Clutch Bite

[Yanayaya]

I have a question about the clutch bite on a Monaro. I was told that the clutch bite on these cars is high (standard clutch) and if that's true then mine is exactly that.

The clutch itself never slips and it's got a very strong bite however at the weekend I went for a blast up to the Lecht (and almost lost my GoPro on the way - see the video I've linked at the bottom, watch to the end for a laugh) anyway during this enthusiastic drive there was a long stretch of road which I opened her up on from 2nd into 3rd however during giving her the beans the clutch pedal started to ascend towards me, the car didn't stop pulling and there was no slippage or anything, just the pedal moved towards me a fair bit so I backed off. Since then my clutch bit is even higher now so you have to be totally off to get a bite pretty much.

Have I basically roasted what could have been an already well worn clutch plate?

Oh the video - http://youtu.be/N-OEgNJfInQ

Aside from all this....it was one hell of a drive. Awesome!

[SturdyHSV]

The LS2 clutch is known to do all kinds of fun things once it / the fluid gets hot. It's probably worth changing the clutch fluid.

To keep things working nicely, if you drive it 'hard', you'll want to do this a lot more often than you'd think.

Swap it out, take it out for a run, have another look at the fluid after for any newly flushed around mess, consider swapping it out again, then enjoy some hard miles.

Here's some learning for you

If you watch to the end and see how this guy can shuffle a T-56, you'll consider it worthwhile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBbsy0LjUvE

[EmmaJ]

Defo check the clutch fluid and get a remote bled line fitted should you ever need to drop the gearbox as it makes the job much easier...

AND

If you're going to post videos we NEED exhaust sound

Like this

[Yanayaya]

EmmaJ said:

Defo check the clutch fluid and get a remote bled line fitted should you ever need to drop the gearbox as it makes the job much easier...

AND

If you're going to post videos we NEED exhaust sound

Like this

It's funny everyone says that but unfortunately I have no Wortec exhaust STILL! It's not arrived and now I'm losing patience. Also I had to have the full case on my GoPro because it kept raining on the day which means you can't hear anything except minor wind noise. Rest assured however as soon as my Exhaust is on it's party time.

[SturdyHSV]

EmmaJ said:

get a remote bled line fitted should you ever need to drop the gearbox as it makes the job much easier

To be honest, having done it both ways, the method in the youtube vid is just as easy, and requires fewer 'tools', so is worth considering.

I'd agree it's worth fitting it anyway as you might prefer doing it using the remote bleed, also presumably you flush the system quicker using the remote line as you're passing new fluid all the way through the system in one direction instead of slowly diluting the old fluid with new.

[EmmaJ]

SturdyHSV said:

EmmaJ said:

get a remote bled line fitted should you ever need to drop the gearbox as it makes the job much easier

To be honest, having done it both ways, the method in the youtube vid is just as easy, and requires fewer 'tools', so is worth considering.

I'd agree it's worth fitting it anyway as you might prefer doing it using the remote bleed, also presumably you flush the system quicker using the remote line as you're passing new fluid all the way through the system in one direction instead of slowly diluting the old fluid with new.

To be fair since having the remote bled fitted I've never once actually done it

[blue666uk]

Yanayaya said:

It's funny everyone says that but unfortunately I have no Wortec exhaust STILL! It's not arrived and now I'm losing patience. Also I had to have the full case on my GoPro because it kept raining on the day which means you can't hear anything except minor wind noise. Rest assured however as soon as my Exhaust is on it's party time.

I had my Wortec fitted earlier in the year, and the initial time given for the build, quickly expired and then some. Like you, I was massively disappointed, but oh is it worth the wait!! I picked the car up in the most filthiest of rain storms, flooding every where, but I couldn't have been happier, and it was quite fun in the half light and heavy rain adding my own thunder to the proceedings

[Yanayaya]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to bump this up a bit to report what's been going on. So as you know from my original post the clutch bite was high after giving the car the beans at the weekend. After that the clutch bite has remained high and from what I can tell this week it's getting worse. I watched the video that was posted to get an idea of what could be causing it and from there went to have a look at my clutch fluid.

As you are aware the fluid should be clear. Here is a photo I took of mine:



In a word.......shafted. It's black as you can see and also on the MIN line as well. It looks like it's had a hard life prior to me buying the car but I've made it worse.

