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Major Clutch Problems my night from hell!

Old Oct 26, 2005 | 11:44 PM
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Thumbs down Major Clutch Problems my night from hell!

I'm posting here because the FI crowd just knows more than others....

I went to the track tonight and first off they would not let me run my Pro Star Wheels because they said my Wheel Studs are too short...first time I've ever heard that, but they showed me in the rule guide and proved their point.

Question 1) are there any aftermarket wheel studs that are long enough and fit on the Z (ARP maybe) and if so what are the dimensions?

Next is my main problem, I decided to run on street tires and see how she does. I was about to go stage when my car erratically jumped forward and I suddenly was no longer able to shift at all. I turned the car off and it shifted just fine, turned it back on and nada....so I rolled out of staging and back to the pit. Buddy of mine cheked it and said my Clutch is broken. Fluid levels look fine btw.
He was able to get the car rolling by shifting into first with the car off, then turning it on and then revv matching the gears. Since I have no experience with that and we were 60 miles from my home I left the car at his place to be towed to Performance Nissan in the morning.
This is a brand new JWT Clutch and Flywheel that Perf Nissan installed just about 4 months ago and so far it held up great.

Anyone have had a similar problem?
Anyone have an idea of what the problem is?
Anyone know if JWT has warranty on their parts?

I am sooooo frustrated right now.

Help is appreciated
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Old Oct 26, 2005 | 11:54 PM
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Hmmm...sounds like your clutch won't disengage. Maybe your slave cylinder is dead or your throw out bearing failed...really could be many different things. Sorry to hear...hope it gets resolved quickly.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 03:21 AM
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My thoughts go to the throwout bearing. Usually with the slave cylinder you will feel it starting to fail way before it actually does (at least on a buddy of mines vr4 you could). It just seems if it was perfect then all of a sudden nothing, the throwout bearing would be the culprit.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 05:21 AM
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i will concur with the throw out bearing. My brother had this problem with his prelude once. If you turned off the car and put it in gear then turned the car on you could get going and even shift gears but you could not turn the car on and then shift into 1st.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 07:07 AM
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nismo sells longer wheel studs.. like 60mm or something. check performance nissan's website. they should have it.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 07:07 AM
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AAAHHHH. Not what I wanted to hear after just receiving my JWT Clutch and Flywheel (along with pilot bushing and TO bearing) in the mail yesterday.

I already have the appt. to get it all installed this Saturday... Here's to hoping this is an isolated incident.

BTW, did you replace the pilot bushing and throw out bearing when the JWT clutch and flywheel was installed?
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 07:14 AM
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Originally Posted by neffster
AAAHHHH. Not what I wanted to hear after just receiving my JWT Clutch and Flywheel (along with pilot bushing and TO bearing) in the mail yesterday.

I already have the appt. to get it all installed this Saturday... Here's to hoping this is an isolated incident.

BTW, did you replace the pilot bushing and throw out bearing when the JWT clutch and flywheel was installed?
I wouldn't really worry about it. Tons of people are running this combo with absolutely no problems at all. Some people replace the pilot bushing and throwout bearing, others don't. If your car is low mileage, its not something to really concern yourself with much, just check the throwout bearing for smooth operation.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 07:49 AM
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Or... the clutch disk could have siezed to the flywheel.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 07:58 AM
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Same here...probably throwout bearing...also check the hydraulic clutch line under the car...make sure ti didnt touch something hot and melt through...but if it did then then clutch pedal would just go to the floor and not have any feedback..
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 08:09 AM
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Don't worry, probably and isolated incident(product defect) or maybe an installation oversite(no pun intended). I've dragged mine about 20 or 30 times with the TT kit and its fine. Now i have 18k on it. I fryed my clutch once racing my buddies M5. Apparently we both heated up our clutches and they started slipping. But after it cooled down it was fine.

Also JWT stands by their products so I wouldn't be surprised if they helped you out with a new one or something.

Originally Posted by neffster
AAAHHHH. Not what I wanted to hear after just receiving my JWT Clutch and Flywheel (along with pilot bushing and TO bearing) in the mail yesterday.

I already have the appt. to get it all installed this Saturday... Here's to hoping this is an isolated incident.

BTW, did you replace the pilot bushing and throw out bearing when the JWT clutch and flywheel was installed?
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 08:12 AM
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Originally Posted by MIAPLAYA
Same here...probably throwout bearing...also check the hydraulic clutch line under the car...make sure ti didnt touch something hot and melt through...but if it did then then clutch pedal would just go to the floor and not have any feedback..
Clutch pedal works just fine, that was the first thing I thought because I read something about it around here

Let's hope it's just the throwout bearing, and yes it was replaced as part of the install
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 08:20 AM
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Originally Posted by mrtomcat
Clutch pedal works just fine, that was the first thing I thought because I read something about it around here

Let's hope it's just the throwout bearing, and yes it was replaced as part of the install
Cool...then yeah its most likely the throwout bearing...if it failed maybe Performance can make you a sweet deal on replacing it again since they did the install.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 08:20 AM
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My friends Z had the same problem your is having with the clutch. It occured with a JWT Clutch and Flywheel after a full day at Reobling. A bolt that holds the flywheel to the crankshaft had back out and lodged behind the pressure plate not allowing the plate to release from the disk to spin. Did you have more chatter from the trans at idle before this happened?

edit: I stated that wrong it lodged between the flywheel and disk.
Originally Posted by mrtomcat
I'm posting here because the FI crowd just knows more than others....

