So,.. Driving like the perverbial bat out of hell, I've burned out my original clutch. Instead of paying the duckets to have it done at the dealership, I decided to save money and upgrade at the same time doing it myself. I bought a street performance clutch kit from ACT. Got everything back together, and now there is no pressure in the clutch pedal. It goes to the floor and won't return. I know what many of you may be thinking,...alot like the sticking clutch problems you've read about on here, but There is no pressure, and I can't engage the gears. I've pulled the slave cylinder off and had someone else press the clutch while I apply pressure to the piston by hand. Same difference,... piston doesn't fully expand, and when pressed back the pedal doesn't go back up. I spoke to my local dealer, and the service guy, who seems to be somewhat more car savvy than most I talk to, seems a bit stumped. He suggests trying to bleed it, like there's air in the line, but I never opened the system. I'm going to try it,... but I was wondering if anyone has heard of this problem after replacing the clutch.

 

Oh, yes, and I've also watched it while the slave cylinder is installed. It won't fully engage the fork, just about a third of the travel required and that's at the end of the pedal travel. There are no leaks, the reservoir is completely full, and I don't think I kinked anything.

 

Well, I'm gonna keep going with this even though all through all the reading nobody is posting anything. So the dealer recommends bleeding. Nothing. After much frustration I drop it down, the clutch works, just not much pedal. Take it to the dealership. Tech said I have the wrong pressure plate in it. Take it home,... drop the tranny replace the new pressure plate with the old, get tranny back in,... same problem. I notice the slave cylinder isn't pressured on the fork. So now I'm wondering,...if a hydraulic clutch is self adjusting, shouldn't the piston on the slave cylinder kinda drop into place and hold some minute pressure on the fork? Does anybody have any real answers or am I going to end up dropping a grand to bring it to the dealer and have my a$$hole reamed out?

 

Yikes. Sorry bro, but I don't think you're going to find too many guys who would replace their own clutch. I'm not bad with a wrench, but replacing a clutch is beyond me and probably most guys here. 2 cents

Good Luck!!!

 

True

 

I've seen a similar issue where it was actually the release bearing was damaged during install & the hydraulics could not take up the excess slack.

 

I've always been very mechanically inclined and to me it's mostly just nut's and bolts. But,... I've been doing some trial and error. I put the old pressure plate and the worn disc back in, aaaaaaand the flipping pedal is perfect. I have my thoughts, but never having done much clutch work, I'm waiting to talk to the tech at infiniti,...just my luck he gets rear ended yesterday and won't be back to work until tuesday. I'm almost positive now it has something to do with the slave cylinder. Well,... since nobody seems to know yet,... I'll let you know when I figure it out. Maybe those of you who have the courage to venture into the world of clutches will find it usefull someday. By the way, assuming everything goes well, it's really no more than a 3-4 hour job in a garage. It's just taken me some time to figure out all the little tweaks, but I can pretty much have a tranny out and back in in about 4 if I can find all my tools on the garage floor.

 

This won't help any but I have to say I admire your ambition and can feel your frustration. I can change out the mechanical clutch on my old 70 car but would not know where to even look for the bolts on these newer car.

To me the idea of completing a job like this only to take it apart again and reinstall the old one would drive me insane. Wish I could buy you a drink. Good luck bro.

 

Yeah,... but I'm learning alot. Really I think the most frustrating thing, aside from it not working, is that I really don't have the best setup in my garage. I have a decent compressor and air tools which takes some of the time off, but the real problem is getting the tranny back in, which I think I've perfected my method. I've pretty much done every combination of new plate, new pressure plate, old, plate, old pressure plate, and I've come to a few conclusions. 1: The tech at infiniti is wrong and it has nothing to do with the pressure plate from ACT as I've installed it with the old disc to see if the clutch would feel right. It did, so it's definitely not the ACT pressure plate. 2: Either there's something wrong with the slave cylinder, or the new clutch disc is too thick. Since I believe the thing is supposed to self adjust, I'm guessing there's something to the slave cylinder, but I really want to talk to the tech before I venture into buying more parts.

As for what was said about finding all of the nuts and bolts,... well it's like anything. You have to start somewhere, and I must admit I can pretty much manipulate most of that stuff under there with my eyes closed now. Either way, I'll get the damned thing running again eventually, and then it's new tires, because,... well the rears are about as worn as the old clutch disc.

 

Well, for all of those who are curious as to how this saga has ended, I'll tell you. I have no freaking idea. I went to one of the closest tranny shops to me to see if they might have more insight than infiniti, and they told me to bring in all the parts, old and new to compare. I did, the guy looked at them, said, put the new stuff back in, and if you're still having problems bring it down here. So I did, and the clutch pedal went to the floor but I could pump it up enough to drive it. Sitting in the turn lane waiting to get into their parking lot, the damned pedal pops up. The guy looks at it, adjusts the pedal a tad, and that's it. The damned thing works. I'd like to have a complete understanding of what happened, but at this point, I think I'll smile and be happy until it goes out on me again. Good luck, and if anyone in the seattle area wants help with the clutch on their g35 leave me alone!!!