Opinions on clutch please.I don't have a clue on this one..

[beachbuggy]

So, I actually don't know something... !!!

Seriously though I would appreciate any help on the matter as I don't know what to do for the best.

The test bed for my hybdrids has a clutch slip! It's an odd one as I think it may have been there since I bought the car however with the extra Horse power it's more apparent.

So you can drive all day, up hill round corners, accelerate and have no problems except if you floor it in any gear above 2nd something odd happens which I've not come across before.

It will happy accelerate at WOT until about 4k then it's like the clutch slips but at about 4.5-5k depending on how's it feeling that day it will grip again and happily sail up to the red line without any issues. Now Initially thought it could be a leaking slave cylinder or possibly as it had only been fitted 500 miles before I bought it either glazed flywheel, pressure plate or maybe needed running in.. yeah right.

So as I was worried about the Xs manifold and also had a slight blow in the exhaust I took the engine out this morning, to fix the blows and look at the clutch.

It's a Sachs clutch plate and pressure plate , both performance items, with a new luk DMF wheel as well.

I also read last night on tinernet that someone else had the same issue and it was the clutch plate fitted round the wrong way! which caused the high biting point and for it to slip the same way as mine,

Here are some photos. The plate doesn't look that bad and still has plenty of meat on it. the pressure plate and DMF look odd as though they've had hot spots and also like they may not be completely flat and hence why there plate didn't grip properly. Bearing in mind the clutch is heavy as hell due to the stage 2 pressure plate I am at a loss and would like any advice. Is the setup knackered and only good for the bin, Can i get them spotfaced or will that ruin the clutch....Ohhh the drama..

Cheers Guys..

 

[aragorn]

which side was facing out?

 

[s3dave]

It was danes clutch that looked like that after a good few launches at inters...

 

[beachbuggy]

The raised bit was facing in . So the flat side of the plate was against the pressure plate. 2nd picture was against the dmf

 

[aragorn]

sounds like it was backwards then!

The boss/raised bit should stick out towards the release bearing.

 

[beachbuggy]

Is it too far gone to reuse then?

 

[Broken Byzan]

It's the hotspots that would worry me, Clean the faces and try it, it will only cost you time Dan..

 

[MUSH]

Defo fitted backwards, i did that once on a mk2 golf.....although they are backwards clutches!

I wouldnt re use it again mate, depends how much your time means to you.

 

[murran]

thats knackard. look at the heat spots in the fly and pressure plate. really special!!

 

[beachbuggy]

Well some good news. I took the flywheel and pressure plate to my machine shop and they said the damage wasn't too bad and they could certainly skim the flywheel and pressure plate.

However there is something very odd. The flywheel is Luk and the pressure plate a performance Saachs one, but when the 2 are put together there is very little PINCH. Normally I would expect the pressure plate to have to be tighten quite alot onto the flywheel and thus pinching the clutch plate in place but this set up only has about 2-3mm. It's as though the clutch sits too low into the flywheel. Even if the clutch new I don't think it would pinch enough to hold it properly and probably explains why the bite point was so high on the clutch! I think I may have to take a friendly trip to either GSF or ECP and see if I can take some measurements of a new setup. The machine shop said they can take some of the lip off to lower the pressure plate and add more pinch, problem being is how much! too much and the clutch wont release, not enough and I'll have the same issue as before.

Cheers for the help anyway guys, much appreciated.

 

[badger5]

I have been caught on on sachs clutch some years ago.. on a different vehicle.. bite point was the issue, and was slipping.
end result after a lot of faffing about was the "new" parts were in reality remanufactured, and in the process of skimming and refacing the dimensions were too thin, resulting in the issue. Replaced the sachs item with new (new new) LUK and the problem was solved.

Not saying this is the same on yours, but it sounds similar.
I have been reluctant to use full sachs units ever since.. only using their sintered drive plates which have been fine.

 

[beachbuggy]

Funny you should say the remanufactured, that's what the machine shop said about the LUK flywheel and hence why it could be deeper than a stock one and result in less pinch. It is as though the flywheel surface is lower than it should be, I guess if its a remanufactured unit its been skimmed down!

Thanks for the info , the machine shop only want £15 and a pack of digestives to do it for me, so thought I'd get it done and see if the pinch is any better before I refit.

I also saw a few posts on various other sites including ASN 8p with the exact same issue with LUK and SAACHs.... But I'm sure it didn't help that the plate was the wrong way round!

I dug out the old invoice for the clutch from the previous owner £1200 for the clutch and fitting... 18months and 10,000miles! shocking really.....

 

[Broken Byzan]

if they skim it, make sure they lower the mounting part by the same amount. That way the clamping force will remain constant

 

[beachbuggy]

if they skim it, make sure they lower the mounting part by the same amount. That way the clamping force will remain constant

That's what they are doing, I think that was why the clamping/pinching force was correct on it before, I think it may have been a remanufactured flywheel which had been skimmed but like you say the mounting part not done hence the problem, thank you for the heads up though.