Clutch Diagnosis

[smokeystover]

At 70K Miles, my 90 SHO suddenly made a clanking noise when I pushed the clutch pedal, and when I engaged it there was no free play and it slipped. When I next operated the clutch after limping along to the next stop, it disengaged, but when I released it nothing happened. The engine is now totally disconnected from the drivetrain.
If it makes a difference, the OEM clutch was replaced with a "clutch upgrade" by the Ford Dealer at about 10K miles when a bent shift fork was replaced under warrantee.
It felt like a linkage problem, but I can't see any external problem. And I don't know the internals of the clutch mechanism. (I had a SHO manual but haven't needed it for years and can't find it among my collection of manuals)
At present, I am guessing any repair would involve a clutch replacement at a minimum, and it may not be worth it, in spite of the otherwise totally drivable condition. The car is getting somewhat rusty here in PA

Any advice/diagnosis would be appreciated.

Cheers
Warren

 

[Enzo731]

Pictures, this seems interesting.

 

[smokeystover]

Pictures of what? - the car, or crawl under the car to see the linkage.

Cheers
Warren

1990 Electric Red
Black Leather/Gray Fabric Insert Interior.
Borla Exhaust - Stock Exhaust takeoff available
16" Borbet 5 Spoke wheels with almost new Blizzaks or
Stock 15" with Pirelli Summer High Performance Tires (almost new)
Mobil 1 Oil Spring and Fall.

 

[intimdatr]

the clutch/linkage/tranny or anything that looks wrong in that area would be preferred this does sound rather odd. if i had to guess you had a pressure plate failure and possibly a clutch fork(s) broke.

 

[smokeystover]

Thanks for the reply
Nothing on the outside looks odd but I have never looked at it before so ?????. I can operate the clutch so as to start it, but I will say it seems to take more than the normal force to depress it all the way. That could be a pressure plate issue.
Is there some kind of self adjuster or other mechanism inside the clutch housing which could fail, leaving the clutch released?
The release fork and throwout bearing, it would seem, would be more likely to cause a failure to disengage the clutch.

Thanks for the suggestion - I will look at it again (if it doesn't rain - the car is outside at the moment)

Cheers
Warren

 

[Enzo731]

The car of course. Might be worth the drive.

 

[AREA 91]

Where in PA are you?
I'm in the middle of the state in Selinsgrove, 17870.
:wave:

 

[Bob Gervais]

Vultures and potential jobs as opposed to answers to the OP's question... AWESOME!

At any rate, it sounds like a PP failure to me, perhaps with the TOB stuck in the PP.

There is a self adjuster on the clutch pedal, however with the age of these cars a lot of them have ceased to function. To try it anyway: pull up on the clutch pedal, and push it down a couple of times. You would hear a click if it were working properly.

Things to check:

-Broken clutch cable (doubtful).

-If the car doesn't have the rod shifter upgrade, check the shifter cables, under the car, at the linkage.


Sorry to say, but with the symptoms you described, it sounds like the car indeed needs a new clutch.

 

[smokeystover]

Hi Bob:

It is not the shifter - I can cycle through all the gears and feel the syncronizers as normal. No Rod upgrade - all OEM.
Will check your other tips. Something broke, however - perhaps (unlikely) in the self adjuster. It did not just get out of adjustment. It went from working normally (spin the wheels if wanted) to totally disconnected in 2 operations of the clutch. I'm afraid you might be right about the pressure plate, although I never experience a TOB getting stuck in the pressure plate. On the other hand, most of my experience is with the Ford/Long style clutches.

Cheers
Warren

 

[smokeystover]

I'm near Pittsburgh and trying to get a handle of the scope of the problem before I do anything else.

Cheers and thanks for the potential offer
Warren