Am I correct is saying that bleeding process is the same as mentioned in the video, i.e. suck out the old, in with the new, pump the pedal?
Will sorting this fluid out correct the clutch bite do you think? The clutch doesn't slip or anything it's just the bite that's way off.










oh yeah and the Wortec system arrived, getting it fitted tomorrow

[KMud]

Syringing from the reservoir and pumping the clutch works ok, but a proper flush through obviously the ideal. Remote bleed definitely recommended as it's a bugger otherwise...get one fitted next time you are in the bell housing!

[ARAF]

The fluid does get contaminated. I've seen fluid as black as yours before, but the low level is bad on your part. The fluid doesn't usually disappear.

[Yanayaya]

Does anyone have any recommendations on clutch fluid or am I good as long as it's DOT4?

Edited by Yanayaya on Friday 5th September 08:15

[SturdyHSV]

Yanayaya said:

Does anyone have any recommendations on clutch fluid or am I good as long as it's DOT4?

Edited by Yanayaya on Friday 5th September 08:15

ATE Super Blue has the best boiling point properties for a reasonable price, so is worth it. EuroCarParts stock it

It's DOT4, but exceeds (for example) Halfords' DOT 5.1...

Oh and yeah, that fluid is goosed. Plan on doing a good few flush throughs using the reservoir method, but I expect it'll make a noticeable difference. My box was transformed. If you don't fancy getting a syringe, use any old spray bottle you have:



Rinse it first of course, but then unscrew the top and put the tube into the reservoir, then put the bottle over the nozzle end and spray away. Sucks fluid out of reservoir and sprays it into a handy container. Zero mess (maybe a drip when you remove the tube from the reservoir)

Edited by SturdyHSV on Friday 5th September 08:33

[VinceM]

Don't let the fluid drip onto the paintwork though, unless you plan on having a respray any time soon!

[snowwolf]

Syringing the clutch reservoir is a must every 1000 miles, I think what happens is the friction plate dust floats up easily into the reservoir, but once it start to get saturated with the dust it then has no where to go and builds up in the small pipe and then finally builds up in the slave and that's when you start to get the clutch problems.

[badboyburt]

snowwolf said:

Syringing the clutch reservoir is a must every 1000 miles, I think what happens is the friction plate dust floats up easily into the reservoir, but once it start to get saturated with the dust it then has no where to go and builds up in the small pipe and then finally builds up in the slave and that's when you start to get the clutch problems.

Great advice, i used to do mine every 4k or less depending on how hard i had been driving.

After last months issue I will be looking to refresh it every 1k miles as above.

[Yanayaya]

The clutch is back to feeling very flimsy again, the bite is really high in fact I'm not sure there is a bite from the pedal anymore. Replaced the horrible black fluid as per the video and advice and whilst it helped for a while (although the bite was still high) the bit as gotten even higher now yet the clutch itself doesn't slip and seems to perform as normal.

[SturdyHSV]

Yanayaya said:

The clutch is back to feeling very flimsy again, the bite is really high in fact I'm not sure there is a bite from the pedal anymore. Replaced the horrible black fluid as per the video and advice and whilst it helped for a while (although the bite was still high) the bit as gotten even higher now yet the clutch itself doesn't slip and seems to perform as normal.

It may take a few flushes through with fluid, the syringe method generally means you're not 'flushing' the system as such as it's not flowing through in one direction (which is where the remote bleed comes in)

Just a cheap suggestion, if you do drive it hard then the clutch fluid can need refreshing quite often it seems. More expensively, LS7 clutch is your next bet.

Going by what's in the video, if the clutch dust has been in there for long periods presumably that doesn't do the seals etc. much good, so may then make it more prone to re-occur in the future

[Yanayaya]

Here is the process and the condition of my fluid originally, you can see some residue contaminates the fluid after the first pedal pumps. I had to do it a couple of times to get the clear fluid back.

[Yanayaya]

Sorry to bump this again but I didn't want to start another thread titled "clutch whatever". Generally I've been syringing the fluid every weekend or so and when I do so the fluid is a little less black each time however the clutch bite is still high.

Would bleeding this fluid properly help the clutch bite or bring it down at all or am I looking at a new clutch do you think?

[ARAF]

It could. Is the clutch spongy at all? What is the mileage, and do you have any information about previous clutch work?