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Seized Clutch

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Joe Schlosser

Joe Schlosser

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Started car and Just let it roll to the other side of the driveway. Pushed in clutch and it would not go into gear, just a lot of gear noises.
As the car had not been driven in a month I figured clutch was stuck to PP. Tried to start car in gear with clutch in with no success.
Got car back inside and checked cutch slave. it looked like it was working properly
I had only has tis happen once before with my FP car and we managed to free it with a in gear start.

I pulled the motor and split the trans of. Suspicion confirmed clutch well stuck on PP. See pics
Could old the P horizontal and clutch stayed firm. Actually needed to "pry it" off th ePP.
Actually see the marks on the PP where clutch was stuck

Any one have any thoughts. Car never sees rain. I thought there was a thread on this last winter but I cannot find it.
 

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Seen a fair amount of these over the decades. Often it is a new clutch, then car stored. Metal facings have not polished off yet.

Heated garage helps, running the car at least once a month and moving it (slipping the clutch a bit) helps.
 
Yoda
Thanks
The clutch had about 1000 miles on it. Second winter storage with no issue. Drove car 4-5 times since spring. Raining for most of July so did not drive.
I have a spare clutch disk, thoughts on using the existing or installing the spare.
Should the PP have any have any particular finish?
 
Joe Schlosser said:
Yoda
Thanks
The clutch had about 1000 miles on it. Second winter storage with no issue. Drove car 4-5 times since spring. Raining for most of July so did not drive.
I have a spare clutch disk, thoughts on using the existing or installing the spare.
Should the PP have any have any particular finish?
Click to expand...
Pp finish..yes and no. You see all sorts of finish on new or rebuilt ones. If it's just rusty, sand it off with oh, 220 then 500 on a block.

I've done so much of that stuff..sanding off rust, throwing a vehicle back together, and by gum, it works!
If you didn't damage the disc facings, they should work fine.

Get it running and slip the clutch a bit to smooth off what you missed.
 
Yoda; Thanks for the input. I already did the 22 sanding I will hit the face with some 400 next.
I am not big on slipping the clutch except to get started. I will have to practice a little

This is the first time I have this happened in having this car for almost 50 years. Aside from tearing it apart does anyone have any thoughts on freeing up the clutch if it occurs again. Trying to start it in gear with pedal depressed did not work.
How about trying to hit the Assy through the access hole to break it loose?
 
I have experienced this on a few of my cars but not the British ones. I have not resorted to pulling the gearbox to free the parts.

The method I have used is to put the car in neutral and warm the engine up. Once warm I roll the car down to the street and get it pointed where you want to go. You will need at least 100 yards. With the car in position, put the car in first gear and hold down the clutch pedal. Start the engine. The car will immediately start moving. HOLD the clutch pedal to the floor the whole time. Floor the accelerator, then punch the brake. Do that over and over until you either a) run out of road, or b) you hear a loud "bang" indicating the friction disk has broken free. If a) happens, turn the key off, stop, turn the car around and try again.

Once you have the friction disk broken free, drive for a while making sure to let the clutch slip a bit to remove rust and disk material from the flywheel and pressure plate.

On one of my old German cars that was only driven a couple of times a year this became a chronic problem. I resorted to pushing the clutch pedal down and wedging the release bearing lever arm so there was no pressure on the friction disk while in storage. I left myself notes on the dash to remind me to "remove clutch lever chock".
 
When the weather is bad - my TR6 has never seen rain - I go into the garage, start the engine, put in the clutch and run through the gears several times. I also hit the brakes many times, operate the wipers and the heater. Never had a problem with any of the above in 21 years (yet?) I'm doing the same now with the Alfa - which has had gearbox issues).
 
All back together and road tested several times. I polished the flywheel and pressure plate a bit and have been slipping the clutch a little to seat everything in.
First time in 50 years of having the car that I had this issue.
However, I do have a question. I am using a Aluminum flywheel with the stock pressure plate/clutch. The assembly is 1/4 inch shorter than with the stock iron flywheel.
I am using the stock 2 11/16 inch clutch slave rod. Everything is working fine.
Has anyone needed to use a slightly longer clutch slave rod (1/4") to compensate for the longer travel distance when using an aluminum flywheel??
Just curious
 
With a hydraulic clutch you don't need to worry about using a cylinder with a longer rod... as long as the piston isn't about to pop out of the cylinder when the pedal is fully depressed.
 
My solution to this problem was to push start the car in forth gear. Once it got going push in the clutch and hit the brakes. That usually freed up the clutch.
 
When mine stuck I just warmed up the engine in neutral and then shut if off. I then put it in second gear and started the car, without using the clutch, and then drive it a little bit accelerating and letting off the gas doing this a few times and then trying the clutch. Worked every time for me.
 
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