Superglued clutch plate to cover, won’t disengage

[steve_bmw]

Done a clutch on a mates Clio, 1.2. Job was fine no problems, clutch has good travel ect.

I know the small spots of superglue to align the clutch has been used for ages, but I think we put too much on, still only 3 spots but with a wiggle of the plate to centralise the contact patches may be as big as a 50p maybe more.

We used gorilla superglue, have we fked up and put too much on and the clutch plate is stuck solid to the clutch cover?

I have never used superglue method before so I don’t know how much too much is.

Taking it back out tomorrow 😀

[normalbloke]

Is this for real?

[Whatsmyname]

Before you take it apart try clutch down foot on brake and crank it over.

[steve_bmw]

normalbloke said:

Is this for real?

Yer, lol. As you can’t get the alignment tool in, the superglue holds the plate central to the clutch cover. Been done loads before it’s not a new thing, I’m just wondering if I used too much glue, I thought that the engine would have enough power to split the bond but I’m thinking the shear strength is too much.

[catman]

I've never heard of that, has to be a wind up, surely? on the offchance, tried starting the car in gear with the clutch down yet?

[steve_bmw]

Whatsmyname said:

Before you take it apart try clutch down foot on brake and crank it over.

Tried it, it’s solid, I think we put too much glue on.

[steve_bmw]

catman said:

I've never heard of that, has to be a wind up, surely? on the offchance, tried starting the car in gear with the clutch down yet?

No, not wind up, been done for years, I think 2 tiny spots was all was needed, I didn’t think the glue would be that good,

[t400ble]

Tiny tiny drop
It's only to hold it in place while you line it up

[steve_bmw]

t400ble said:

Tiny tiny drop
It's only to hold it in place while you line it up

That’s what I’m thinking, tiny would be a couple of mm spot at the most.

[Yazza54]

Great advert for gorilla glue though

[steve_bmw]

Yazza54 said:

Great advert for gorilla glue though

Lol. Yer it’s good stuff. I’ll take it out tomorrow and see if I can make a tool to align it.

I’ve always used the tool but as there is not much space I thought I’d give the superglue trick a go. It did the trick, splines were perfect.

[InitialDave]

This is a somewhat dodgy suggestion, and certainly not any kind of approved process, but could more of a shock loading crack it off? So run the car in gear with the front end up on stands so the wheels are turning, and then with the clutch pedal down, hit the brakes hard, and hopefully it'll shear the glue joint before it stalls the engine?

[t400ble]

steve_bmw said:

Yazza54 said:

Great advert for gorilla glue though

Lol. Yer it’s good stuff. I’ll take it out tomorrow and see if I can make a tool to align it.

I’ve always used the tool but as there is not much space I thought I’d give the superglue trick a go. It did the trick, splines were perfect.

Make one
Socket etc

[steve_bmw]

InitialDave said:

This is a somewhat dodgy suggestion, and certainly not any kind of approved process, but could more of a shock loading crack it off? So run the car in gear with the front end up on stands so the wheels are turning, and then with the clutch pedal down, hit the brakes hard, and hopefully it'll shear the glue joint before it stalls the engine?

Good idea mate, we have tried similar technique driving it and braking and no it’s stuck solid.

I think there is too much Cush from the clutch and not enough power from the engine to break the bond.

We fked up.

[InitialDave]

Obviously not an immediate solution nor one everyone can do, but the last clutch I changed I didn't have an alignment tool for, so I 3D printed one and it was exactly right.

[InitialDave]

steve_bmw said:

We fked up.

Let he who has never had to strip back down half the bd car he just assembled cast the first stone!

[GreenV8S]

I haven't tried that trick before, but if you used cyano based superglue then that is heat sensitive. You may find if you get things up to temperature and then do the usual crank it over in gear with the clutch down, it will come free. Just tell it you're relying on it to hold fast and the b*stard will fall off within seconds.

[Richard-D]

I've had clutches seize on before. Start it in first, clutch pedal all the way down and a good shove of throttle should break it free.

I've also never used an alignment tool. Just eyeball it while you tighten the cover down. So long as everything's concentric it'll be fine.

[tapkaJohnD]

Steve-BMW, some Clio have a Dual Mass Flywheel.
If your mate's does, then any of the 'shocking' methods above will damage that, too.

John

[steve_bmw]

tapkaJohnD said:

Steve-BMW, some Clio have a Dual Mass Flywheel.
If your mate's does, then any of the 'shocking' methods above will damage that, too.

John

It’s a solid flywheel. It will be coming out in a bit so I’ll update

Thanks everyone.