Clutch Mystery

[Little Blue Vette]

Clutch didn’t work but now it does mystery.

My Son had a LS6 engine put in his 1999 Trans Am two years ago. The clutch went out of it and it would not disengage when the petal was pushed in.

We decided to replace the clutch ourselves. Instead of having it towed, I decided to drive it 12 miles to the shop without the clutch. I would have to start it up in first gear and shift without the clutch. Approaching a light I would have to shift into neutral, shut off the engine, put it into 1st gear than start it when the light turned green.

Every light I hit was red and shifting without the clutch is a pia, so I decided to try to start it in second gear. When I attempted to start it is second gear there was a bang that shook the entire car and the car stalled. After that the clutch worked perfectly and I drove it to the shop in a normal fashion.

We got it up on stands and there is evidence the entire drive train is shifting about one inch. (engine and transmission) I can see this on the bolt that holds the transmission to the mount, the drive shaft at the transmission and on the hanger bar at the muffler.

We figure the only way the engine and transmission can be moving is bad motor mounts. But the mystery is how would that effect a clutch that is hydraulically operated?

Norm

[Ten5TireRacer]

You can still force the yoke into the output shaft that would in turn cause the input shaft to have an issue with the slave cylinder/clutch disc, not to mention what it does to the thrust bearing.