Hi everyone, my clutch engagement point is extremely high, like within 1-1.5” of the top of the pedal travel. The clutch has also started to slip. At first, I thought it was a hydraulic issue so I replaced both the master and slave cylinders and bled them and the car worked fine for a while. However, the issue has returned, so I got under the car and looked at the slave cylinder while my friend depressed the clutch. Attached is a video. My question is, does this look like normal range of motion for the slave cylinder or is it not returning far enough for the spring to push the clutch disk to engage the flywheel? The previous owner assured me that the clutch was replaced very recently but now I am beginning to suspect the clutch. Is there anyway to check the friction disk while it is still on the car or check the health of the clutch without dropping the trans? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

year

 

zf6 “engagement point” creeps higher and higher on the pedal depression stroke as the clutch/pressure plate wears. recommend preparing for a ram clutch setup.

 

1985, 4+3 trans, sorry forgot to mention that

 

That's a good amount of clutch lever travel. It appears that your clutch needs to be replaced.

 

Is there any way to adjust it?

How difficult is it to change out?

 

It seemed like the clutch itself was fine in terms of thickness, but the previous owner resurfaced the flywheel with an angle grinder or something which really made a mess of the flywheel surface. It also seemed like the flywheel had been resurfaced before so the flywheel thickness was too thin to engage the clutch at an appropriate point in the clutch pedal travel. I put a new clutch in since the old one seemed glazed and overheated due to the uneven grinding, got the flywheel resurfaced again, and threw a .060" shim between the flywheel and crank. Now the car runs great and the clutch catches just a few inches off the floor like it should.

I don't think there's any way to adjust it. To do the clutch, you have to drop the exhaust, unbolt the C-beam, take out the driveshaft, drop the trans and bellhousing, and then you can get to the clutch. It was a bit of a pain since I did it on the street and I didn't have a trans jack, just a buddy to help me out. I found that ratchet strapping the trans to a flat piece of wood and then balancing that on a regular jack works very well. In a garage with a proper trans jack the job wouldn't be horrible but still definitely not super fun to do. The C-beam is very difficult to fit back into the car once you put the trans back on.