Weird clutch issue, please help.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 283
Likes: 0
From: McHenry IL
Weird clutch issue, please help.
So tonight I was out messing around in the vette, and I decided to put it on competitive driving mode and see what happens. What I did was I was rolling in second gear at around 30 mph and I pushed in the clutch and hammered it. I popped the clutch and the car got loose as expected and a little sideways. I noticed that the active handling kicked on as I let off, but right when I pushed the clutch it I noticed it went almost to the floor and was engaging off the floor too. I slowed down and tried a slow takeoff and the clutch was still almost stuck to the floor and the pedal wouldnt go back up. It was like a different clutch. When I got home a few minutes later I got under the dash to look at the pedal and it was visably lower than the brake. So I grabbed it and pulled it towards me and it seemed to pop back up into place. I drove it right after that and the clutch still seemed to engage near the floor and it seemed like I was riding it too much but it wouldnt disengage like normal. After a few more minutes of driving it seemed to be back to normal. Does the clutch have any functionality with the active handling?? I noticed my clutch fluid was closer to the lower mark then the higher one. Did I break something or was that the car trying to stop itself from spinning out? Please help.
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 10,649
Likes: 31
From: Central Florida
You should take that incident as a warning that your clutch doesn't appreciate that particular treatment. And if done again, the clutch will behave the same way.
That might be called a "rolling burnout." Problem is, if the tires don't spin, the clutch must absorb the rev mismatch. So it spins the friction surfaces and they instantly overheat.
There no clutch behavior difference among the TC/AH settings on the console.
As a separate issue, anyone with a C5 or C6 M6/M12 whose car sees aggressive driving and a fair amount of wide-open-throttle ought to be maintaining the the clutch fluid. It breaks down when subjected to repeated high temps and causes pedal woes. Pedal woes during aggressive shifting will lead to tranny issues.
Ranger
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 3,565
Likes: 5
From: stafford country, va. Avatar: Me on turn 3 @ Bristol (The World's Fastest Half-Mile)
this next part confuses me.....
did you smell that smell ?? you know, that clutch burning smell, kinda like burnt rubber but lingers longer and is twice as strong.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 283
Likes: 0
From: McHenry IL
Ranger,
Thanks for the info. I am new to the fluid clutch world. All the previous mustangs I had were cable clutch and the pedal action never changed no matter how hard I pushed it. That rolling burnout was after a long night of messing around so I probably overheated. Last night after this happened I did do some searching and I came across your posts on how to change the fluid and what to look for. I will be starting that today. My clutch fluid looked like a nice amber beer should look, and I only have 1500 miles.
Zig,
What I meant was the clutch went to the floor but never came back. It seemed like I lost all preasure in the system and it took a few minutes to come back. And, right after it happened it seemed all my pedal slack was gone and it would grab like a half inch from the floor. It was so different than stock it took me by supprise.
Thanks for the info. I am new to the fluid clutch world. All the previous mustangs I had were cable clutch and the pedal action never changed no matter how hard I pushed it. That rolling burnout was after a long night of messing around so I probably overheated. Last night after this happened I did do some searching and I came across your posts on how to change the fluid and what to look for. I will be starting that today. My clutch fluid looked like a nice amber beer should look, and I only have 1500 miles.
Zig,
What I meant was the clutch went to the floor but never came back. It seemed like I lost all preasure in the system and it took a few minutes to come back. And, right after it happened it seemed all my pedal slack was gone and it would grab like a half inch from the floor. It was so different than stock it took me by supprise.
