Since they are hydraulic and non-adjustable, it should start to engage about a quarter to a third of travel from the floor, so if it starts engaging much higher than that, it means the clutch is just about gone or if it takes a full pedal to disengage it means there is a failure with the hydraulics (master or slave, hard to tell), the hydraulics aren't engaging or disengaging properly.

 

NOT hydraulic. It's a self-adjusting cable clutch. The grab point on the two that I have had is very near the bottom and is a little more abrupt than the A523 in my later Daytonas.

 

Figured I had a 50/50 chance, so thanks for the correction, learned something, again. Needless to say, still thin or bad clutch.

 

Do you have clutch pedal 'free-play'? The top 1/4" or so of pedal travel should just be a 'floppy' pedal (until the clutch cable is put under tension).
62217_free_play_1.jpg
The self-adjuster mechanisms were fairly reliable and easy to check if they are working or not.
If free-play is there, then I would have to agree that the clutch disc/plate is worn. You still may have some time before it actually starts slipping, but don't let it get to that point.

 

there is no free play where it is floppy. When I bought it 2 years ago the grab point was pretty far out and it seems like its almost all the way out

 

It grabs when it's maybe less than an inch off the floor when you release.

 

oh wow so that engages early

 

Yes, pretty close to the floor. If it isn't, it is usually an indication of a clutch that is going out, the throwout bearing has to travel farther before it starts disengaging the clutch, at the very high (top) arch of the pedal travel.

 

you know what the wierd thing is? On my service records I have written down:

5/6/2008 76,804 miles Valve Cover Gasket
Front Brake Rotors/ Pads
Clutch Cable

9/22/2009 78,000 miles Clutch Assembly
Clutch Cable
Machine Fly wheel

I now have about 94,xxx. I bought the car In August of 2013 with 79,808 miles.


So, when I bought the car 2 years and 14,000 miles ago the clutch was new and the pedal was out nearly just as far as it is now. what could that mean? CLutch installed wrong, clutch just has a really really far out grab point?

 

If they removed a lot of metal when machining the flywheel, it could cause a high-pedal engagement issue.
Or it may just be worn out. You don't know if the previous owner could drive stick or just drove the car hard. The disc could be worn down to the rivet heads already.
Generally a clutch replacement is the disc, plate and throw-out bearing. The flywheel may have been heavily scored with grooves and too much was taken off to get it flat again?
If you take it apart for a clutch wear inspection and replacement, you will probably be able to tell why the pedal is high.

 

i guess its possible they couldnt drive stick, but then again i dont see how you wear a clutch in 900 miles lol. thanks for the info Ill look into it

edit,

btw, the end of the engagement point in high up, but the start of the engagement point is alot lower. It seems to have a long engagement range where it starts and finishes fully

 

I wonder if the self-adjuster is broken. It's a plastic ratchet mechanism at the top of the clutch arm, under the dash, where the end of the cable attaches inside the car.

I know people who could fry a clutch in 900 miles. My wife wiped out one in 12,000 miles - not by riding it or grinding anything. She used to shut the car off by stalling it with the clutch, instead of turning the ignition off - on purpose. Said that's how she was taught. Finally the clutch lining exploded on 1-2 shift, and she coasted to a stop.

 

Has to be the auto adjuster noted, or, the cable itself is too short. Gonna have to look at the two connecting points and the holders the sheath ends of the cable attach to, there may be a bent component that does not allow proper cable movement. At this point, when the clutch pedal is out, I wouldn't say there should be play in the cable itself (not the sheath), but it should be kind of neutral, because if it is too tight, that's a little extra pressure of the throwout bearing and pressure plate fingers to start with that shouldn't be happening.

 

well I guess this is all answered, my clutch started slipping this morning. Was driving and all of a sudden the rpms would randomly go from 2000 to 0 and then shoot back and randomly do that every couple minutes. But I turned around and she got me home driving like that for an hour. Now I found on rock auto I can get an AC DELCO clutch kit for $90.

