ThingFish

I decided to be a nice guy and teach my son to drive a stick on my '92 LT1 with a ZF6. After all, my Dad taught me on his baby (a '55 Jaguar XK140) and clutches are tough, so no worries, right?

He's driven it twice, and after each time, the clutch engages way too soon, and the transmission is really hard to shift into R, tell tale signs of bad hydraulics. Anyway, in both cases, the problem magically went away after I drove it for a couple miles. Both times I was ready to take it to the shop for a clutch rebuild (about 75k miles), and both times the problem just went away. Like all noobs, he jams the stick really hard and has terrible clutch control, but I can't figure out how that would translate into a temporary clutch issue like this.

Any ideas?

--tf

lt4obsesses

If this clutch is at 75K, I might suggest you're ready for a new clutch anyway. Read my saga on this issue...http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...placement.html

These clutches are self adjusting, and as the disc wears, the hydraulics work harder to achieve the same driveability. What found from my experience is that as this things adjusts, I probably, unknowingly also adjust how I drive it. Your son gets in there and makes those rookie mistakes. Well there are probably grooves on your pivot stud, and the clutch fork is probably a little tweaked. He slams this around, and it might be binding up a little bit. You come in, and drive it that you do, and eventually it gets out of the bind position. I have discovered the hard way that letting a clutch go to long, causes havoc on the hydraulics.

desertmike1

check your clutch Reservoir fluid level, located below the ECM.. !

JrRifleCoach

I tried to teach my daughter the clutch thing.
Cost me a clutch/flywheel/p.plate and first gear.

Teach him on an old truck or borrow a neighbors car....

Phat98

I tried to teach the ex (we were dating then) how to drive a stick on a '70 GTO Judge...this did not go well, to say the least. She did learn in her '79 RX7, though.

I think it should be mandatory that everyone learn to shift with the old "three on the tree". I learned in my uncle's '59 F100.

As Desertmike1 stated, check the fluid level...and if it's black it needs to be flushed. Also, make sure your son isn't riding or feathering the clutch while he's anticipating his next shift.

BigRedPig

Agree with what everyone else has said about the hydraulic cylinders: check the fluid and change if needed! But hey, I learned how to drive a stick in my car without breaking anything, so it is possible. I just would have kicked myself in the teeth if I broke something!

ThingFish

I should have mentioned that I did check the fluid in the master cylinder as that was my first thought (hope). It's dirty to be sure, so probably needs to be changed, but that clutch has been perfectly normal for the last week. I starting to rethink my strategy to teach him on the vette. :-)