Clutch issues. Anybody else seen this before?

[camaro5]

Originally Posted by ssalter

Ok guys u need to take a closer look at your master cylinder! The brake and clutch do not share fluid, it may appear that way, take the cap off and look and you'll see there is a divider, brake fluid is on the left, clutch on the right!!!! Smart gm!!! Or should we say Holden!!!

In a dual circuit braking system, the brake fluid reservoir must be separate (or at least divided) for each of the circuits, so that a fluid leak in one of the circuits cannot drain the fluid from the reservoir for both circuits.

[5th Gen SS]

In response to H & E motorsports,

One thing this issue could be is that years ago GM put a "warranty safety" feature in their 98 and newer manual transmission setups. At the bottom of the hydraulic line fitting ( at the slave cyclinder end ) there is a "restrictor" port inside the line. You can see this if you take the line off and look inside the hole. This slowed the engagement and disengagement after a few fast clutch cycles. GM put this in place to keep someone from "racing" with the clutch and try to claim it under warranty if they burnt it up. There have been instances that some people have carefully drilled this out to meet the id of the line and the problem was gone.

[Blue70SS]

Originally Posted by H & E Motorsports

So I just got home from the dragstrip. It was 90+ degrees outside with about 95% humidity. I made 15 passes on the car with no issues. The last pass, I do my burnout and get them nice and hot. I launched at about 4500 and it actually hooked, pulled hard through 1st. Went to grab second and the clutch pedal was only about 3" from the floor. I immediatly let out of the gas thinking I blew the clutch out of it. I get back to the return road, pushed the clutch in and it popped right back up like always. I stopped, put it in first, took it up to about 3500 and dumped it. It grabbed like always. Now, when I got back to my pit, it noticed it did throw a code and made the SES light come on. I reset the battery and it went out. I also drove it back home apx. 30 minutes and it was like nothing happened? Anybody any guesses? Did it maybe boil the hydraulic fluid in the clutch?

Also had clutch problem ONCE and never happened again. Suspected boiling of fluid - especially after fellow Colorado club member had problems at a road track east of Denver which involved boiling the DOT 3 brake fluid. He changed to a racing brake fluid and installed a separate clutch resevoir to combat the clutch dust from comtaminating the brake system. He hasn't had problems since.

Reason I supected boiling: I did 2 good launches/quarter mileish on a desolete road using launch control which pegged at 4800 RPM. Then proceeded to do same with traction control only off. Started to launch the car then suddenly RPMs increased to redline, clutch smoke, I went nowhere at all literally, THOUGHT "I broke the output shaft" . I pushed the clutch and no pedal pressure 3 times. Sat there a few minutes scratching my head, pushed clutch again and everything worked again. When the clutch seemed to be burning (and no, I wasn't slipping the clutch), the RPMs took a long time to come down just before I pulled the shifter into nuetral while the clutch was supposed to be out. I believe the fluid boiled - holding the clutch momentarily out as if slipping the clutch, pumping helped clear the line along with a little time to cool off, then all back to normal.

My plan is to change out to DOT4 minimum or possibly some racing fluid. Then wait long enough that I'm sure it's not a potential warranty issue and insure I don't have one of the bad output shafts (try to break it). After this, will install separate cylinder for clutch fluid and upgrade to racing fluid - all knowing I may void part of my warranty or have to defend what I did.

Also heard of same exact clutch problem being reported to a dealership (they didn't get a name, but said the person called from Bandimere Speedway).

[Z/28orSs]

[QUOTE=ssalter;699539]Ok guys u need to take a closer look at your master cylinder! The brake and clutch do not share fluid, it may appear that way, take the cap off and look and you'll see there is a divider, brake fluid is on the left, clutch on the right!!!! Smart gm!!! Or should we say Holden!!![/QUOTE]

i hate when people say that. Its still UNDER GM!!

[2SSRS@Gen5diy]

[QUOTE=Z/28orSs;906223]

Originally Posted by ssalter

Ok guys u need to take a closer look at your master cylinder! The brake and clutch do not share fluid, it may appear that way, take the cap off and look and you'll see there is a divider, brake fluid is on the left, clutch on the right!!!! Smart gm!!! Or should we say Holden!!![/QUOTE]

i hate when people say that. Its still UNDER GM!!

You need to look at it, It is one, If you ever change it you will see that the so called divider is to keep the fluid from spieling out and dos not dived the two.

[5THGENRS]

so if im reading those pictures of the manual that were posted, then the two systems share the same fluid.

