very high clutch

when I got the car 2 months ago, it had a fairly high clutch to begin with. but after driving yesterday I noticed its quite high, to the point where my foot is almost completely off the clutch before it engages. I'd have to say about 1" of pedal travel from friction point to fully released. Is the clutch just done, or is there some adjustment I need to check?

I think contours are just like that. I know the 3 ive driven have all had very high clutches where your foot is off the floor before it disengages

j0stev01 said:

I think contours are just like that. I know the 3 ive driven have all had very high clutches where your foot is off the floor before it disengages

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I'm talking unusually high though, I basically hit friction point then theres nothing left.

you might need to try bleeding your clutch, however, if you are at 109K and on the original clutch, depending on the previous owner history and abuse over the years; that clutch might be at the end of its life. I have pulled apart a bunch of SVTs that at about 100K miles have already had the clutch replaced, and some that are still on the original and didn't really have any clutch material left. There are a lot of various tests on the durability of the clutch too, you can google search them and some are very accurate and some arent so accurate. My favorite test is doing 5th gear at about 15 MPH and flooring the accelerator pedal, if the motor revs quickly and you dont gain much speed than your clutch would be slipping.

First thing is first, there is a hydraulic line that leads to the clutch throw out bearing on the top of the trans almost directly under the air intake, right next to that clutch line there is a small 7MM bleeder valve. Have a friend hold his foot on the clutch, carefully release the bleeder valve once the fluid stops coming out, retighten and have your friend pump the clutch again and repeat a few times to get the bad fluid out of the lines. It is the exact some procedure for bleeding brakes (as its the same system). Also make sure to keep your eye on the brake fluid level, dont let it become empty because then you are going to have to rebleed the entire brake system on all 4 wheels, major PITA.

That might help with your long throw issue, although I can say a lot of contours I have owned and driven have been similar, maybe not right out at the end of the clutch throw but it certainly doesn't engage right off the bat.

AliasJerk said:

My favorite test is doing 5th gear at about 15 MPH and flooring the accelerator pedal, if the motor revs quickly and you dont gain much speed than your clutch would be slipping.

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isnt that bad to do? under 1,000rpm and floor it in the lowest gear?

mnewxcv said:

isnt that bad to do? under 1,000rpm and floor it in the lowest gear?

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obviously its straining to the clutch, and thats part of the test. If your clutch cant handle it or fails in the process, it seals the deal in finding out if your clutch is bad.

If your clutch fails in doing the 5th gear test, it probably didnt have very many miles left in it regardless.

well i didnt have the balls to do 5th gear 15mph, but i did 4th gear 1k rpm floor and it didnt slip at all. am i in the clear for clutch replacement?

mnewxcv said:

well i didnt have the balls to do 5th gear 15mph, but i did 4th gear 1k rpm floor and it didnt slip at all. am i in the clear for clutch replacement?

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dude if you're not going to do the test the way you were instructed to then come to your own conclusion.

the hydraulic clutch in these cars is not adjustable so if bleeding it doesn't fix it. you don't have many options but if your clutch is engaging at the top of the travel for the pedal rather than the bottom it is likely not a worn out clutch which would engage at the bottom.

what contour do you have 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder (I see you have an SVT) if you have a 4 cylinder with a 6 cylinder throw-out-bearing/slave cylinder you would have this issue

you could also have oil or brake fluid or trans fluid leaking on your clutch friction disc causing it to swell making you clutch engage earlier in the pedal travel but then you would have slipping issues

the only other option is something the matter with the clutch pedal pivot points not something that happens on these cars but this can cause all kinds of problems with engagement points but then you would need to check that with your head under the dash. this should cause late engagement rather than early and is common on 90s f150's

now don't come back here saying I didn't do what you told me but can you tell me if X means anything.

ok well by top of the travel for the pedal, i mean that i put the pedal to the floor, and releasing it, the clutch doesnt grab until almost releasing the pedal fully. Just want to make sure we're on the same page. I will try the 5th gear test tomorrow then since I guess what I did is inconclusive.

I have a stock SVT, so, yeah, V6, stock tranny as far as I know.

try bleeding the clutch first.

check the bottom of the trans where it meets the engine check for fluid leaks

what do you know about the clutch history? original? replaced at some time?

check the slave cylinder linkage (pedal assembly)

something is funny like a thick pressure plate i.e. after market replacement that is to thick or some fluid is causing it to swell or something is messed up with the pedal linkage or the slave is adjusted out to far or something is broken in the pressure plate. as the clutch wears the pedal should engage it closer and closer to the floor unless the slave compensates for it on mustangs with cable clutches they have an automatic adjuster that compensates


good luck just systematically check everything in the clutch system hopefully bleeding the clutch fixes it if not hopefully you can find something that doesn't involve pulling the transmission.

thanks, I dont know anything about the clutch history. Good thing is its kind of just a weird thing, and doesnt seem to affect the way it drives(so far). I'll take a look at some of the stuff you mentioned... no leaks though(on the ground)

I have the same issue. 108k miles. I'm definitely dreading doing a clutch... Done one in my 95 and that was not fun..

greasemonkey1489 said:

I have the same issue. 108k miles. I'm definitely dreading doing a clutch... Done one in my 95 and that was not fun..

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I have helped/done about 4 or 5. My friends and I end up pulling the motor out of the top of the engine bay, provided we dont run into any serious issues it takes us about 3 hours to pull the motor and 3 hours to put it back in, with an hour in between to pull the trans off the motor and replace the clutch.

PurdySVT said:

try bleeding the clutch first.

check the bottom of the trans where it meets the engine check for fluid leaks

what do you know about the clutch history? original? replaced at some time?

check the slave cylinder linkage (pedal assembly)

something is funny like a thick pressure plate i.e. after market replacement that is to thick or some fluid is causing it to swell or something is messed up with the pedal linkage or the slave is adjusted out to far or something is broken in the pressure plate. as the clutch wears the pedal should engage it closer and closer to the floor unless the slave compensates for it on mustangs with cable clutches they have an automatic adjuster that compensates


good luck just systematically check everything in the clutch system hopefully bleeding the clutch fixes it if not hopefully you can find something that doesn't involve pulling the transmission.

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all hydraulic clutches are self adjusting, just like brakes.