We're doing a week long track event from New York to Wisconsin and are experiencing some clutch problems after a day and a half at Watkins Glen.
The car is a 2000 FRC with 55000 miles and I believe it has a stock clutch setup. The transmission was rebuilt just before I bought the car in Feb. of 2005, but I'm not sure if the clutch was replaced that time or not.
The problem is that the clutch is not engaging well. In other words if you depress the pedal all the way to the floor, it isn't enough to engage the clutch enough to select a gear at idle.
When I bought the car, the fluid in the clutch cylinder was so dark I doubt it had ever been changed before. I cleaned as much of the old fluid out and replaced it with fresh fluid and that seemed to improve the clutch feel significantly.
Today, during a track session, it became noticably harder to shift, and coming off of the track the clutch was not engaging very well.
We again cleaned out as much fluid as possible and replaced it with fresh fluid. After idling around the paddock and depressing the pedal a lot, it seemed to improve somewhat, but I am concerned that the problem will continue to worsen throughout the rest of the week if we don't bleed the clutch system.
I be interesting in any recommendations anyone has for resolving this problem as well as any information on what is involved in bleeding the system.
We talked with someone at the track who had a similar problem and he said his clutch master cylinder had failed.
Also, is anyone aware of any repair shops in the Great Lakes region that might be able to bleed the system for me or possibly replace the cylinders and install a new clutch on short notice?
Thanks,
Alan
The car is a 2000 FRC with 55000 miles and I believe it has a stock clutch setup. The transmission was rebuilt just before I bought the car in Feb. of 2005, but I'm not sure if the clutch was replaced that time or not.
The problem is that the clutch is not engaging well. In other words if you depress the pedal all the way to the floor, it isn't enough to engage the clutch enough to select a gear at idle.
When I bought the car, the fluid in the clutch cylinder was so dark I doubt it had ever been changed before. I cleaned as much of the old fluid out and replaced it with fresh fluid and that seemed to improve the clutch feel significantly.
Today, during a track session, it became noticably harder to shift, and coming off of the track the clutch was not engaging very well.
We again cleaned out as much fluid as possible and replaced it with fresh fluid. After idling around the paddock and depressing the pedal a lot, it seemed to improve somewhat, but I am concerned that the problem will continue to worsen throughout the rest of the week if we don't bleed the clutch system.
I be interesting in any recommendations anyone has for resolving this problem as well as any information on what is involved in bleeding the system.
We talked with someone at the track who had a similar problem and he said his clutch master cylinder had failed.
Also, is anyone aware of any repair shops in the Great Lakes region that might be able to bleed the system for me or possibly replace the cylinders and install a new clutch on short notice?
Thanks,
Alan