Slipping & Thumping Clutch

MarkEricRoth

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My sons' 2000 LS manual's clutch is slipping and obviously needs replacing. More bothersome is that when I put it into gear I hear a thump from the rear end, which tells me that not only is not fully engaging, but it is not fully disengaging either. Will simply replacing the clutch fix both issues or is it a more complex issue?

Also, I do not have the facilities to do this job. Has anyone had mechanic do this for them without the car coming back with a boatload of vibration?

Mark
 
Hi, the thumping is normal on this car.

The clutch job is pretty standard, but it does involve the removal of the exhaust system and drive shaft. I've done mine twice and it is really pretty easy. A couple of gotchas do exist, though. Flywheels are pretty much non-existent, but machine shops can resurface them. The flywheel is a dual mass flywheel, but there should be no problem getting it cleaned up in the machine shop.

Also, the hose to the slave cylinder is not available as far as I know, but possibly is for the manual transmission Jaguar S type (not the S Type R, which is a whole different beast). The slave cylinder is integral to the throwout bearing, so the hose has to go from outside of the transmission to the inside, and that is why care must be taken to not lose any parts of that hose. I know one guy had a problem and maybe lost a part for that hose and he had a bad time trying to get the part.

Other than that, it's pretty standard clutch replacement process.

The drive shaft is also unique so you should make sure that the shop you select is capable of reading. The drive shaft is telescopic with a design like a mandrel. You have to loosen the locking nut of the 'mandrel' and then slide the shaft into itself to create the clearance needed to disengage the shaft from the transmission and rear end. Because of the master technician not knowing this, I had a Ford garage working on my rear end rebuild drop the shaft and the rear end together, which bent a few things. They should also mark the drive shaft flanges to match up with where they were before the repair, and also from what I heard, but never saw, the bolts and washers holding the shaft to the trans and rear end should also go back to their original spots, due to their being used in the overall driveshaft balance scheme. I had my drive shaft off so many times that I lost the original positions, but no balance issues were ever noticed along the way.
 
Hi, the thumping is normal on this car.

The clutch job is pretty standard, but it does involve the removal of the exhaust system and drive shaft. I've done mine twice and it is really pretty easy. A couple of gotchas do exist, though. Flywheels are pretty much non-existent, but machine shops can resurface them. The flywheel is a dual mass flywheel, but there should be no problem getting it cleaned up in the machine shop.

Also, the hose to the slave cylinder is not available as far as I know, but possibly is for the manual transmission Jaguar S type (not the S Type R, which is a whole different beast). The slave cylinder is integral to the throwout bearing, so the hose has to go from outside of the transmission to the inside, and that is why care must be taken to not lose any parts of that hose. I know one guy had a problem and maybe lost a part for that hose and he had a bad time trying to get the part.

Other than that, it's pretty standard clutch replacement process.

The drive shaft is also unique so you should make sure that the shop you select is capable of reading. The drive shaft is telescopic with a design like a mandrel. You have to loosen the locking nut of the 'mandrel' and then slide the shaft into itself to create the clearance needed to disengage the shaft from the transmission and rear end. Because of the master technician not knowing this, I had a Ford garage working on my rear end rebuild drop the shaft and the rear end together, which bent a few things. They should also mark the drive shaft flanges to match up with where they were before the repair, and also from what I heard, but never saw, the bolts and washers holding the shaft to the trans and rear end should also go back to their original spots, due to their being used in the overall driveshaft balance scheme. I had my drive shaft off so many times that I lost the original positions, but no balance issues were ever noticed along the way.
 
Thank you for your input! (Sigh of relief),so that really annoying thump is normal. I gotten enough bad clutch jobs in my life to adopt the philosophy of 'when the slip can't be adjusted out, it is time for another set of wheels', But this car, my late son's dream car, is different.

May I hazard to say you need to do a clutch job on another car, read what you wrote, this is not a 'pretty standard clutch replacement process' ( like say, my '56 Ford).

Also, Congrats on 315,000+ miles, ours has 220,000 and just got its 1st tune up last year!

Mark
 
...May I hazard to say you need to do a clutch job on another car, read what you wrote, this is not a 'pretty standard clutch replacement process' ( like say, my '56 Ford)...

Perhaps "pretty standard" for a car of this era... Comparison to a 50's car is unfair.
 
I have done clutches on the following:

1972 Oldsmobile 442
1958 Sunbeam
1974 Mazda RX3
1969 Chevelle SS 396
1978 GMC 2500 pickup 4wd
1976 Jeep Wrangler style
1989 Peugeot 405 Mi16
2000 Subaru Impreza RS 2.5
2003 Subaru Impreza
2x 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX
2x 2000 Lincoln LS

What was your question?

Sorry to hear about your late son. May he rest in peace.
 
Your right Joe, how about if I compare to one of my mid '90's Escorts?

Actually, I wanted to thank Mikey again for his input and sharing his experience. I am now putting together a shopping list of parts for this job, it's more than just a clutch kit.

I've read the portion of the shop manual about this and does say to support (or something like that) the driveshaft. I envision it sliding off a splined shaft and hitting the floor.

Have you read the 'Road & Track' book about the LS? The drive train is assembled in a jig, then spun at 3000 RPM while it is adjusted to eliminate vibration. The jig, then the drivetrain are assembled to the body and then the jig is removed. this is where the shims and weighted nuts come from.

It all gives me reason to pause, just so many places to mess up!

Thank you again, Mikey

Mark
 
The driveshaft is held in by flexible rubber sandwiched between steel flanges with a total of 6 bolts at each end of the shaft. Only 3 bolts should be removed. Even if the bolts are removed, it can't go anywhere until you loosen the mandrel style nut on the shaft (a BF crescent or a pipe wrench should be all that is needed, well 2 are needed in order to hold the shaft with one and break that nut loose with the other), don't worry about factory special tools. But you won't be doing the job, correct? The shop should have the tools needed, and it would be a great idea to provide the factory manual for this job, just in case they are not that familiar. But that shaft can't call out until it is retracted into itself using that loosened drive shaft nut. One other thing I ended up having to do was to find an appropriately sized grommet that fits into the end of the slave cylinder hose firmly, and putting a drill bit smooth end into the grommet to stop fluid loss. Since the master cylinder shares the fluid reservoir with the brakes, I felt as though it was a good idea to not let that tank go empty. Good luck getting a garage to share your interests on that one. The problem is, once the transmission is off the car, it won't be back on until the flywheel is resurfaced, so it will spend the better part of a day disconnected and that is how the fluid loss will add up if not checked.
 
The original question was about the thump. So far, no other responses.

Here is my shopping list; clutch kit, shift linkage seal (I read on another thread they are prone to failing), slave cylinder and hose (I like to replace rubber parts when they get to 20 years of age). Does that cover it?

About the availability of the slave cylinder and hose, has anyone looked to see if these are interchangeable with BMW's? Our transmissions were derived from one used on BMWs, though I forget which model.

Mark
 
As I stated above, the throwout bearing and the slave cylinder are the same piece. Very simple design. A clutch kit will include a new throwout/slave. If you need the hose, you may want to visit Jaguar if the Ford guys come up empty. What color is your late son's car? Just curious, it doesn't affect the repair, lol.
 
I'll bet you were right on the 1st guess, black! It makes getting salvage parts that match easy.
 

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