Spec Clutch slipping after only 20,000

[tasso]

I am getting clutch slippage in 4th and 5th gear. What hapens is at low rpms in 4th and 5th I get rpm spikes after shifting. I let off the gas and it will go ok then. When I go through the gears at higher rpm's I am not getting any clutch slippage in the upper gears. Should I just replace the plate or any ideas on what is causing this?

[Big Jim]

Did you surface the flywheel when you replace the clutch? If you did have the flywheel surfaced, did the machine shop machine BOTH surfaces? If they only surfaced the friction face and not the preasure plate mounting surface you could have premature wear.

You may also have some oil on the clutch. Are their any signs of oil leakage past the rear main?

[fastcougar]

First things first ... have you tried to bleed the slave cylinder?

[Ray]

Bleeding the clutch (or, more accurately, having a properly bled clutch) will affect the releasing ability, not the clamping ability.

That is, to say, if he were having problems releasing a gear, or grinding when changing gears, etc, then I could see a bleed helping. a slipping clutch, though, I can't see it doing anything other than lightening his wallet.

Its a last ditch effort, and he can try it if he wants to, but I was (and always have been) informed that it was a waste of MY time when my clutch went out and I asked the same thing on CEG a year or two ago.

[ScottK]

It wasn't kevlar was it? Isn't one of the spec stages kevlar? My grizzly kevlar lasted "maybe" 20,000 miles...

[posthuman63t]

It wasn't kevlar was it? Isn't one of the spec stages kevlar? My grizzly kevlar lasted "maybe" 20,000 miles...

The stage 2 from Spec is kevlar.

Yea, I happen to be in a similar boat as you. My clutch isn't slipping in 4th or 5th though, but it slips while going into 2nd. I had the flywheel resurfaced (both sides) but coming out of first at like 7k (shifting fast) the cluth will slip for about 2 seconds, then grab....and then i get that clutch smell in my car....EW. And I even broke it in over 500 miles (more like 750-800 miles) of city driving.

[warmonger]

When you say "both sides" do you mean the pressure plate as well?

Either way the distances are probably off and you probably should just get a new flywheel and clutch kit this time.

[CSVT#49]

I am getting clutch slippage in 4th and 5th gear. What hapens is at low rpms in 4th and 5th I get rpm spikes after shifting. I let off the gas and it will go ok then. When I go through the gears at higher rpm's I am not getting any clutch slippage in the upper gears. Should I just replace the plate or any ideas on what is causing this?

Welcome to the club. This crap happen to me with my SPEC stage 1 clutch as well. However I only got 14k out of mine. I think the problem was the flywheel. I don't believe Clutch & U-Joint resurfaced the two they needed to do since it was a stepped flywheel.

I would suggest doing what I did, buy a new OEM flywheel (I got mine for $140 through Steve at Tousley Ford) and buy a new SPEC clutch kit (UltraRev.com)

Install them and continue on with life. My car drives like a champ now, but it's only been about 3k since I installed everything.

You can keep driving it after you have tried to bleed the clutch and hope that it gets better (this is what I did), but if you notice it's not order the parts. Your car will last a little longer, but if it was anything like mine with in about 1-2 months you will start to see slipping work it's way down through the gears until you start to see it slipping in all of the gears. Keep in mind that if you don't have the means to install this yourself it will cost you anywhere from $650-800. Atleast you have some time to call around and get pricing. I did the replacement myself and I consider myself to be pretty good with the wrenches and it still took me about a solid 3 days (spanned over about a 2 week period). So if you attempt this yourself give yourself some time to finish it as it is no easy task (I've now done two of these).

[tasso]

I did have the flywheel resurfaced. Beyond that I do not know how they did it. The clutch is also getting quite a bit of shudder in all the gears at the engage point. Oh well thought I was getting a really good clutch with this spec stage 1. Wondering if I should have just got a stock one it lasted 93,000 miles!

[TRicker]

i didnt even resurface my flywheel on my car. no chatter that is unexpected, since i have a 6puck disc. i have about 8k on the clutch now and i cant even make it slip with nitrous. me and #49 did mine in a weekend (i took it mostly apart friday evening by myself, and mike helped with it on saturday and sunday) oh and i'm gonna have to back up mike and say he is "pretty good" with the wrenches. actually he's really good. i'm "pretty good" at throwing them. lol.