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Clutch Pedal Stuck, WTF?

12K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  roushraven 
#1 ·
Hey Guys,

On the way into work this morning I was hammering on the Zee. I wasn't speed shifting or anything, just rowing through the gears as quickly as I can, and after I hit fourth, the pedal never returned to the top. It comes about 2/3's of the way from the top, and then stops. It also seems like the catch point has dropped significantly. It is about 2 inches from the floor now.

What the hell did I do? It's the factory clutch with about 50k miles on it.

Thanks,
Jason
 
#4 ·
You may want to look over on the C5 Corvette Forum and go back through the archives a week or so ago and look for sticking clutch, there was a post regarding sticking clutches and taking out the clutch pedal spring, it seemed to help this problem and there were more than just a few guys who chimed in and said that that was the fix and no more problems.
I sure would want to try this first before you replace the clutch.
Good Luck and let us know how you made out
 
#6 ·
This what happens on all late model Corvette's.

1) If there is air in fluid. Three hour job to change at $85-125 a hour, plus fluid
or
2) Or clutch is toast. Eight hour install, plus clutch, flywheel, pressure plate and throw-out bearing. About 2k.

50k miles on a clutch on any performance car is outstanding.

I have an old thread around here on how to do it right.
 
#7 ·
RoHo said:
You may want to look over on the C5 Corvette Forum and go back through the archives a week or so ago and look for sticking clutch, there was a post regarding sticking clutches and taking out the clutch pedal spring, it seemed to help this problem and there were more than just a few guys who chimed in and said that that was the fix and no more problems.
I sure would want to try this first before you replace the clutch.
Good Luck and let us know how you made out
Yep - after 3 years of sticking clutch pedal and 3 replacement clutches for a toal of 4 clutch systems.... removing the spring cured the problem.

Now - you still have the issue of cruddy fliud causing pedal travel behaviour change - but the pedal won't stick anymore.

Amazing that with all their R&D and 200,000 Corvettes produced Millions of dollars spent on WASTED warranty rplacements by GM - their engineers couldn't figure out their spring sucks.

I tested the pedal travel this weekend - a friend and I (Nissan 350Z) did about 6 back to back rolling burningout standing starts - just for the fun of it and in the interest of field research you understand :sneaky: -- and the pedal action got stiff, but the pedal didn't stick.

Thanks FRC Tom (I think the idea was originally his) for solving what GM couldn't. :cheers: :cheers:
 
#9 ·
Grim Reaper said:
RC, is the spring the gremlin causing air in the lines?
No - I doubt that, but even with frothy, aerated sludgy brake fluid, the pedal action just becomes stiffer but the pedal doesn't stick.

It never did make senses that a hydraulic system could be responsible for a sticking pedal or lever yet maintain hydraulic functionality.

I looked closely at the spring and observed it - the spring is a dual stage, offers resistance on the way down, and resistance on the way back. It seams the coil that provides the retrun effort binds some how.

This is my totally unscientific take on the issue.

I now am able to turkey baste my fluid clean and retain pedal functionality... 6 speed bliss... ;)
 
#10 ·
My understanding, is that they designed the clutch pedal to go near the floor when the system was overheated or had air in the line.

If you think about it, a good idea, nothing like getting stuck in the middle of no where which clutch job that requires special parts, a crp load of time and a specialist.
 
#11 ·
I cannot believe that is by design - because I once had the pedal stick to floor as I slowly drove out of the dealership after the car had been in for - you guessed it, a new clutch for the pedal sticking to the floor.

They never did fix the source of the problem - even after 4 tries.
 
#12 · (Edited)
So it sounds like this clutch spring is supposed to pull the clutch pedal towards the floor and make less effort on the pedal for the driver?

Exactly where is this spring, and how hard is it to remove and reinstall if desired?

What's the clutch pedal feel like without the spring installed?

BTW -- I "turkey baste" my clutch reservoir at every oil change. Only takes about 15 minutes. :)
 
#13 ·
RC45 said:
Yep -
Amazing that with all their R&D and 200,000 Corvettes produced Millions of dollars spent on WASTED warranty rplacements by GM - their engineers couldn't figure out their spring sucks.

TeamSpeed said:
My 03 did this too, I am now on the factory's 3rd clutch setup, the 2nd one was so out of balance, the area rep had it pulled and a new one put in.
My original one was out of balance and it took GM 10K miles to realize it. Then they put one in that was smooth as silk but it stuck to the floor after 6K miles and then they replaced it with one that was out of balance and told me it was ok.
I gave up and bought and aftermarket and put it in myself.
Total bull shi@. If I didn't like the car so much I would have told GM to stick it up their butt and sue them.
It is amazing how GM operates. They want to know why IMPORTS are kicking their butts in sales in the US and that is an example. I have an 2003 Acura CL Type S also and with 36K miles on it with no problems, I get a letter that says they have a problem with 3 speed gear in the automatic and they want to inspect it and replace tranny if need be or install an oil jet to cool the gear and they are extending the warranty on the tranny for 5 years 100K miles for customer assurance.
I never had a problem with the tranny and never heard of a problem with it but that is how you sell and back up your product
 
#14 ·
GM is a very poorly run enterprise on all fronts. I would love to lead that in one in work-out. Cake walk.

I currently assisting as/on the senior shareholder/director level of twenty-six privately held companies now, through a parent company.
 
#15 ·
Well, my clutch pedal wasn't sticking on the floor but rather about 1/4 the way from the floor and I could duplicate it easily on the 2nd to 3rd shift every time I got on it. I took the spring out today and presto no more sticking pedal. I do not understand though, I only had the problem when driving the car hard, above 4500rpm shifts, after about 2 gears I would go for the clutch only to find it about 1/4 -1/3 of thew way off the floor; pump it a couple times and all was well till I did it again. Clutch never slipped, chattered or smelled. I did change the fluid with a turkey baster in addition to the spring removal but now all is good. It would seem to me that this problem is related to how fast the clutch assembly is moving, since it only happens/happened to me above 4500 rpm so how does a spring on the clutch pedal cause this? My guess is that this is a weight/heat issue, I don't know if it would do it cold since I keep the r's below 2k until the oil gets to 150F. Is it possible that the the speed at which the clutch is spinning and this spring help to keep the pedal near the floor? If so then it would seem that the spring mod is just a band aid and that the pressure plate and or slave cylinder is on it's way out. Someone clear this up for me cause I don't understand. :screwy:
 
#19 ·
O.K. Guys, I believe you're right. It's gotta be a spring issue. After the other days mishap, I let the car cool for about 8 hrs and then checked it out. The pedal was still stuck about 3-4 inches from the floor, but all I had to do was reach down and pull it up, and it has worked fine since then. The catch point is back to where it was before, and the pedal pops right back to the top of it's travel after each use.

Granted, I haven't stomped on it again since the incident, so it may happen again during spirited driving conditions. So I will remove the spring and change the fluid to see if this will solve my problem. Now I realize after 50k miles on the factory setup, I should feel blessed, but 75% of those miles are freeway miles at 65mph or better!!! Well, with the exception of several 5000rpm clutch drops on sticky Mickey's at Fontana Speedway ;)

One more thing....The irony of it all, is that this same spring was just replaced about 3k miles ago because it snapped in half during normal driving conditions. BTW, this isn't new to me. I have had it happen on 2 other GM cars in the past. My 98' & 00' WS6 TA's did the same damn thing?

Anyway, thanks for your help guys!!!!!

Jason
 
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