I just recently purchased a 96 LT4. I was driving it in a parade this morning ( I know, but the auto 84's cooling fan decided to stop working ). About 15-20 minutes into it, I noticed a small amount of smoke seeming to be coming from the back of the car. Since I haven't had the car very long and had been revving the motor a bit, I figured it was from the exhaust, since it sat on a lot for awhile before I purchased it. The smoke seemed to come and go after running the motor up and the oil and coolant temps were staying fine. Approximately 15 minutes later, as the end of the parade was coming up, the clutch very quickly went away to nothing. It would not release with the clutch all the way in. After pulling over to check things out, and noticing the smoke was coming from where the engine and tranny come together, it became obvious the smoke was from the clutch. Fluid level was ok. I let it cool for about 10 minutes, and the clutch started coming back. A few more minutes, and it seemed normal again. I drove it home, and it behaved completely normally again. I plan on pulling the tranny to get a good look at the clutch and flywheel. Has anyone had a similar problem like this from heat with the hydraulics? Or am I wrong in thinking it was probably something from that? I don't have the history of the maintenance, so I don't know when/if the master and slave have been replaced, but the car has 106000 miles. Any ideas/suggestions are appreciated.

 

Is it possible you inadvertantly didn't have the peddle fully depressed when sitting there waiting for the horse poop up ahead to be picked up? It doesn't take much at all for the clutch and pressure plate to start scuffing each other and create some heat.

 

I suppose it's possible, but I doubt it. In my other manual ( 88 ), I've still got a little air in the line which seems impossible to get out, but it leaves the clutch release point really low, so I'm used to pretty much standing on the clutch. I've been out driving around since this happened, and have had no difference whatsoever in how the clutch felt/worked before it got hot. I checked the fluid, and it is still full. Not sure what kind they put in, but I'm figuring on changing that out in the next week anyway, along with every other fluid in the car. Should I go ahead and check the clutch & flywheel anyway, or should I not bother unless something else happens or repeats itself?

 

ttt

 

Have no experience with the later C-4's, but just some thoughts on the clutch. I suppose that holding the clutch depressed for long periods, if it were dragging somewhat, would cause a fair amount of heat and maybe some smoke. Would it be far fetched to think that the clutch disk could warp enough that disengagement could not happen? Then upon cooling it would straighten out so that normal operation could resume? If all this guessing were correct, I don't think you would have a problem under normal operation. However I have never heard of this happening before, so there must be some abnormality with your clutch that needs attending to.

 

That's about what I was thinking, but I'm not looking forward to it. Thanks for the help.