New clutch and now not going into gear

[dbh2002]

Shop just installed a clutch masters stage 3 FX 300 segmented kevlar clutch on my 2002. Car has about 22k on trans and motor. Shop is telling me now the car will not go into gear. I purchased clutch directly from clutch masters so I am sure it is the right clutch. Car was fine with oem clutch now this. What could be the potential problems? AP1 flywheel was resurfaced etc.

[mlc]

Have they bled the clutch? It could be a lot of things.

Just a guess.

Kevin

[dbh2002]

No, they said there was no need too...I guess you need to bleed clutch when installing a new one?

[repiv]

It's not always necessary to bleed the clutch when a clutch job is done, however, it's always a wise thing to do anyway. When the slave cylinder comes off, there is always a chance the plunger can slip out too far and fluid lost and air ingested. This would make it such that the clutch can't be completely disengaged, which would produce the symptoms you have. You can confirm that the transmissions wasn't damaged by rowing through the gears with the engine off and the clutch pedal pushed down to disengage it to whatever extent it will allow. If it can be put into all the gears with engine off, then you need to look into the clutch, the clutch job or the clutch bleed.
If you do the bleed and eliminate this from the equation, then you have only the remaining 2 left to question. If you can be confident that the parts are correct for the car, then that leaves the work. The clutch is not being disengaged when the pedal is pushed. You need to find out why. Trace it from the slave cylinder to the clutch iteself. If the slave plunger moves, does the release fork move? If the fork moves, is it fully seated into its spring holder? If it is seated properly, then there's something wrong further in. Release bearing placement and lubrication for example.

[dbh2002]

Thanks repriv. I will forward your message to shop and hopefully they can resolve this issue.

[repiv]

Currently, there are two other S2000s on the "other" forum going through something very similar. Is one of them you? It would seem that shops doing a fairly typical clutch job is doing it wrong somehow. If not you, that means 3 botched clutch jobs at the same time? Very strange.

[NFR_AP1]

Just put mine in the shop (Honda) today far a new clutch @ 76.1k miles for a price of $1,700.00 and if i need a new flywheel an additional $350.00. I am figuring not too bad for a factory clutch in a car of this caliber.

Will keep yall posted as to any problems of this nature upon completion of mine.

[Randy W]

Just put mine in the shop (Honda) today far a new clutch @ 76.1k miles for a price of $1,700.00 and if i need a new flywheel an additional $350.00. I am figuring not too bad for a factory clutch in a car of this caliber.
That's a hefty price. What exactly is going in? All OEM stuff at dealer prices?

[NFR_AP1]

That's a hefty price. What exactly is going in? All OEM stuff at dealer prices?

Afraid so, I wish it was aftermarket but I guess that is the down side of hydralic clutches, they don't give you to much time to plan ahead.

[dbh2002]

Currently, there are two other S2000s on the "other" forum going through something very similar. Is one of them you? It would seem that shops doing a fairly typical clutch job is doing it wrong somehow. If not you, that means 3 botched clutch jobs at the same time? Very strange.

Yes one of them is me. They still have not fixed the issue. PM'd another member with same clutch and same issue. He replaced the slave cylinder and everything was ok. I have purchased a new slave cylinder for the shop. They have trans off and have checked flywheel resurface and that seems fine. Maybe this will solve the issue I hope or it is time for a different clutch than clutchmasters stage 3

[dbh2002]

Just put mine in the shop (Honda) today far a new clutch @ 76.1k miles for a price of $1,700.00 and if i need a new flywheel an additional $350.00. I am figuring not too bad for a factory clutch in a car of this caliber.

Will keep yall posted as to any problems of this nature upon completion of mine.

Man that is highway robbery. You can get and oem clutch for $400-500 bucks. Install should be no more than $500

[repiv]

Afraid so, I wish it was aftermarket but I guess that is the down side of hydralic clutches, they don't give you to much time to plan ahead.

I am bewildered by this statement. My friend's S2000 is nearing 100K miles. His clutch is almost done but the car is still quite usable. It's been needing a new clutch for the past 30K miles. I'll bet he'll continue to drive it without too much difficulty for the rest of this summer. Having a hydraulic clutch actuation system doesn't change the ability to plan things well in advance.

[NFR_AP1]

I am bewildered by this statement. My friend's S2000 is nearing 100K miles. His clutch is almost done but the car is still quite usable. It's been needing a new clutch for the past 30K miles. I'll bet he'll continue to drive it without too much difficulty for the rest of this summer. Having a hydraulic clutch actuation system doesn't change the ability to plan things well in advance.

The service writer informed me that some little arm in the assemby somewhere was broken. I need to ask the tech what the service writer was speaking of. But ever since my first major road trip in it @ 40k mi. I have been concerned with the clutch going out in the car. http://forums.s2kca.com/showthread.php?t=15911 my very first post. So once I get that information I shall be turning to you to see if that may have caused the previous problem. Granted, I am the second owner of this vehicle and have no idea how the original owner treated her. I got her with 39, 603 on the dash 15 Apr 06 so there is alot of time I cannot account for. But I'll be keeping a clock on her now. But that part may have been broken for as long as i have owned it and finally got worse, I have no idea.

Although there has never been a problem with slipping upon acceleration even this past weekend. But Sunday I could not get her into gear until she cooled down and reverse was out of the question. If I had her in gear and the clutch pedal on the floor she would start moving and trying to die at the same time as if the clutch was not disengaging. This is why I put her in the shop, but i drove her there.

I can say that now the feel of the clutch pedal and the shifting is so smooth and effortless as compared to before. It's almost as if i have to completely relearn how to drive her. The pedal is so soft now, like the feeling of not having a clutch, when you hit the pedal and it feels like nothing is there, that's how the pedal feels. Not sure if that is how these cars are supposed to be if so I feel cheated or I have a new problem. But if it means anything, the dealer did this job.

[repiv]

The service writer informed me that some little arm in the assemby somewhere was broken.
This little tidbit is very reminiscent of other reports of a cracked clutch disc spring retainer. Once cracked, the "arm" can flop around and sometimes interfere with the clutch action. If this is the case, the only solution is a new clutch disc and possibly re-surface the flywheel and PP if the broken arm caused any damage in those other components. The other cause for a sticky clutch (ball of the slave cylinder rod and the socket of the release fork), I've touch upon in that other thread of yours.

[NFR_AP1]

Thanks Repiv! So, can I now relax on a road trip?

[repiv]

Thanks Repiv! So, can I now relax on a road trip?

I've driven thousands of miles on a single road trip and I've done many such road trips. As an owner, one can only maintain the car as best we can and have a little faith that it won't leave us stranded someplace. However, when we don't know the complete history of a second hand car, there is always a higher than average chance that something has already started to fail.
For what this car is (high output, high performance), it really is quite reliable and very rarely will something fail to the extent that we can't limp it to safe harbour. Those rare times might arise from things we do to the car in the way we drive it (read: abuse).
I would suggest you take a good read of the car's health before you head out and if all seems well, relax and enjoy the journey, but always take some precautionary items with you. A few of us have already posted in a thread where we've discussed some of the things that should be taken on long road trips. Having a few things for "just in case" moments, will tend to increase your level of ease.