Sticking clutch pedal write-up

**AKIRA** · 02-17-2008, 02:28 PM

Ok looks like its my turn...

I have (accidently) 2 thread in Manual Transmissions that relate to this dilema. Basicalluy, i have the same symptoms described here, but it doesnt matter whether I am runnign the car hard or not, the fucker sticks every time and I have to 'toe' the pedal back up.

The odd thing is, I have already replaced the master, slave, and clutch stuff. Though it was over 20k miles ago, I am baffled that this shit is happening again.

truth be told, I thought about getting the LS7 clutch anyway (its a direct replacement, yes?), but I didnt want to buy those two other damn things AGAIN. I am no mechanic, I have no tools, no jack, and no cover. So, naturally I would have to pay someone.

If anyone is in the Gainesville area in Florida and wants to earn some money and teaching me this shit, please let me know.

Oh...how much do LS7 clutches cost?

**Kamesense** · 02-17-2008, 03:20 PM

LS7 clutches require the LS2/LS7 flywheel, Scoggins has it listed 399.99 for the clutch disc, pressure plate and flywheel last I checked but don't quote me on that. However, changing the clutch may not solve your problem. The first step in the write up on the first page (bleeding the system) you could have performed by your local mechanic. I would try the cheaper solution first.

**fbodynut** · 02-17-2008, 03:27 PM

I'm no expert, but i agree with kamesense. Check your fluid. Maybe leaking??
I dunno, but you sure don't want to pull the trans again if ya don't have to.
I don't think you would have burned up your clutch in 20k miles...unless you are really hard on it. Like at the track every weekend or something.

**Kamesense** · 02-17-2008, 03:33 PM

The only way you wouldve went through the clutch at this point was if the clutch was partially engaged while it was stuck in gear. If you smelled your clutch burning at that point then it probably was.

Originally Posted by fbodynut

Check your fluid. Maybe leaking??

If it is doing it literally ALL THE TIME like you said, it may be leaking. Check for spots where you park your car as well.

**AKIRA** · 02-17-2008, 05:07 PM

Yeah I dont drive it hard anymore (dont laugh) and I dont really smell burnt clutch any more because of it.

Ive never looked for leaks, but I have two left hands when it comes to this shit, so I need a pic for every step, to tell you the sad truth, otherwise, I end up breaking everything.

Then again, I fear that a mechanic will say they did this, but never do it. Ive only lived in this city since august so I dont have anyone reliable.

I wish someone was close so they can show me this stuff.

I dont even know where to check the tranny's resevoir. In fact, Ive never heard of it.

**Kamesense** · 02-17-2008, 05:11 PM

The clutch reservoir is towards the driver side of the car back and to the right of the brake fluid reservoir if your looking under the hood from the front. The cap and reservoir itself are considerably smaller than the brake fluid reservoir. I will try to post pics later or tomorrow if i get the chance.

If you find it, take the cap off and check the color and level of the fluid. The fluid is DOT3 brake fluid(or at least the factory fill is). Be sure the color looks the same as brake fluid should and that the level is proper.

**som1sc** · 02-17-2008, 07:26 PM

I was just lookin through some old issues of GM-Hightech and in the May 07 issue they do an M6 install with a Spec clutch. They replaced the master and slave also. The spec clutch kit comes with a slave spacer. Says it is to prevent a "CRASHED" pedal. Just something else to think about.

**AKIRA** · 02-17-2008, 07:39 PM

Hmmm.

I thought about just upgrading my clutch, regardless of this problem, to a LS7, but if I hadnt, it would be SPEC next.

**som1sc** · 03-05-2008, 05:20 PM

Just got my SPEC stg 3 in. The paper work says do not use synthetic brake fliud because it creates fluid blow by in the LS-1 cars. Thats what I have in mine, so that may be why mine started acting up. Just wanted to let everyone know.

**SPDYGON** · 03-10-2008, 11:43 AM

my 01 ss has 36542 mile and it did it at the drag strip i have change fliud with 600f race fliud and wrap the line coming from the reservoir this past week in . this week i will find out if this will do the job let you all know. my theary is that the line is to close to the exhaust pipes so when on the gas heavy the line gets to hot and fliud starts to boil and thin out to much

**som1sc** · 03-24-2008, 05:16 PM

Put my clutch in and did the break in and everything works flawless. Same MC and slave that was sticking before. My old clutch had plenty of pad left so in my case it was the pressure plate.

**Z28er** · 05-07-2008, 09:25 AM

I have done all of this, but mine still sticks under NX wet 150. On the street, I am a monster btwn gears, but get me at the track, and my clutch sticks from first to second so bad, I run crap times. My avg was usually 12.7s with a 150 wet, but I would go out and smoke cars btwn gears on the street that just ran low 12s or high 11s.

I have crap time slips, but the car is a beast. Can't have it all, but for $1,000, the NX is still worth it!

I also made the mistake of replacing my clutch with a Z06....no better than stock.

Richie G.

**CFL01nbmss** · 06-30-2008, 06:06 AM

would ls7 clutch be better choise?

**fbodynut** · 06-30-2008, 04:34 PM

I have about 4k of some pretty hard driving on a Hayes pressure plate, clutch disc, and gm replacement ls1 slave with no problems so far.

