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symptoms of clutch going bad?


kp3ft

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I've got a 1994 Mazda B2300 which runs fine and the clutch feels good when I first start the truck and drive it. After maybe 5 to 10 of minutes of driving it, the clutch pedal becomes harder to push down and makes a "squeak" noise when depressing it and letting it back up. Also, the clutch starts to not engage as well. It doesn't matter if it's a lot of start-and-stop city-driving, or highway driving. After shutting it off and letting it sit for a few hours, it's fine again.

The fluid level of the clutch master cylinder is good, and I recently drained the old tranny fluid and replaced it with new.

Does anyone know what this is a symptom of? Is the clutch starting to go bad? Whatever it is, it's seems like it's heat-related, since it feels perfectly normal when cold. I checked to see if the engine itself is not overheating, but it's fine. Thanks for any help

Jeff
 


RonD

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Yes, the clutch disc is worn out, and is slipping when it gets hot, which makes it even hotter.

The noise is most likely throw bearing or pilot bearing also getting hot with the slipping

There is a flywheel and pressure plate bolted to the engine, these always spin at engine RPM

The clutch disc is sandwiched in between fly wheel and pressure plate
Clutch disc is connected to transmission's input shaft
Clutch disc is made of a softer friction material, like brake shoes or pads, fly wheel and pressure plate are both metal

Pressure plate does what it's name says, it puts pressure on the clutch disc clamping it down to fly wheel.
When you press down on clutch pedal the clutch slave pushes against the springs holding pressure plate tight, this releases pressure on the clutch disc so it can spin at a different RPM than the engine/flywheel
This allows you to stop, 0 RPMs at clutch disc, or change gears smoothly.

Clutch disc material wears down over the miles and shifts, just like brake shoes and pads do
There is a minimum gap between pressure plate and fly wheel, when clutch disc material wears down enough then even with full pressure from pressure plate there is not enough clamping force to hold clutch disc tight, so it start to slip, this slipping heats up the disc and causes a glazing on the flywheel, pressure plate and disc which causes more slipping.
When cold clutch disc will grip better
 
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kp3ft

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OK, thanks. That makes a lot of sense. I'll get a clutch kit and put it in.
 
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