Brake/Hydraulic clutch fluid

so it sounds like the solutions to this problem are:
1. drill out this warranty feature/ restrictor portRisky
2. add a separte reservoir.:( i dont know how easy this is but dont want to possibly have to drill into my new car. Dealer probably wont like it either.
3. change to dot 4 or racing fluid with a higher boiling point which might be the cause. i think this is the best solution bc the manual always describes using oil, oil filters, brake fluid and many other replacement parts with a gm # or a product with similar or if not better quality. They wont frown on this being that dot 4 is better than 3.

Also i curious, who has been having these problems? mainly v8, v6, or both?

[clg_98ta]

How are you going to suck the fluid out of the system?? All you can do is suck the fluid out of the reservoir. You still need to put in new fluid and pump it through the master all the way to the slave and out the bleeder.

Originally Posted by camaro5

There's a resevoir just for the clutch.

The trick Corvette owners came up with, was to use a syringe to suck out the old fluid and replace it with fresh fluid. (check owner's manual for fluid required)

[nascar14fan]

just happend to me the other day. setting at the stop light got on her pretty good and let out to grab second and the clutch came up about 3 inches I wasnt so nice grabbed 3rd and still stayed down finally came up when i went into 4th. Pulled it in the garage and it stunk the garage up all day just took it in yesturday and they are waiting on the gm rep to call them to tell them what to do to it. Its now slipping out of first real bad.

[BackinBlackSS/RS]

Originally Posted by H & E Motorsports

The best I could squeeze out of it was a 13.3 at 109. The track was horrible. My best 60 foot time was 2.42, except on the pass that I had the clutch issue. 2.01!! That would have put me in the 12s.

13.3 at 109mph with a 2.42 60ft? Wow, that is amazing. Yeah, this car is in the 12's stock. That is impressive with a 2.42 60 ft.

[srstewart03]

hey guys. just a little insight here. what good is changing your fluid doing if the seals on the slave cylinder are not compatible due to the high detergent in dot 4. I found a fix and posted on another thread. changing your fluid is like putting a bandaid on it. The component is definately weak and poor in design. Rip that ****er out and put in something designed to handle those launchs even with hot fluid and then maybe even do something about that heat on the line......like shield it, move it etc. i'm not posting all my pn's and cost just yet because i wanna make sure this is gonna get it done before i put someone else through the pain. though i'm quite sure i wont be wondering about my clutch anymore.

LIVE FAST

[SuperFly03]

Originally Posted by srstewart03

hey guys. just a little insight here. what good is changing your fluid doing if the seals on the slave cylinder are not compatible due to the high detergent in dot 4. I found a fix and posted on another thread. changing your fluid is like putting a bandaid on it. The component is definately weak and poor in design. Rip that ****er out and put in something designed to handle those launchs even with hot fluid and then maybe even do something about that heat on the line......like shield it, move it etc. i'm not posting all my pn's and cost just yet because i wanna make sure this is gonna get it done before i put someone else through the pain. though i'm quite sure i wont be wondering about my clutch anymore.

LIVE FAST

I'll be interested to see the end result of this adventure.

[OldSchoolCamaro]

Wow, I have had this same issue on mutiple occasions and thought it was user error until I realized that the clutch pedal was stuck in the halfway point. That burning smell is awful and when you have someone in the car that wants to see what this car can do, it is really embarassing. Taking my car to the dealership this week for an oil change and a Service Bulletin update on the computer. I will ask them to look at my clutch fluid and replace it. Hopefully there is an SB and fix on this issue since this has been an issue for others for quite some time now.

[OldSchoolCamaro]

Well, just got off the phone with the service advisor. They couldn't duplicate the issue with the clutch smoking. They said there was nothing wrong with the fluid and it is impossible for clutch dust to get in the fluid. He also said that forums like ours are not to be trusted and GM is their ultimate source for information. If GM is not telling them there is an issue, then no matter what we say here, they won't do anything we suggest. They suggested I go down next week to take the driveline tech for a drive and duplicate the issue with him in the car.

[OldSchoolCamaro]

Backed out of my garage today and the car smelled of clutch fumes just a bit. Drove into the dealership and experienced it on the ramp coming into the service center too. Took dealership guy for a drive and was able to duplicate the issue for him. He said I drive too agressive and that smell wouldn't happen if I drove the car right. Also sid the car wasn't meant to be drivin hard even a little bit. So why is there a competition mode on the car (I have only used it once as I don't drive like that)? GM, a little help here please for those of us pleading with our dealership repair centers.