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LUK clutch failure with pics

S

svttour

Rico Suave
Joined
Aug 13, 2001
Messages
9,704
Location
MIAMI
I installed this clutch brand new into a stock 2.5L SVT with a KKM filter on it. It lasted around 5k miles.....

I tried going on LUks site to send them an email and I really dont feel like going through their form to fill out to submit questions.

clutch1..jpg
clutch5..jpg
clutch4..jpg
clutch2..jpg
clutch3..jpg

you can see the condition of the clutch pressure plate is almost new... no burn marks no abnormal wear.. And you can see where the spring broke...
 
That is a pretty suttle failure. What was the reason it was pulled out? How did the flywheel look?

How was the car driven? Just because there are no signs of over-heating doesn't mean it wasn't driven hard.
 
LUK has us by the nuts because they can make up any scenario to not honor any warranty. "You drove it hard, beat on your car, drop the clutch, car isn't stock, blah blah" - they can shove that clutch up their ass as far as I am concerned after the conversation with their 'know-it-all' customer service guy. They sell •••• and they don't care.
 
Car wasnt driven hard.. Didnt look at the flywheel. Car was headed down the highway in 4th or 5th gear when suddenly it revved to high rpms and the clutch wouldnt engage. Got it towed back to the shop and tried several times to put the car in any gear or reverse. It would go into all gears without a problem but the car wouldnt go anywhere.

Something similar happened to me in one of my SVTs but it turned out to be the center slipne.
 
The thing that LUK has always argued on is that we are putting these clutches that were meant for 2.5Ls into 3Ls which werent intented to handle the power...

but this car is a stock 2.5L..... SOOOOOOO:shrug:
 
I've also pulled out LUK clutches from stock 2.5L with stretched spring windows.
 
svttour said:
Car wasnt driven hard.. Didnt look at the flywheel. Car was headed down the highway in 4th or 5th gear when suddenly it revved to high rpms and the clutch wouldnt engage. Got it towed back to the shop and tried several times to put the car in any gear or reverse. It would go into all gears without a problem but the car wouldnt go anywhere.

Something similar happened to me in one of my SVTs but it turned out to be the center slipne.
Click to expand...

That is an odd one ... I don't see anything in the pictures that to me would make the clutch not engage.
 
I wonder if the spring was popped out momentarily then popped back in at some point. Very strange.
 
I suspect the spline hub carrier has separated from the spring drive plate, you'd need to pull apart the whole hub assembly to see this. The broken spring end is a symptom, but not the cause of the failure. Sam, if you don't want that disc, I'd like to F/A it. I used to build clutches and would like to understand the Luk failure mode, I'll front the shipping.

I've preemptively bought a new clutch from Clutchnet.com, my SVTC factory clutch will fail at some point, so I want to have something on the shelf. He's building me an FCS9371 sprung hub with closed spring windows and "Fiber-carbon" lining, I know this lining as Fiber-Tuff, I used it with great success in Taurus SHO clutches, it was developed for city bus service. It's a very smooth engaging lining, it generates a lot of grip, and has quite long life. He's combining this disc with a YP9371 stage 2 pressure plate.
 
Sam, did you clamp the spline coller into a bench vise and spin the clutch disc? I'm pretty positive the broken spring wouldn't cause a "no clutch" issue. Check it out, it might take a little muscle to spin it ;).
 
gmorrell said:
I suspect the spline hub carrier has separated from the spring drive plate, you'd need to pull apart the whole hub assembly to see this. The broken spring end is a symptom, but not the cause of the failure. Sam, if you don't want that disc, I'd like to F/A it. I used to build clutches and would like to understand the Luk failure mode, I'll front the shipping.

I've preemptively bought a new clutch from Clutchnet.com, my SVTC factory clutch will fail at some point, so I want to have something on the shelf. He's building me an FCS9371 sprung hub with closed spring windows and "Fiber-carbon" lining, I know this lining as Fiber-Tuff, I used it with great success in Taurus SHO clutches, it was developed for city bus service. It's a very smooth engaging lining, it generates a lot of grip, and has quite long life. He's combining this disc with a YP9371 stage 2 pressure plate.
Click to expand...

If you want to pay for shipping, I still have my Spec clutch and PP laying around. :)
 
Well Im not sure what would cause the failure.. The center spline doesnt seem to be damaged. I already have the car back together and it runs fine. I reused the pressure plate because it was so new the only thing I changed was the clutch disc and the car moves again.
 
blu_fuz said:
Sam, did you clamp the spline coller into a bench vise and spin the clutch disc? I'm pretty positive the broken spring wouldn't cause a "no clutch" issue. Check it out, it might take a little muscle to spin it ;).
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Pretty certain there's some internal damage around the center spline that you can't see without taking the entire thing apart.
 
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