ihavea5spd

it seemed fine for a while, and now it is undriveable. any ideas?

spirilis

iTrader: (2)

Take it back to the shop that did the clutch replacement and tell them about it...

ihavea5spd

thanks for the tip. i was just planning on scrapping the car, but since you
think i should........................

i just didn't know if there was anything obvious that i could tell the shop.
thanks for replying.

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

whats wrong ? I did a clutch on a Maxima today, ( I HATE STOCK Y PIPES !!!) anyways it was a pretty smooth deal, I wanna say 2 hours tops. I had worked on a 3.2CL Type S earlier on, Comptech ice box and headers, with Tokico shocks and H&R springs.... so I was a little worn out. I must say Exedy clutch is sooooo light compared to my ACT. I can't even feel the clutch pedal on this particular 00 Max. Are you sure the place even repleaced your clutch ? I seen some shady shops around my area who don't do anything but do a little clutch adjustment on it, and charge the guy 500 bux. I just had a kid who has a pretty decked out 99 Civic Si- coupe. It was supposed to have a 6 puck ACT clutch in it with a Jun flywheel, yet it had a stock flywheel and clutch in it. On top of that the shop didn't put in 2 bolts that hold the pressure plate to the flywheel, this warped the disk, 1/3 of the disk lining actually broke off the disk, got shreaded by the flywheel and pressure plate. When taking off the light the car chattered like crazy and clutch would slip big time, it was very hard to get it into gear also. Name of the shop ? Premier RICE tunners in Chicago- APG Performance in Wood Dale, IL.

ihavea5spd

the shop i took the car to has a very good reputation, and they've been in business
for 60 years. but, yeah, i do wonder exactly what they did to my car. it was fine for
about 1/2 hour of driving and then it just got terrible.

dtholmanmax

What is it doing exactly? What was it doing before. My car is having issues and I wonder if it is the clutch.

ihavea5spd

this one is super light also. it feels like my wife's civic.

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

you still have not told us what was it doing before the install, and now that its doing it again ?? what is it really doing ? I noticed that Maximas like to puke out the master cylinder at around 100K miles. Look under the dashboard, and see if there is any fluid coming out of the firewall/clutch pedal location. There will be a rod that goes through the firewall to the clutch pedal, they like to leak brake fluid over time, clutch engagement will get funky and over time will make it hard to get into gear at stop lights due to this phenomenon. I have this problem on my Max nowa days, sometimes I can't get 1st in, or I just need to rebuild my tranny. I need to repleace the master 1st before I remove the tranny..... If I remove the tranny I'm putting a AE one in it.

ihavea5spd

it's just your typical slipping. before the install, it was slipping pretty bad, but still drivable. after the install, and after driving it for about 1/2 hour, it became undriveable. you can literally smell the clutch burning. it's even hard to start out in 1st gear.

glemax01

dang wut kind of clutch do you have

Maximus_95

iTrader: (8)

all i can say, take it back, and complain. if they want to keep their reputation, they have to do your car right again.

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

What clutch they install ? Sounds to me like they didn't even repleace the clutch for ya. Look around and under the car to see if the bolts have been removed. If not.... I can do the clutch for ya again 350 for install, you supply the parts.

spirilis

iTrader: (2)

That, or you have a fluid/oil leak inside the bellhousing (rear main seal?) that's getting oil all over the clutch disc and making it slip...

ihavea5spd

brother, i think you might be on to something. i just took the car out for a drive, and for a little while, it was doing great. after i got her warmed up, the clutch started slipping again. also, there is a small amount of fluid on my driveway. i looked under the car, and there is a drop coming of of what i assume is the bellhousing.

ihavea5spd

taking it in this afternoon. we'll see, but i think sprillis might have this one pegged.

spirilis

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, sounds like fluid leakage... either from the rear main seal, or from the tranny leaking fluid into the bellhousing somehow

ihavea5spd

ok, i took it back to the shop and told them it's slipping bad and leaking fluid.
i picked it up later in the day and they told me they had to adjust the clutch pedal. i drove the car home and it's working great. but, i still have the leak. (noticed it after i parked in the driveway.

wtf?

spirilis

iTrader: (2)

maybe the leak was unrelated...

Have you run it up to temperature to see if it'll slip when the engine's very warmed up?

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

I just had the master cylinder leaking at only 60K miles....leaked all over my floormat....dealer replaced under warranty and was nice enough to replace all 4 of my floormats (even better, with 2k2 max floormats ...but with the leak the only problem I had was I had to refill the fluid to make sure no air got in the lines until I could get to the dealer.

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

are you sure it is a clutch fluid leak - couldjust be an unrelated oil leak or just water dripping from the A/C due to condesation.

spirilis

iTrader: (2)

Damn, that's messed up. I just crossed 80K miles today and so far no clutch issues that I know of... the clutch is a little soft for my liking but I'll swap it with some sort of stage 1 clutch (thinking SPEC?) when it's due.

spirilis

iTrader: (2)

I was originally thinking it was an oil leak like at the rear main seal, where it would leak engine oil into the bellhousing and somehow get oil on the clutch disc... or transmission fluid leaking through the other side. (clutch fluid at the slave cylinder would have been a possibility, although he'd have major issues disengaging the clutch to shift into gears)
Assuming all it was was adjustment (which means the clutch was slipping due to the clutch fork holding the pressure plate in a slightly-disengaged position at all times), then the other leak would be something different.

That's a good point on the water though... if it's just water leaking, that's normal--it's from the A/C evaporator core, and it's condensation formed by the fact that the A/C can cool outside air down to its dewpoint.

ihavea5spd

ok, took the car out for a long drive and the clutch feels great. no slipping or anything like that. the padal feels great and the gears are engaging smooth and stuff like that.

still got the leak. it's not the a/c condensation. it's an oily substance. looks like fresh oil. i know it's not engine oil though. it didn't leak when i took it in to get the clutch fixed.

any ideas?

thanks for all the help guys. i really do appreciate it.

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

Axle seals are leaking most likely. The person who was installing the clutch wasn't carefull and ripped them. I seen it happen many times. Or the reverse, neutral switch is leaking- big black round thing on the bottom of the tranny with wires coming out of it, and on the opposite side is a 10mm bolt that holds that sensor in place. I would deffinitally take it in. Sounds like a hack job to me.

ihavea5spd

wouldn't the axle seals be leaking grease though. this is thinner than grease. if i look under the car, i can see a drop on the housing. i put my car on ramps today and let it run for a little bit, but no leak. then i drove it around for a few minutes, and saw the leak ?????

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

no, the axle seals are on the differential housing, it keeps the splines lubricated and keeps the oil inside the diff. The axles go THROUGH it into the tranny. If not carefull enough when installing the axles one can rip them and tranny fluid will leak out. Grease your talking bout is inside the CV boots.

ihavea5spd

ah....gotcha. anyway to tell if it's tranny fluid? i thought i remembered (long ago) that tranny fluid is red? this stuff isn't, but i'm sure that's what it is.
you've been extremely helpful. thanks a ton.

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

stuff should smell pretty nasty, and it should be golden brown color just like motor oil. Unless they put in some RedLine ShockProof Medium weight fluid in it- which is baby blue color. I never seen red fluid for tranny fluid, unless its automatic trans. Automatic tranny fluid will mess up your manual tranny fairly fast. Sometimes manual tranny fluid will be brown color with a little bit of green tint to it. Thing that gives it away is nasty smell.

ihavea5spd

ok, i took it back to the shop and told them i was getting a little tired of this.
i told them that i was told that it is more than likely an axle seal. i picked up the car and it seems to be fixed.

they told me it was the left axle seal.