richardc Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Folks, Back in September, my bellhousing had a run-in with the B2244, resulting in a shiny new BGH gearbox going in a couple of weeks ago. All went smoothly, except the clutch wouldn't disengage. So I took the engine and gearbox back out a week ago, stripped the clutch, found that the clutch plate had become far too friendly with the flywheel, unsiezed it, cleaned up all clutch surfaces and reassembled. A quick check once the engine was back in the car showed that, with first gear engaged, I could push the car with my foot on the clutch, but not when my foot wasn't on the clutch - great! A successful job, it seemed. It took me the next week to finish the small engine-back-in jobs of wiring, plumbing etc, until I went to fire her up yesterday. I now have all the symptoms of a seized clutch again. A search on Blatchat suggested techniques for unseizing clutches, of which I've just tried the "start engine when in gear, drive, then stand on brakes" option, to no avail. To add to the fun, I had the clutch cable fully "shortened" to ensure that it wasn't a simple case of adjustment that was causing the problem. The "feel" of the clutch pedal was fine. Having returned the cable to it's original setting, I have a lot of play in the cable - suggesting something's bent or stretched. Oops. Has anyone any suggestions before I take the engine out for the third time? Thoughts around why the clutch could have seized in such a small period of time (one week), what I could to save another engine out job, and any other wise words of advice would be appreciated! Thanks, Richard =: I love the smell of Crossflow in the morning! := Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Ryan Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Silly question, but have you checked the fork holding the release bearing hasn't become fatuiged and bent? PS - I would love to see you pushing the car with your foot on the clutch. You must be one hell of a contortionist! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardc Posted April 4, 2006 Author Share Posted April 4, 2006 A week ago it looked fine - and indeed it worked a week ago, when I'd just reassembled. That's the strangest thing - I don't think I did anything "dramatic" in the week between reassembly and now, yet it worked just after reassembly and now doesn't. The only thing that's happened is that it's stood there for a week. (That's not to say I've not now bent the arm in today's over-tightening-of-clutch-cable antics - something's definitely bent or stretched now!) My vague theory so far is that there's some contaminant on the plate that's accelerating the "seizing" process. The current plan, in the absence of any pearls of blatchat wisdom, is to whip the engine out on Thursday, inspect and clean up the engine again, get the thing back in the car asap and then drive immediately in the hope that it'll wear off anything nasty on the clutch plate. Does anyone happen to know the price of a new clutch? Richard PS - the contortionist pushing with foot on clutch was actually by application of handy brother... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Ryan Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Hi Richard My suggestion was not 7 related, it's just that 20 years ago the same sort of thing happened on a Mark II Cortina I had (I know!), and that turned out to be the fork mechanism. However, your failure may not be similar. Did you swap the clutch fork over? If not, it is a common factor. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardc Posted April 4, 2006 Author Share Posted April 4, 2006 Thanks for the thoughts John. I didn't change the clutch fork. (is that the same as the clutch arm by the way? ie the curved lever that is pulled by the clutch cable, that pushed the bearing against the clutch, and pivots at one side of bellhousing?) I'll definitely have a close look at it when the engine's out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Ryan Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Yes, same thing. As another thought, perhaps buy the new clutch from a different source. Best of luck! PS - I have my 4-spped box out at the moment, so if you want any measurements of the fork done, send me a mail John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardc Posted April 4, 2006 Author Share Posted April 4, 2006 Thanks for that. I'll take a look at it (hopefully Thursday) and might well take you up on the offer of comparative measurements if nothing obvious is wrong. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Ryan Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 Hi One last thought, I would definately put a new clutch disc in as well. The only cost c£30. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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