Wierd thing is, every one seems to say that a slipping clutch the RPMS will shoot up, not down. Mine have not once shot up, they only have been going to 0 and back. Im wondering maybe it could just be a coincidence and be a fuel problem like clogged fuel filter (pretty sure its original)

 

That's not a slipping clutch, then.

 

RPM would drop as the clutch grabbed and race up as it slipped.
If the tach is dropping down to 0 or bouncing around faster than the engine could physically change speed, then you may have an ignition electrical problem.

 

Agree, the very top of the clutch pedal is a worn out clutch, just had a friend have to replace him, it grabbed at the very top of the pedal, and disengaged right at the top of the pedal (kind of fun to drive around the block), and the rpm drop, did the engine shut off, too? It could just be the tach itself. To go all the way to zero would have the engine die (no electrical input to the tach from the engine turning), not a slipping clutch, which simply allows the engine to increase and decrease in speed as the clutch slips and grabs.

 

what happened was I was driving along like normal and then all of a sudden the car would do a quick lundge forward and then back and the tach would go from about 2000 cruising speed and shoot to 0 and then shoot back to 2000. It happened very quick, maybe 1 second to drop and come back. Hopefully it was the clogged fuel filter and not something electrical. Never had electrical problems and all the electrical connections and wires in the car is in good looking shape

 

yup, I think it was the fuel filter. After I posted that I was thinking to myself the RPMs would go up not down if it was the clutch. And I can go up a steep hill just fine, clutch definetly isnt slipping right now..

Luckily I had a new fuel filter in the trunk from when I was replacing a couple fuel lines so I put it in. The old one I could barely blow through. Drove the car to get the air out of the lines from the new filter. Took about 26 miles of bucking and surging to mostly go away. Then at about 50 miles of driving it stopped happening. Now it could be contaminants in the gas too, I fill up once a month and am driving only about 250 miles a month. I guess well see

 

Regular tuneups are the best defense against problems. Fuel filter is 5 years or 52,000 miles.

 

Fuel problems generally won't cause an abrupt stall, maybe a sag or hesitation and it won't affect the tach.
An electrical ignition problem in the primary circuit will cause the tach to jump and the engine to buck.
It may be a poor connection at the computer or the distributor or a failing distributor pick-up plate. The ignition secondary circuit items like the rotor, cap, wires and plugs won't directly affect the tach, but must be in good shape.

 

I'm with IC on this one. Had plenty of Hall effect switches and a few coils start this way, even a few computers.

 

Hall effects usually go down when warm and have to cool down 20 minutes or so before they restart. A die then run for a second every now and then sounds more like a loose wire of loose connection where a jolt breaks the connection randomly.

Or heck, it could be metal flakes in the distributor floating around that grounds the hall effect, or the hall effect gap changing.

 

Would a failing hall affect pickup sensor be able to cause the rpms to appear to be 0? The whole symptom lasts about a second. It's impossible for the rpms to actually be 0. So does the HEP have anything to do with what the tach reads?

Also in rock auto there's nothing called the hall effect pickup sensor but there is distributor pickup coil for $20. Is that it?

 

The hall effect is the electronics points It is around the center shaft of the distributor under the cap and under the rotor. If it kept running, just cut out, it isn't the hall effect, they overheat and don't start when hot, then they cool and are good until they overheat again, but, check the insides and make sure there isn't any floating metal or crud in there that could essentially short for a second and then clear itself. Don't use anything metal on the hall effect itself, check the gap with a match book or non-metallic feeler/thickness as stated in the book for the gap. I don't know what it is, usually around .019-.021.

 

They CAN and sometimes do cut out quickly. When mine failed in my turbo, it skipped about a dozen times, stalled, restarted, kept skipping and cutting out. Very likely it is the HEP.

 

ok thanks for the advice ill check that out hen i have a chance. So other than that its probably an electrical connection? Which connections would have the greatest chance of being the culprit? I ask because theres alot of electrical connection in this almost 30 year old car!

 

Heck, it is hard to say for sure, but starters would be from the distributor, to the coil, a connection or plug-in, even the ignition switch wire that makes things operate, turn the key shuts the car off. Other than connections, look for things like oily wires and scraped and frayed bundles.