HEAVY clutch pedal...what's wrong?

Hey all... I did a search to see if I could find any info on this, and since I couldn't, here goes.

The clutch on my Turbo Coupe is VERY heavy. I compared it to edselsouth1's clutch, and mine is takes probably 2-3 times as much effort as his does. My daily driver is a '97 M3, and I'd say the clutch in it is comparable to edselsouth1's, so it's quite a dramatic change when switching between cars... not only because of the heavier pedal, but the clutch engages a lot higher up too. [Image: smile.gif]

As far as I can tell, the clutch works fine. There is no grinding when changing gears, the shifter doesn't feel overly notchy, and the clutch doesn't slip. I do not know much about the history of the car, so I wonder if it's possible that this could be the result of someone changing to a performance clutch with a heavier pressure plate or something.

Anyone else have this problem before?

What year is your car? Has the clutch pedal always felt hard (since you got it), or has it just recently begun feeling different?

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Estoril blue 1987 TC 5spd, 145k miles, a237, Bailey BOV, rod's header, spec stg3 clutch, spearco FMIC, t3/t4 50 trim / stage III .63, 3" exhaust, eec-tuner, lm1 wb, 55pph injectors, wideband, Nitto 555R dr's
Best 1/4 mile: 13.20 @ 108mph on 26psi, 2.16 60'

If you have a stock clutch in it, the problem is likely the bearing retainer on the front of the tranny. They will get worn/scored, so badly the throw out bearing binds up and doesn't move freely. You can remove the slave cylinder from the bell housing and spray a little grease on the retainer collar, if it helps thats your problem.

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Three 1988 Turbo Coupes .....
yea one of em has a 5.0 And runs 13.1s......
uhhh make that [email protected] with a 90hp shot of nitrous.

I just went through this. The clutch in mine was always pretty heavy, probably on the order of magnitude you described, except mine grabbed just off the floor. I never thought much of it because of unknown history, and it worked great, no noises, etc.

Soi its starts slipping after 3 years of my ownership, and I put in a new clutch, PP, TO bearing, Pilot bearing, machined flyheel, etc. There was nothing visably wrong except the disk was hosed, and the flywheel heated up. The bearing reatainer look new. I put it all back together, and now the clutch is so light, I thought I messed something up. It also works fine, and the engagement point moved up a little in the peadl travel, and there is more movement to the pedal for engagement.

I really dont know what was "wrong", or what is now "right", and just quit worrying about it.

I geuss theres no real help here, other than I drove mine for 3 years with a very heavy pedal, and no adverse effects. As others have indicated, the bearing retainer is the most likely, but in my case it was okay.

Bob Myers

Steve:

Honestly I haven't had the car that long... since June, but it's been this way ever since I've had it.

I'll have to try the bearing retainer idea... that makes the most sense. Right now I'm changing rear end gears out, as the rear end howls quite a bit. [Image: wink.gif] I'll have to work on that after I put the ass-end back together.

Hopefully the rear end'll be finished by the end of the week and I can enjoy the car for a change. heheheh