The Slave Cylinder failed... or wait what's going on here

[Wanderor Cross]

Well now the car is really messing with me so I made two new rods both don't change the issue so that leaves me thinking two things.

Even though I swear I got everything right with the clutch install I screwed up

Or

The slave is indeed bad even though it appears to be working when tested just sitting hanging off the car.

However now the car also sounds like it has a miss which is new and I just replaced the plugs, went with magnacore wires and put in new coil packs... I guess the car is determined to give me a bad result today.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Wanderor Cross

[Erikl]

Can you have some one take video of the slave working while you push the clutch pedal?  I want to see.   

So throwing mud here = if the Master is slightly larger, pushes more fluid, perhaps it pushed the piston in the slave out too far and seals and pressure are effected over time.  .02 inch change in diameter is nothing so grasping for straws.  

Hmmm could the damage on your previous clutch have been caused by the slave extending too far? 
 

I wish I had time to come by and trouble shoot with you.

Yes welcome to the club where something else goes wrong in the middle of a repair....all in good time we will deal with that later 🙂 

 

[Wanderor Cross]

So I decided to try another of my"ideas" for replacement parts.

The E46 M3 slave is very similar to ours in terms of mounting and while smaller in size the diameter is bigger. Since I have no chance of getting a factory slave until next week I decided I had nothing to lose, everything else matched up so I had to open the mounting holes up a little and in it went. It bled well, you could hear it moving but no change when I started the car... Still can't shift at all, now I could bleed it further and while it's tight to the fork there's no guarantee this was enough force or there's enough fluid moving to properly use it this was more of a Hail Mary pass...

At this point there seems to be a lot of signs pointing to something has to be wrong with the install even though I rechecked everything multiple times... I'm not sure what else to think now I know I got the discs right and I mirrored the Throwout bearing from the old clutch, everything is set up correctly I guess the only idea left is that the shop was wrong and the flywheel is out of spec.

Idk I think it's time for a drink.

Actually I did notice the shaft that bolts to the bell housing is right up against the Throwout bearing. Now this may be normal and the Throwout bearing moves around it but that's the only other thing I have noticed.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Wanderor Cross

[Wanderor Cross]

Hey @mike_sekingersince I can't send them in PM from my phone here's those pictures of the slave housing.

At this point I'm just looking up failures from others who resurfaced the flywheel and what happened to confirm if it's the same.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Wanderor Cross

[Wanderor Cross]

So today I tried taking a break to put in my new seats and that turned into more fun and I think I need to make an adjustment but while waiting I came back to the thought of trying to see how I could move the shift fork myself and confirm travel and that it's not hanging up.

Beyond that I'm kinda at a loss for what's going on, I've rechecked everything quite a few times now and I just can't come up with the problem here but I feel like the new clutch is just not moving far enough to disengage. Especially since I can push the clutch in and disengage it enough to start the car but it's still moving. I feel like it's just not getting enough travel.

Tomorrow I'm going to take to JAE and start there, see what they think and most likely redo my driver's seat with some of my new ideas while taking it back just a little further.

[Erikl]

Yeah confirm there clutch is a drop in replacement with no other adjustments or changes necessary.

[Escape]

4 hours ago, Wanderor Cross said:

So today I tried taking a break to put in my new seats and that turned into more fun and I think I need to make an adjustment but while waiting I came back to the thought of trying to see how I could move the shift fork myself and confirm travel and that it's not hanging up.

That's a good idea to try and move the fork manually. You will need some leverage, as it takes a lot of force. Put the car in gear (engine off of course), manually operate the fork and see if that allows you to move the car freely. It's one of the first things I try when someone comes in with clutch problems (if possible on that type of car).

[LotuStuart]

You note that the rod is bent-why is it bent? How did that happen? Maybe it is trying to push a jammed part?

[Wanderor Cross]

1 hour ago, LotuStuart said:

You note that the rod is bent-why is it bent? How did that happen? Maybe it is trying to push a jammed part?

When the Clutch failed the pedal would move so far then stop and since it failed while I was driving I tried pretty hard to put it in gear not to mention rebuilding the stainless line rebleeding and trying again before tearing it down and doing all the work I had before this point.

So I guess my feeling was it happened then, now it seems to move fine in terms of clutch pedal feel, travel and such I just can't disengaged the clutch all the way.

[Erikl]

It seems like I have seen people mention an inspection port?  Or maybe they pull the rubber seal back where the clutch arm goes into the bell housing.  Do you have one of those inspection cameras on a cord you plug into your I phone?  Maybe you could see something out of whack as the arm is moved?

[Wanderor Cross]

I don't have a camera but I can pull the slave housing off and see in rather well, but I don't see anything that makes me believe it's not working... But then I also don't know what exactly I should expect to see.

[Wanderor Cross]

Well I talked to Joe at JAE and I think it does need to be greased so I'm going to pull it apart far enough to grease it and then put it back together and see what happens.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Wanderor Cross

[Wanderor Cross]

Those moments when you consider just letting it catch fire....

Pulled the trans, greased the shaft and housing around it. Put it back together and tested in the air and it worked, excited I put it all the way back together, washed it and pressure washed under it, got in and she started right up only to again not be able to shift into gear with it running.... Tried a few things in the car, nothing.

Really getting frustrated with this

Edited October 9, 2022 by Wanderor Cross

[Erikl]

Oh man that sucks! sorry to hear it.  Yeah I am having an issue with my alernator, no dash light but I think the battery is draining.  How come the dash light is not on...grrr.

[Wanderor Cross]

Since I'm now a passenger on a 2 hour road trip I've just been sitting here thinking and I know it worked, I felt it click on gear and watched the hubs speed up with throttle input.

This means the grease made a difference but with weight and everything in the ground I'm left only with the slave cylinder has to be having issues so I'll see if JAE has one in stock so I can try replacing it but after that I'm really out of ideas everything relating to the clutch and hydraulics has been replaced and in most cases upgraded so this will have to be caused by something else if it's not the slave and at that point I'm seriously at a loss...

[Wanderor Cross]

So I'm down to two things at this point, the Helix clutch comes with a copper ring/tube that goes around the point where the pressure plate mounts I left it as there weren't any instructions with the helix but the AP twin doesn't have it. (Screw driver tip is pointed at the spot where the copper ring that is not attached is on the Helix vs the factory one in the picture)

Beyond that the only thing left I can think of is the machine shop did take to much off the flywheel but wouldn't that result in the clutch not being able to engage properly instead of not being able to disengage?

[Wanderor Cross]

Sadly SJ is not being all that helpful they just asked me to send the clutch back and that I could contact helix directly which I have and I am they have replied asking for the part number so I sent them the one from SJ and a link... here's to hoping they can help.