lutador83

Hey Everyone,

This is my first post on the forum but I have been reading the threads here relatively often after purchasing my 2002 Z06 last month! I have owned Mustangs all of my life. The last one I had was a 2003 SVT Cobra Convertible with all of the typical bolt-ons and it was a blast to drive. However, the Corvette was always something I wanted to try so I finally took the plunge and picked up a 2002 Z06 silver with 25,500 miles. The car is just a blast to drive and I love it! BUT....

Since I have owned the car, two of the most common Z06 issues happened to me. The first was the steering column sensor which I promptly replaced. The second, which is the more annoying one, is my clutch.

The car is showing all of the symptoms that Ranger describes in his site (i.e. pedal comes halfway up, gets stuck in the floor, etc). After I read his site, I checked the clutch fluid through the reservoir and noticed that it was pitch black! I quickly went to the store and bought Prestone DOT 4 synthetic brake fluid and went through two cans in one afternoon. Unfortunately, the fluid was still not clear.

I then decided to take it to a shop for them to bleed the line. Sadly, they informed me that they think my throwout bearing may be bad. It is surprising to me for this to be happening to a car with such low mileage especially because the job is not cheap!

I am considering giving Ranger's method another go tomorrow to see what happens. If not, it looks like I will need to replace the clutch.

So I had a couple of questions for you guys before I decide on what to do:

1) If the fluid was NEVER changed in its life, can my slave be severely damaged at this point? I don't know if it was ever changed or how aggressively this car was driven as I bought it from a dealer.

2) If I replace the clutch with the original OEM, will I have issues?

3) If I go aftermarket, any suggestions?

Any help is appreciated as I really haven't had a chance to enjoy the car and am a bit frustrated at this point.

Thanks!!!!!

racebum

clutch should get a little better if you flush the fluid a few times


what causes this is GM wanting to cater to old men yet again with sports cars

first there is a restrictor in the line that is suppose to "help with engagement" as if an organic disc isn't already soft enough. in short the clutch is designed to be "easy to drive". for some reason they didn't feel it was important to create a car that didn't have a sticking clutch if you run the 1/4 mile

what i would try is a return spring, meaning to get one of these myself since any stock 01-03 z06 will do this

i've heard the 04 is improved but i have never driven one

lingenfelter has a return spring kit for 79 bucks that puts force pulling on the clutch pedal.

search the various forums, it's just a weak link in the stock clutch. the only real fix is moving to a monster, centerforce or better clutch

lutador83

Thanks! Just checked it out on their site and not bad for $80. I might give this a shot. Tomorrow I'll flush the fluid a few times again. Just don't want to replace a clutch if it's not necessary or if the problem is something silly like this spring.

cudamax

Take to another shop. Id go to the Dealer or do it urself and sorry to hear ur having an Issue when u just picked this up.

racebum

there are so many threads on this if you google c5 clutch pedal sticking that it's not even funny

i remember this happening the first time i drove a z06 back in 2003

typically only happens under hard acceleration. drag racing for example you'll sometimes notice it at the top of 3rd going into 4th

should never happen under normal or even spirited driving.

only time my car ever does it is if i'm drag racing doing that dead stop to 120mph run. 1st gear is fine, second is fine, it's just going into 4th, if there's going to be a weird pedla that's where it seems to happen

if you do replace the clutch something like a monster level 1 would have more pressure against the slave due to a stronger pressure plate and should cure the problem by itself.

tak06

I had a similar experience with my '02Z with 12k. miles., did the Ranger thing, must have used quarts of dot 4 before the fluid finally stayed clear, that didn't cure my sticky clutch. What the problem was in my case was a leaky Slave/throwout bearing, changed clutch, disc & flywheel at the same time, didn't want to drop the driveline twice.

racebum

i got to thinking about the fluid and how heat affects it

did the range method 6x times with dot3 fluid just to get the grime out over the past month or so. then i read a thread about heat as i was looking into your situation, went out to the shop. grabbed a roll of paper towels, wiped out all the dot3 and grabbed a bottle of motul 600 off the shelf. poured that in, pumped the pedal 30x times and took the car out for a spin. did three 0-120mph tests and had no weird pedal at all.

so, when you bleed your clutch or at least ranger it to keep it clean, add something good like AP or motul 600 fluid.

if none of the easy stuff makes it half way decent a monster level 1 or 2 would. call those guys up and chat sometime, they will give you the run down on why the stock c5 clutch sucks so badly for performance driving

just google monster clutch

Titan22

Take a look at the Tick Performance clutch master cylinder and see if it looks like that may help? I have the same problem and tried the ranger treatment over and over with no change then came across the Tick Master cylinder. I've bought one but haven't had a chance to install it yet but believe it will take care of my problem. Some have said that it makes the clutch pedal stiffer but I can't imagine it begin all that bad, especially for a weekend car..

