MaverickC5

I have a C3 and C5. I am helping a friend to better understand his newly acquired C4. Sounds like the blind leading the blind? What little driving I did in this C4 it seemed pretty nice.

He needs a new clutch at 63,000 miles. The clutch is worn and has some years on it. The car is in good shape. It belonged to his father in law. Over the years the car has been serviced in many places, always doing normal maintenance items. When it came to "break and fix" repairs I think it was shopped around, meaning some shortcuts and non GM parts have been used over time. Nothing major, just “Joe’s garage one day and “Andy’s” the next.

The gear box, drive train, and shifter seem to be fine as I was driving the car when the clutch went out. Before that happened it was "spongy" in feel and the car "hooked up" nicely when the pedal was about ~ 70% released. I was able to drive about 7 miles. It did not ever “slip” or give any advance warning or even noise. I think that once it got hot the clutch finally gave out. I could get it out of first gear but once I "pulled" the shifter in Neutral it would no longer go in a gear. Apparently this happend to his father in law recently we think. At that time it was towed in to a Cheveron Station ( Fred ) and by the time it was looked at they could not find anything wrong. The cluthch began "catching". It sat their for several months until Saturday when we went to get it.

From what I can see without anything apart it looks like the edges are worn. I am thinking I should advise him to replace all wear parts while it is "opened" up. Any thoughts ? What is a fair price at a Chevy dealer with Mr. Goodwrench doing the repair correctly?

Pete K

Clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing will likely run $600 or better. $300 for clutch $200 for labor and $50 or so for resurface of flywheel. These prices are guess not fact. Good luck

mitymek

umm,never had a vette clutch out yet but not releasing like you describe sounds more like a problem between the pedal and throwout bearing.wether it be hyd or linkage.actually sounds just like a bad clutch master or slave cyl or even low fluid.
you say it never slipped?only other thing i can think of is the bearing went through the pressure plate fingers,if so you would have felt a pop at the pedal,pedal to floor,no disengagement anymore.
but if its got 63k on it it sure wouldnt hurt it to redo all.
maybe cable on those?......


[Modified by mitymek, 8:28 PM 3/15/2004]

Silk Worm

Rocky Rothrock

I had the clutch replaced on my 87 and it ran me a grand. With 90,000 miles on it, I basically had everything replaced so I hope to be in good shape for awhile.

Rocky
87 vert

marin1

$200-250 is fair for the clutch kit don't get rid of any of the old parts til your cruisen home, after i installed the clutch in mine i didn't test drive the car since it was in storage but i did get rid of the old parts after cleaning up who new i was shiped the wrong clutch, i had to buy a new one again from a local shop and repay for labor.

n1kki6

doing the clutch really isnt that hard, my dad and i did my 94 in two days, while getting sidetracked with b.s. and beer. I dont know how much different an 86 would be to do though. my cluctch was 262, i opted to buy a new dual mass flywheel so that cost me 600, i dont think 86's use the same expensive **** flywheel though.


[Modified by n1kki6, 12:56 PM 3/16/2004]

mitymek

silkworm-"Clutch slave or master.
maybe cable on those?......"

guess i wasnt clear enough.
i dont know which mechanism a c4 standard trans uses to depress the pressure plate.
it is 1 of 3.mechanical linkage,hydraulic,or cable.
does not matter.
my point is,if the clutch is not releasing (wont go into gear),and was not slipping,then he probly doesnt need a new clutch and pressure plate to get going.
just fix the release mechanism and peel out man!
:yesnod:
ok-update.made me get off my butt and look in the manual.in 92 the c4 had a hydraulic clutch (master/slave).
his symptoms sounded like air in a hyd clutch system to me in the first place.
bleed the system and i bet a dollar to a dog turd it works fine.(at least till he lets it sit for 4 months again).
time spent-15 minutes
dolars spent-50 cents worth of fluid.
definately worth a try.
or-take it to a dealer and spend a grand and then whine about the exorbitant cost of owning a corvette. :rolleyes: