I think my clutch went...sort of

Roobus

Roobus

Orange "K"rusader
I've been driving the X to work, and everything seemed great, so I decided for the 4th weekend to drive it 200 miles to my friends place for a fun weekend on the water riding jet skis. It ran and drove great on the way over. On the way back, it was running great until I had to slow down to get onto the Interstate. Downshifted into second, and all seemed good and I was gaining speed on the on ramp, make the shift into 4th ('78 1300 4sp) and it just looses power, won't gain speed and it appeared that the rpm's stayed kind of high. I downshift and still no power, and now I smell smoke. I pull over and check things out. It kind of smelled like the brakes were stuck and smoking, but my guess was the clutch, just had that smell of really hot brakes. Does the clutch get that smell if really hot? Oil on the clutch? Pretty new to the X, so any diagnosis help is appreciated.

Made a call to the brother-in-law who came and rescued me with a car hauler as I didn't want to drive it not knowing. Got it home off the car hauler and I was able to drive it no problem around the block. Could this be just an adjustment issue, or would you imagine that the clutch is shot and need replacement? I suppose the clutch could be on the verge of going, and this is the start. Anyone have a similar situation? Any ideas? I thank you in advance. Hoping to dig into it next weekend, or at least order parts, but hoping someone might have an idea. I know it's hard to diagnose without actually seeing the car and I won't be able to answer questions until tomorrow afternoon.

Gerald
 
don't rule out brakes

Had a stuck caliper the other day and it just made the car feel like it was loosing power. Got it back home and the rotor was glowing (it was night time). If you can't push the car by yourself, take a look at the brakes. They would be an easier fix.

Do you have an oil leak coming from between the engine and trany? If so, could be oil on the clutch.

If the clutch is worn out, the more it slips, the slicker it gets. If you baby it, and doesn't slip, but when you really gun it and it slips, the clutch is more than likely worn out and will need replaced. If you replace the clutch, do a complete job and replace the pressure plate and throwout bearing too.

Good luck,
 
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If it's brakes dragging

you can easily tell by touching each rim near the centre,, it will be quite hot from the extra heat.
 
Not the brakes

Thanks for the replies. I'll be checking the brakes also, but I was able to push it into the garage after the trip around the block, but they could have just cooled off for a long time. It would have been real nice to have one of those temp. guns on the side of the road to point at the brakes (I didn't notice them glowing), and it was really windy so hard to tell where the smoke was coming from.

It does have a very noticealbe leak in and around the tranny area.....I thought that was normal, ha, ha. It's not a huge leak, and I was hoping to tackel it this winter, but I think now's the time. Never really thought it might get on the clutch. I guess I've got to keep forgetting that it's not a wet clutch like my motorcycle, ha, ha.

When I get to doing the job, a lightened flywheel sounds good also.

Gerald
 
You should be able to stress test the clutch...

Warm up he car and find a hill... Ascend in second or third gear and then floor it... and watch tach and listen for engine to over-rev...

HTH...
 
Check clutch adjustment before anything else...

In a '78, you should have about 2mm of play of the clutch adjustment arm on the slave cylinder pushrod.

Does the clutch release as soon as you push the clutch pedal? In other words, very high release point. If the clutch is not releasing fully, you will get symptoms that you describe.

Ciao,
 
Adjustment?

Does the clutch need adjustment after a certain amount of time or miles? I ask that, only because there was no hint of a problem for over 240 miles, then loss of power and smoke. If oil got on it, would the oil burn off, then after sitting work ok? My only experience with clutches is on motorcycles, which are right on the side of the bike, easy to get to and bathed in oil. But I do hope to drive it some this weekend (closer to home) on hills, etc., to see what other symptoms may appear to help me pinpoint the issue. Thanks for the help and keep it coming if you think of anything else.

Gerald
 
Clutch adjustment

Roobus said:
Does the clutch need adjustment after a certain amount of time or miles?
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Yes. Details on how are here and there in previous threads.

(The five-speed came from the factory with a 'self-adjusting' trick in which a spring at the slave pulled the release towards the motor, keeping the release bearing on the pressure plate at all times. This spring has been removed on many/most cars over the years, to reduce bearing wear)

If oil got on it, would the oil burn off, then after sitting work ok?
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Well, sitting won't burn anything off... more likely just allow a slow leak more time to get more oil in there... but driving while the clutch is slipping will burn oil off and wear the clutch real fast.

But you'll still have to decide whether your clutch was slipping or you had a dragging brake pad. Other posters here have already covered that pretty thoroughly.
 
It was the brakes...

that were holding me back. Took the X out for a spin up a very steep hill close to home. Ran up it in third gear with not a single hiccup. Got home and felt the wheels, which seemed fine, until I stuck my hand through the wheel to the rotors. The left rotor was very hot, the right not as bad. Took the wheels off and I could see the pads were worn horribly and both rotors had a bluish hugh to them. Took the left caliper off just for a look and then tried getting back on. Even with a "C" clamp to compress the piston in, the piston would not move.

I replaced the front calipers with new ones as I couldn't even get the pistons out of the calipers. I only used the rebuild kit on the rears as I thought they were good, but now I am just starting over, and replacing them with new ones. I'd rather spend the money and know a new set is on, than rebuilding something that may not work again.

Just wanted to let those of you who helped me out what the diagnosis ended up being. Time to make the order and be back on the road in a week.

Gerald
 
Rear caliper pistons are different.

They have to be screwed back in. There's a thin line parallel to the slot in the piston ,(rears) it should be at the top to engage the tab on the brake pad. Mine had seized years ago also, I got them moving by removing the pads, and using the the brakes, to push out the piston. Once it was moving I then moved it back and forth, when fully in I cleaned up the rust, flushed out the dirt with W-D 40, then cleaned with brake fluid. I left a bit to keep it lubed. I then put silicone paste on the dust seal to keep out moinsture and dust. Worked fine for years after, and is currently in storage, still working. This was much before I knew of this site.
Both rears were seized at the time, and the car would only do about 40 m.p.h. and the X was being run daily at the time, but gradually got worse over a few weeks.
 
If the brake hoses have not been replaced (very, very likely to be true) replace ALL the brake hoses. The 74' I recently purchased had

Original rear brake hoses !!!!

Which was causing RH rear brake caliper to become stuck and not release causing the rear RH brake to cook.. Beyond the stuck caliper problem, it is a serious safety issue.

As others have mentioned, the rear caliper pistons need to be rotated to retract them into the caliper body. They require pressure towards the caliper body and rotation counter clockwise.

Bernice

Roobus said:
that were holding me back. Took the X out for a spin up a very steep hill close to home. Ran up it in third gear with not a single hiccup. Got home and felt the wheels, which seemed fine, until I stuck my hand through the wheel to the rotors. The left rotor was very hot, the right not as bad. Took the wheels off and I could see the pads were worn horribly and both rotors had a bluish hugh to them. Took the left caliper off just for a look and then tried getting back on. Even with a "C" clamp to compress the piston in, the piston would not move.

I replaced the front calipers with new ones as I couldn't even get the pistons out of the calipers. I only used the rebuild kit on the rears as I thought they were good, but now I am just starting over, and replacing them with new ones. I'd rather spend the money and know a new set is on, than rebuilding something that may not work again.

Just wanted to let those of you who helped me out what the diagnosis ended up being. Time to make the order and be back on the road in a week.

Gerald
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