push the clutch pedal down another inch or so, things would work like they should. I'm wondering if the heat of the engine is making the hydraulic lines expand, or what in the world the problem could be!?

If anyone could help me with this I'd be very very grateful... If i've left out relevant info, please let me know! Thanks!

 

I'm having the same problems with my clutch. I bled them as well, I'm not loosing fluid, but it seem the longer I hold the pedal down the harder it gets to shift.

Anyone?

 

does it feel like the peddle is walking away form you. so the longer you wait the harder it is to get into gear. i would say master cylender is leaking got a bad seal. happend t my friend with his brakes. so don't see y not with master clutch cyl. but thats just me

 

That may be it... it doesn't seem to fade instantly though. Also, I can pump the clutch, but it doesn't seem to build up any more pressure in the lines. If it does, it's negligible. I'll check the master cylinder tomorrow for leaks... Any other suggestions till then?

 

I'll take a stab at it... your pedal free-play is fine, feeling firm like nothing's wrong, but it's not disengaging anything until the very end of the 'throw.' So your hydraulics, which are not leaking, are working fine, keeping the clutch fork and pedal firm. So it's prolly one of two things, maybe both, depending how old your clutch is:

1) flywheel is so badly scored that the clutch plate is getting very little clearance when it's disengaged, if any clearance at all.

2) throwout bearing is in such bad shape that the clutch fork itself is trying to doing the disengaging, but it's not able to push far enough to completely disengage the clutch or keep it disengaged.

You'll be fine like this for awhile, but I'd say it's time to start saving up for not only a new clutch kit, but also a new flywheel.

 

Thanks LAFire... that sounds pretty logical, because the clutch is pretty firm with little play. I've dropped other trannys before, but haven't dropped mine yet. If it is in fact the throwout bearing, I'm assuming I could tell by visually inspecting it? If that's the case, might a quick fix be to just throw a new throwout in there? I'm hoping I don't need a whole new clutch setup yet... It still grabs pretty well, and I'm so incredibly broke (stereotypical college student). Plus the horror stories of people putting new clutches in on here (ie, kits that aren't compatible) Anyway, thanks very much for the insight!

 

Just my two cents but puting a clutch in the t5 is one of the easiest things to do to my car. 4 bolts on drive shaft, remove drivshaft, one bolt on touque arm,remove two wires from trany, 4 bolts on tranny to bellhousing (now you can replace throw out bearing if you want) or continue and remove slave cylinder (2bolts),bellhousing 6 bolts (I think), remove presure plate and flywheel, get flywheel resurfaced and install new clutch and pressure plate and do reverse of before steps. takes me about 4 hours disassembly and reassembly lying on the floor with car on jack stands and a good floor jack to hold the trany.

 

That actually doesn't sound so bad. I guess a lot of the threads I've read on here have someone putting something in backwards like the little clip on the throwout bearing. What brand of clutch did you get that was compatible with the flywheel, and where did you get it? I've looked at some on autozone's (shudder) website as well as others, and they all seem to say that it would be compatible only with certain flywheels, which you could only determine once you had the flywheel in your hands, I think. Seems the general consensus on here is that centerforce is a good way to go.

 

Me personaly I got a Aftermarket stock repacement because Im not runnin to much HP over stock, and it came with a presure plate for 200 canadian. Ive had it for 10000 Km and no trouble. Worst thing I have found for breakage is the damn slave cylinders, POS if you ask me. Centerforce is the best I know of, thats what I had in my last TA. As far as what flywheel you can bolt it to mine was just the regular stock one, 12 3/4" steel. I belive there is a light weight one to but im not sure what the difference is as I have never had one.

 

About the throwout bearing... My clutch is very silent and doesn't make any crazy sounds...if it was the throwout that was bad, wouldn't it make ridiculous amounts of noise depending on the position of the clutch (whether it was engaged or not)?

Could it be that maybe the ball that the fork pivots on has slipped from where it should be or is worn down?

 

I read where someone here had that problem awhile back. His fork had slipped, and he just tapped it back into place. So that might be a simple thing to start with.