I went to the track tonight and first off they would not let me run my Pro Star Wheels because they said my Wheel Studs are too short...first time I've ever heard that, but they showed me in the rule guide and proved their point.

Question 1) are there any aftermarket wheel studs that are long enough and fit on the Z (ARP maybe) and if so what are the dimensions?

Next is my main problem, I decided to run on street tires and see how she does. I was about to go stage when my car erratically jumped forward and I suddenly was no longer able to shift at all. I turned the car off and it shifted just fine, turned it back on and nada....so I rolled out of staging and back to the pit. Buddy of mine cheked it and said my Clutch is broken. Fluid levels look fine btw.
He was able to get the car rolling by shifting into first with the car off, then turning it on and then revv matching the gears. Since I have no experience with that and we were 60 miles from my home I left the car at his place to be towed to Performance Nissan in the morning.
This is a brand new JWT Clutch and Flywheel that Perf Nissan installed just about 4 months ago and so far it held up great.

Anyone have had a similar problem?
Anyone have an idea of what the problem is?
Anyone know if JWT has warranty on their parts?

I am sooooo frustrated right now.

Help is appreciated

Last edited by mpowers; Oct 27, 2005 at 08:38 AM.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 08:58 AM
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Originally Posted by mpowers
My friends Z had the same problem your is having with the clutch. It occured with a JWT Clutch and Flywheel after a full day at Reobling. A bolt that holds the flywheel to the crankshaft had back out and lodged behind the pressure plate not allowing the plate to release from the disk to spin. Did you have more chatter from the trans at idle before this happened?

edit: I stated that wrong it lodged between the flywheel and disk.
yeah, there was lots of chatter at idle, I also noticed about a week ago that when I turned on the car there was a very short clank at times as if the flywheel hit something. But most of the time everything was fine, it drove great and so forth.

Well I just called a tow truck and talked to Tim at Performance Nissan they are waiting for the car to come in...now it's that horrible waiting time.
I hope this will not be too bad a problem and won't cost too much.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 09:10 AM
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Originally Posted by mrtomcat
yeah, there was lots of chatter at idle, I also noticed about a week ago that when I turned on the car there was a very short clank at times as if the flywheel hit something. But most of the time everything was fine, it drove great and so forth.

Well I just called a tow truck and talked to Tim at Performance Nissan they are waiting for the car to come in...now it's that horrible waiting time.
I hope this will not be too bad a problem and won't cost too much.
Well if the bolt did in fact back out you shouldn't be paying a dime. Thats a problem with the install if you ask me.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 09:11 AM
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Sounds like the exact same symptoms that he had. Even the loud clank on start up. We had a mod friendly dealer who installed the flywheel and clutch take care of the issue. The bolts are not of a very high grade and are soft. So this time instead of just torque only holding the bolt in they used thread locker.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 09:12 AM
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Originally Posted by mpowers
Sounds like the exact same symptoms that he had. Even the loud clank on start up. We had a mod friendly dealer who installed the flywheel and clutch take care of the issue. The bolts are not of a very high grade and are soft. So this time instead of just torque only holding the bolt in they used thread locker.
I thought everyone used loctite on the JWT flywheel bolts? Guess I better make sure of that when I get mine installed.
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 09:31 AM
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Of doing 50+ clutch and flywheels my self over the years, this is the first that I had seen it used. When locktite is used you have a greater chance of stripped threads the next time you remove the bolt when the bolts are soft or the metal your bolting too are soft. Being something you will probably replace several times if you are racing with it like I do, it makes you think about how you put something together. In any case it can be a caused by either the soft bolts and vibrations from the flywheel or the tech did not torque the bolts properly. I believe more in the later in my friends case but the dealer fixed it no questions asked. So all was fixed and no harm done. It will probably be the same for him.

Sorry to be long winded.
Mike
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 09:38 AM
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Originally Posted by mpowers
Of doing 50+ clutch and flywheels my self over the years, this is the first that I had seen it used. When locktite is used you have a greater chance of stripped threads the next time you remove the bolt when the bolts are soft or the metal your bolting too are soft. Being something you will probably replace several times if you are racing with it like I do, it makes you think about how you put something together. In any case it can be a caused by either the soft bolts and vibrations from the flywheel or the tech did not torque the bolts properly. I believe more in the later in my friends case but the dealer fixed it no questions asked. So all was fixed and no harm done. It will probably be the same for him.

Sorry to be long winded.
Mike
No worries...I've only installed one clutch and flywheel myself with some assistance but in all the years I have seen people use JWT flywheels I have always heard that loctite is a must when installing...
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 09:45 AM
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The flywheel bolts very well could have backed out. With the aluminum flywheel you don't necessarily "need" loctite, I don't care what Jim Wolf says...loctite can be dangerous as mpowers stated. But you do NEED to double torque the bolts. As in torque them once. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes to let the aluminum compress and then torque them again. Aluminum compresses...and therefore they could have torqued the bolts to 90ft/lbs and left them and after 20 minutes they are down to 20ft/lbs.
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