[6pack] problems shifting when hot

[Colin Thom]

Hi Gang,

 

A few months ago I threw up a post about my car shifting poorly when hot.
After rebuilding the M+S cylinders, changing from DOT 5 to DOT 4, rebuilding
the cyls again and then replacing them, I gave up and took it to the local
shop. My garage is too skinny to take out a tranny in and if the shop wanted
do it, then they could live with it if they were wrong. As I was recounting
my lengthy tale of woe to the service mgr, a tech overheard us talking and
chimed in with "sounds like the clutch cover plate". They had another car in
the shop with the same problem, and that was the culprit. Apparently there
was a run of Luc clutches with this problem a few years back but my clutch,
with 14000 miles on it, predated that era. That was the theory..but not the
reality. My clutch cover plate was indeed hooped. The diaphragm springs were
blue from overheating, which they apparently shouldn't be if all is well.
When these things fail, they get stiffer as they heat up. And, they don't
move the pressure plate as far as it needs to go. This give the impression
of a hydraulic problem, when in fact it's a crappy clutch/metallurgy
problem. Who knew? A new clutch has made the car shift like a charm..and a
whole lot easier, too. I guess the clutch had been getting gradually stiffer
over the life of this emerging problem and I didn't notice it until it got
too bad to drive. Thanks to Dick Taylor for guidance and emotional support
along the way!

 

Colin 75