**vance-53** · 09-08-2008, 06:04 PM

My neighbor and I have replaced master cyl with a new adjustable(ram version)from jegs as well as a new (ram version) slave cyl, did the drill mod, Installed a new (centerforce,dual friction) street and strip clutch kit and still can't get the clutch to bleed. Pedal is stuck to the floor. Called a local transmission shop and they said it sounds like air in the master, to keep pumping with resevoir top off until air surfaces. (we tried this for over an hour)NOTHING!!! There other suggestion was to slowly force air through the resevoir cap vent hole with bleeder open on slave cyl until air is forced out of Master cyl. NOPE!!! Still no pressure and pedal is still stuck to the floor. I'm going to purchase a Mity Vac tomorrow, If this does'nt work are there any other suggestions? This car has already been sitting on jack stands for 5-6 weeks due to lack of time available and waiting for parts. HOW WELL DO THESE CARS BURN???

**transAMchubby** · 09-08-2008, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by vance-53

HOW WELL DO THESE CARS BURN???

they dont, like the phoenix they will rise out of the ashes and live on!

i read in a thread a while back (cant remember what it was) that cleeding the clutch can take as much as 2 hours or more by the traditional method with 2 people. maybe you only got half way there?
good luck...im not looking forward to bleeding mine with a clutch install this winter.

**JET POWER** · 04-10-2009, 06:52 AM

Just like many others I had the sticky clutch pedal problem, and finally had it fixed a week ago.

I have this camaro for about a year now, when I bought it I couldn't tell if there was a problem with the clutch or what, I thought that I needed to drive it more to get used to it. The car only had 22000 miles when I bought it, now 26000 miles. First month when I drove it the pedal would not return at the right speed, then one day it stayed at the bottom, I never knew that I could lift the pedal up, so I had it towed to gm. Gm changed clutch fluid and the clutch pedal worked fine for over 6 months. I also had them change rear end fluid and engine oil with synthetic. I drove it only about 1500 miles in those 6 months. Then it went to the floor again, so back to gm and they said that for them to fix the problem and guarantee it for one full year they would need to replace both master and slave cylinder. I can't remember exactly the price for master, but it was about 300 labour, and 350 part, for slave I have exact numbers, they wanted 500 for labour at 100/hr, and 384 for the part. These prices are in Canadian dollars, I told them to just change the fluid again and I will decide later. That is when they told me that I can just lift the pedal up and pump it to regain pressure if this ever happens again, which helped a lot because I never had to tow the car again.
Just about 2 weeks ago the pedal lost all the pressure and lifting it up would not regain any pressure, took it to somebody who was allready working on my other car and when he looked at it he noticed that the steel hose going to master cylinder is disconnected, a little pin fell out of it and the hose came off, that is how all the clutch fluid leaked out, at that point I told him to change just the master cylinder which I allready bought, but after changing it the pedal still had no pressure, then he changed the slave, I helped and got myself soaked with transmission oil when trying to put the transmission back in. Now the pedal is perfect, but now I hear some weird noise sometimes.

Noise is comming right from the area where the slave cylinder is, it usually happens only once a day and 90% of time when going in reverse, sounds like something is not spinning straight in there. I bought the slave cylinder with throw out bearing at autozone in detroit. I will worry about fixing the noise in about a week. The problem is I can take the car to any mechanic and they can't hear the noise because it happens only for about 3-5 seconds and maybe once in a day or two.

BLEEDING AIR in the clutch fluid. This is not as hard as some people are saying.
I see many people here are having trouble with it, I told gm to show me how to bleed it, and they did, you don't need to use the bleeder screw which is so hard to reach and impossible to see unless you use a mirror. This is what you can do, it requires 2 people. Open the clutch fluid tank, remove the little black cover which sits under the cap, and put your hand over the hole, you don't have to press it very hard just hard enough to not let any air go in or out, then another person needs to pump the clutch pedal "slow". While the person is pumping the padal you will feel the pedal getting harder and harder. The whole procedure takes about 5 min, maybe 3. You will never feel the pedal get hard from top to bottom, it will feel hard from half way down to the bottom, but after you start driving it it will be even pressure top to bottom all the way, and you will only need to press the clutch about 2" to switch a gear if the pedal works properly. When you are done bleeding just put the little black cover in the clutch fluid tank and screw the cap back on and drive it, within 2 min the clutch pedal should feel hard top to bottom. I did it with another mechanic second time so I know that this works, and really only about 5 min, by loosening the bleeder screw we could never get the pedal to get hard, and I don't know how many times I bled the brake fluid the same way which worked with no problem. I don't know why the bleeder screw is there, maybe just for flushing the clutch fluid good, but it sure doesn't need to be used for bleeding air.

I am not a mechanic, but I have taken an engine appart before on a different car, and changed who knows how many other parts myself, so if somebody lives close to me and needs help with slave cylinder, which requires pulling the transmission out, I can help if I have time.

**JET POWER** · 04-10-2009, 07:37 AM

If somebody had the same problem with car making some noise from slave cylinder area, after changing the slave cylinder. And if you fixed it, please tell me what was the problem and what you did to fix it.

**raysz28** · 05-02-2009, 09:05 PM

Quick question, should i be able to move the slave cylinder any? i can grab the braided line that attaches to the slave cylinder right at the trans, i can move it about 1/4".
is that normal?

**km346** · 05-19-2009, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by raysz28

Quick question, should i be able to move the slave cylinder any? i can grab the braided line that attaches to the slave cylinder right at the trans, i can move it about 1/4".
is that normal?

Yea that is normal...

Just did my clutch master today to cure my "lazy Pedal" problem. What a PITA that was. Everything was going pretty smooth until i realized i crimped the fluid reservoir line behind that stupid U bolt and had to take it all apart again

. I fell in love with my car (again) on the first ride.