Okay, so for some time now, my clutch has been giving me some pretty bad clutch chatter. Now I don't know what you guys consider to be very bad, but for me, it's getting to be unbearable. I get very harsh vibrations, that shake the car, EVERY TIME I take off at low rpm's, as though I clutch pedal maneuvering wasn't smooth, when in reality, it was perfect. It really disturbs my driving experience.. Since it started, I havent really had much of an idea what was causing it. I have an exedy stage 1 organic clutch, and supposedly, it's normal to get some shutter with a new clutch, but it should go away after a couple thousand miles. Not only is mine still existent, but the severity doesn't seem so normal. I thought the install may have went wrong. I thought the clutch might just be a piece of crap.. But now, I think it's something else..

I made an interesting observation one day that the shutter was very bad. I went to go get my car washed. To my surprise, after I got my car washed, the shutter was gone. It made me think, "did the wash somehow clean my clutch?" Now some time later, after it rained and me driving through some big puddles, that positively splashed the whole underside of my car, the shudder went away again. And to go along with that, and Idk how this is relevant, my gearbox seems to be smoother too, as in it's easier to go from gear to gear. It really does seem like water is cleaning my clutch in some sort of way to make it smoother. Then I realized something else, a while back, I ripped out a large black plastic piece that covered the whole bottom of the engine bay, from the bottom of my car, because it was dragging on the ground. Is it possible that dirt and such could be getting up into my engine bay and in between the disks of my clutch causing it to have very bad shutter? Which is why when it rains or I get my car washed, it goes away...

Thoughts??

 

I wouldn't say it's all together impossible. I'd try getting under the car to assess what you can, and see how you would go about replacing the plastic cover you described

 

You think?? But putting pieces together, doesn't it sound like that's exactly what is happening?

 

There is a dust cover on the front of the bell housing, I would make sure it is still there. It is very small, maybe 2 inches wide. It is there to inspect the clutch without dropping the transmission.

 

it does sound like that's what's happening,, but I'm still really new to these cars and am not super sure about what could cause what quite yet. But if you removed a sort of debris shield from under the car that might be what's happening, and there's only one way to find out

 

His splash shield will have no effect on how protected his clutch is. The dust cover will, however.

 

haha, that alone shows how new I am to these cars

 

I believe it's all heat related. In my case it happens more when the car is warm than cold, and it never happens when the car is started cold. It shudders more in hot days than in cold days (I'm in SoCal), and it's worst in stop and go traffic in Summer. My theory is that heat from the engine bay, especially from the driver side exhaust, is causing the clutch fluid to overheat, as a result fail to maintain the consistent pressure for the slave cylinder to push the clutch lever, making it difficult to get a smooth engagement. Or even worse, the clutch disc might not be fully disengaged even though the clutch pedal is pressed all the way down, making shifting clunky.

So when the underside of the car gets splashed with water, it actually cools the clutch fluid and the slave cylinder, as a result the hydraulic pressure is restored, and the clutch operates as it should. When the clutch disc is fully disengaged, gear shifting becomes smooth again.

Did you change clutch fluid when you replace the clutch? If you did with DOT3 fluid I'll suggest you change to DOT4 to help with overheat issue. You might also want to find out if your slave cylinder is part of the issue. Hope this helps.

 

That's an interesting theory. However, if you're saying the water cools, rather than cleans, the fluid/slave would only stay cooled for a very short amount of time, which i would guess could be as little as a few minutes of driving. My clutch stays functioning normally for a few days, and then the chatter gradually comes back, which to me seems more like a cleanliness issue rather than a temperature one. Thoughts?

 

pic?

 

You said the gearbox is smoother from gear to gear but it is probably just complete disengagement of the clutch not the gearbox itself.

 

I agree with this theory. My 7.3 F250 does the same thing. when I drive it for a while in town, the clutch starts to shudder on take off. let it sit and cool, and the clutch engages like butter again. It's getting too hot.

 

check your rear differential bushings. if they're blown and leaking that could be causing your shudder. Fixed mine by replacing the bushing with whiteline poly bushings