racebum

i've been reading and talking to people the past couple days about this

i guess it comes down to the design of the stock clutch and the self adjusting pressure plate.

a tick master should help but it also increases pedal effort. compound this with a beefy clutch and you can get a stiff pedal

people also do the drill mod to stock master cylinders in order to increase flow as well

if none of this cures it we may be looking at a monster lv1 or lv2 clutch.

lutador83

I have a friend who will be coming by my place to look at the Z so we can put our brains together about this. I am inclined to just replace everything. I have been looking at a few clutches but didn't want to break the bank by paying over $1,000 on a new one.

Are Monsters good?

racebum

excellent

normally when i think of clutch i think ACT, exedy, centerforce etc

with the LSx engines monster has addressed all of our complaints.

they have an organic disc which is stage 1 or a kevlar disc which is stage 2.

both of these have great feedback on being very streetable, holding power and not sticking to the floor

most the guys on here and every c5/c6 person i've talked to who races all say the same thing. monster clutches just work in these cars

i had never even heard of monster before i bought a c5

Cruncher

I have an '03 Z06 & I've never flushed the clutch fluid & I've never had clutch problems. A long time ago, the dealer gave me a price on a clutch fluid (brake fluid is the clutch fluid) flush & the cost was ridiculous. According to GM, flushing the clutch fluid isn't a maintenance item that needs to be done. Also, the dark fluid in your reservoir is, per GM, "normal" and should not be changed. If you need a write up on that let me know & I'll try and find it.

racebum

gm also says that the trans and rear end oils are lifetime

we know how that works

my clutch improved a a bit after doing the ranger method for the fluid.

as hard as they made the slave to bleed properly it's fairly obvious that they believe that lifetime business

then again GM has always been the company that's out to sell you the new car and drop support on the old ones.

clutch was never bad unless you did a hard run from 0 to 120. top of 3rd the pedal just felt softer. it still shifted and all but the clutch feel on c5's and 6s in general is pretty bad. not a lot of feedback as to where you are with the clutch

tak06

If it's all the same I'd rather have it clean & clear, couldn't do it any harm to keep it that way when it's so easy to do.

Supercharged111

Rangering a dirty clutch is a complete waste of time, patience, and hope. Once you drop the y-pipe and inspection cover, you're there. I did it twice before I broke down and got a remote bleeder that I installed with a new slave. Also did a new master and the problem doesn't seem to be licked. I noticed though, that I had a soft clutch pedal after I bled the new setup (even though they come pre-serviced, I added the remote bleeder to the mix), so I pumped the pedal a few times and it felt normal. I'm starting to think this sticky clutch pedal business might be partially caused by air in the system.

lutador83

Yeah, I have heard some opinions about air in the system causing all of this. A buddy of mine is going to come by tomorrow to look at it but I am pretty set on putting in my order for a Monster Spec II so I can get the Z back on the road. Just seeing her in a garage under a cover is killing me!

Z06ster

I am sorry but I couldn't disagree more with this advice. No need to go this route. GM Parts House (forum vendor) sells a 2004 Clutch master cylinder which fits all years and was improved from the original design.

So why am I so against the Tick Master Cylinder. When it is installed on your car, here is what happens: The clutch is significantly harder than the stock unit. When you press down on the pedal there is a "hard zone" and "moderate zone". The hard zone is for the first 1/3 to 1/2 excusion distance. As the name implies it is rock hard. When you're in the moderate zone, the feel is close to stock. The clutch engages at the interface between the two zones and when it engages, it engages super fast. If you plan your car to be a track car, its great for that. But for street driving, stay far and clear. I had this unit and got rid of it after a mere 100 miles of use because I thought it was so horrible.

racebum

anyone ever try the ram adjustable master?

i mean it wouldn't be THAT hard to mod a GM master to make it adjustable

i'm just thinking if someone uses a monster there is no way to set pedal engagement where you want it

it's just kind of....well..wherever the cards fall

or wherever people who have used a stage 1 or 2 on an oe master say it is. i get the fact that you want to buy the flywheel, clutch, plate and slave from monster since they check the measurements of the whole package

but where the hell does the pedal hit? right off the floor? mid stroke? on top etc?

MX621

^^ im considering removing the my tick master myself... i find it ok on the street, but rather impossible to slip well at the strip under high revs during launch.