ZuvichC5Z06

First off let me say thanks to the moderators and owners of this forum for giving us Corvette guys a place to find solutions to our Corvette problems lol.

So, a little back story on my car. It's a 2003 Millennium Yellow Z06. I bought it with 9,200 miles on it a few years ago. It was in pristine shape, had a single owner, garage kept and was meticulously taken care of. The car now has 30,000 miles on the clock and it's never given me so much as a hiccup of trouble.

So the other day I decide to drive over to one of those self car wash places where they provide the hose and such. Don't worry, I wasn't planning on using their brush or anything, just their hose as our car wash area was taken up by a jack*** in a monster truck. Anyway, as I was pulling in, the entrance had quite a bit of grade to it and as I rolled up over the top of it I think my foot may have slipped off the clutch pedal. In the confusion of it all I honestly can't remember. Right then, something clunked and my car lurched forward and backward like I had let off the clutch too fast. After that, the clutch pedal felt TOTALLY different, not smooth and even, but too light at first, then worryingly stiff at the bottom. Scared that something serious had broken I shut the car off and looked underneath it for fluid of some kind. No fluid.

When I got back in the car, everything felt fine. I wiggled the shifter and it went into gear and felt fine. Next, I started the car and the transmission wouldn't move from neutral. So the transmission can be shifted in and out of gear fine when the car is off, but the shifter won't move when the car is running. The weird thing is if I push it toward first, the car begins to SLOWLY creep forward and build speed like I was letting off the clutch only a millimeter or so.

Once the car is up to what is about idle speed in first gear I can slip it into gear and take off. That's basically how I limped it home. I shifted through the gears without a clutch by rev matching. There was no grinding, and nothing weird outside of the clutch pedal not working.

I know the trans-axle is fine, I can only assume that the clutch is fine because it was shifting fine before this all happened, I'm thinking it's got to be something between the clutch pedal and the actual clutch.

My best guess is a swap of the slave/master cylinders will do the trick. Anyone have any thoughts?

Here's a pic of my baby... This is when she was healthy lol.


Thanks so much,

Brian Zuvich

lucky131969

What have you checked so far? Fluid level? Pulled the inspection cover?

ZuvichC5Z06

I checked the fluid level when it happened and the level was perfect and it was clean. Sadly, owning a web development business doesn't leave me a lot of time to work on her. I haven't had time to look at anything else yet. I wanted to see what you guys thought before I went digging in the complete wrong direction.

lucky131969

Unfortunately, it really comes down to inspection. You'll have to full the inspection cover, to see what's going on. Very unusual considering the low miles.

ZuvichC5Z06

I was hoping for one of those responses like "Oh man that EXACT thing happened to me and this is how I fixed it!" but no luck so far lol. Eh, I guess I'll close up the office early and take a look at the clutch. If I don't figure anything out I'll snap some pics and vids of the clutch in action (or lack there of) and post them up.

ZuvichC5Z06

Well the mileage can be deceiving as I've tracked the car on several occasions. I don't mean at the drag strip, I mean several days at Sebring International.

This is its natural stomping ground...
http://youtu.be/Qfp00ZMyMB4
http://youtu.be/BGCESHW-xbo

dougbfresh

Sounds like the clutch is not disengaging-any fluid UNDER the car?

Eric D

Have you tried pumping the clutch pedal a number of times making sure it comes all the way up to its stop? If you don't see any fluid leaking, and pumping the pedal a number of times doesn't restore function, my bet would be on a failed clutch master cylinder. Check the pedal return spring isn't broke while checking things over.

lucky131969

.....any other information that you forgot to share? Your initial post made it sound like a garage queen..

Eric D

You mean like how many of the 20k+ miles were on the track???

bumble-z

ZuvichC506, Check to see if the clutch master cylinder has come out of position at the fire wall.
To do this, pull the drivers side wheel & then towards the rear of the wheel well, take out the six or so screws that hold the black plastic
cover on.
This will gain access to eyeball the clutch m/c.
If it is the case, more than likely the sheet metal bracket on the clutch pedal has cracked allowing the clutch m/c to drop out out of position.
Good luck.

Dope

I'd do the following in order:

Check master cylinder (easy) and replace if necessary.

Check lines from master to slave and make sure there's no leak.

Flush fluid completely.

Check slave cylinder and replace if necessary.

Check clutch pressure plate for damage.

After that I'm out of ideas. I went in order of easiest to hardest, especially since once you get to the slave and pressure plate you're gonna be pulling the entire drivetrain.

Dope

ZuvichC5Z06

Not a drop of fluid leaking anywhere.

ZuvichC5Z06

Yeah I'm guessing it's the Master or Slave cylinder. I popped off the inspection plate earlier today and everything looked copacetic to me. Then again I'm FAR from a clutch expert.

ZuvichC5Z06

She's a garage queen that's ridden hard now and then... The best kind.

ZuvichC5Z06

This is exactly what I'll be doing tomorrow. I'm absolutely certain it's either the Master or Slave cylinder. There's not a damn thing wrong with the clutch. The only visible problem is that it's not being fully disengaged. That's what leads me to believe it's something upstream.

ZuvichC5Z06

Here are some pics from the clutch inspection plate. Sorry for the poor angles. My brother took the pics.

I've got some video of the clutch attempting to engage as well and I'm going to post that after it compresses. Maybe someone can validate what I'm seeing as correct functionality.

ZuvichC5Z06

Well, I looked at the clutch pedal today. Everything looks fine on the inside. The "ears of the M/C are on the inside of the cabin (that's correct, right?) and everything is taught. Popped open the inspection plate behind the drivers side wheel and the M/C looks fine, no leakage. I twisted it, pulled it out and it reseated perfectly. I'm going to assume its the slave... GD it!!!

BLOWNBLUEZ06

Looks like your pressure plate is toast. Those fingers should be all even and touching the throwout bearing. That calls for a clutch and slave.

bumble-z

Yes the ears go through the firewall & into the flat part of the notched
bracket of the pedal assembly.
If that m/c was in it'correct position, & not just dangling to the outside of the fire wall, then it's not a cracked clutch pedal bracket.
One last thing to check & that's the quick disconnect from the clutch m/c to the slave. It's located on the drivers side up at the top of the bell & /t/tube.
I doubt it, but it could have become disconnected.
For the price of a new oem GM clutch m/c, I'd go ahead & change it out , do a bleed & be hoping that is all that is wrong. Sure wouldn't hurt before tearing things apart.

Good luck.