Clutch Problem?

Have you checked your throttle body? It may be getting stuck at times. I have also read that it is somewhat common for the 94/95 stangs throttle to hang for a little and then drop. Just not sure if it goes up to 1800 and then back down.

The flywheel always spins. It is normal for the idle to remain high while the car is in motion (to prevent stalling). Once you get down to like <5 mph, it should idle down.

If this happened for no reason, chances are still that it's a vac leak. It's tough to trace every vac line. The charcoal cannister lines rot, for instance, and they're largely hidden.

If it's sticking that bad, it should be something else. Have you driven it with the IAC disconnected? If you do, just drive in an empty parking (or someplace with lots of open space and no hazards) lot since the car might stall or act funny.

maximos said:

I haven't disconnected the IAC. If I drive with it disconnected and it drives fine, does that mean I need to clean my IAC/replace it?

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That's a good assumption.

maximos said:

I'm getting ready to go and clean my IAC in a little bit, but I figured I would give an update of something new I noticed today while driving to work. I gave it some gas to get around a car on the way to work and it just the engine rpm's just shot up and the car didn't go anywhere. On the way home I decided to see if it would do it again, it didn't repeat it as well, but when I would floor it in gear it would shoot up about 1k on the tach and then all of a sudden "catch" and go.

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That sounds like a clutch slipping issue.

yes, it sounds like its slipping. What kind of clutch do you have in there now?

Now that you've had your clutch replaced, do your specific driveline issues that you mentioned earlier still exist? By this I mean do your RPM's still rise without accelerating the car? It sounds like you have/had two separate issues occuring at the same time.

I noticed that you said you cleaned your IAC and that your car stalled out, but your wording makes me curious. Did you see the car behavior with the IAC unplugged or uninstalled?

If you replace the IAC you should reset your idle. If you have feeler gauges you can check the gap between the throttle body screw and the blade lever. I know of a good link with solid instructions to reset your idle, but I'm at work and don't have access to my bookmarks right now. If it isn't posted when I check this thread at home I'll link it.

Pre-post edit, found it:

"Try resetting your idle with the following procedure. If your idle problem is NOT being caused by a bad part or vacuum leak then I have never seen this not fix the problem!

Begin with a cold vehicle. The idea here is to get the car to a firm cold idle with enough air bleed capacity left in the idle circuit for IAC adjustment.

The idle stop should be set first. Back out the idle stop screw, away from the bell crank arm, until about 1/2 turn past the point where it no longer makes contact (blade fully closed). Using a 0.010" feeler gauge, tighten until gauge just drags between screw and bell crank arm. Remove feeler gauge. Tighten screw exactly 1 1/2 turns. If the screw is very loose, put a drop of loc-tite or silicone on it, so it doesn't work out of adjustment.

Now remove the connector to the Idle Air Controller (IAC) just on the other side of the throttle body. Start the car and allow vehicle to warm for 2 minutes. Give a small "blip" to let it settle. If it is having a hard time staying running you may have to get an assistant until you can get to the front of the car. Now open or close the air bleed screw (CCW opens) next to the IAC until the car idles at 575 to 600 rpm. For guys with aftermarket cams and an EEC tuner, you might want to idle a bit more briskly, say 650 to 675.

Obviously, this rpm range is by what the car and driver wants...IE, no set idle speed, whatever works for YOU.

Turn off the car. Now count the number of turns clockwise to close on the idle air bleed screw. If it falls between 1/2 and 2, it's okay, now reverse it out the same number of turns. Log the number somewhere in case you need it for the future. Reconnect the IAC. You are done.

If the air bleed screw is above 2 turns, it's a good idea to tighten the idle stop screw another 1/2 turn, and then repeat the idle setting. If it is below 1/2 turn, then loosen the idle stop screw by 1/4 to 1/2 a turn, and repeat the idle setting. Be sure to put another drop of silicone RTV on the stop screw if it was disturbed. Reconnect the IAC.

Now remember we adjusted the set screw on the throttle body. That means that the voltage reading from the TPS sensor has changed. It should read between .96 and .99 volts. Anything outside of that range will cause all sorts of issues including misfires and rough idle.

you will have to back probe the TPS connector. With the connector attached to the TPS stick a paper clip into the rubber boot on the connector where the top and middle wires go into the connector. The rubber is very flexible the paper clip will slide in between the rubber and the wire.

Set your multimeter to volts. Turn ignition to ON. Then place your multimeter leads on the metal pins. If it comes up as a negative that is okay as long as you are -.96 to -.99. If you get this reading then great you are done and hopefully your issues are gone. If not proceed to step 9

This is where and extra pair of hands come in handy. Using a large screw driver you will need to loosen the bolts that hold the TPS. DO NOT USE A SCREWDRIVER THAT IS TOO SMALL BECAUSE YOU WILL STRIP THE BOLTS. They probably will be really tight so you have to really lean on the screwdriver and use some finesse.

Once the bolts are loose you will need to move the TPS up or down and continue to read the voltage. Once you get it to the desired setting you can re-tighten the bolts. What I do is I find .97 and then as carefully as possible I tighten the TPS down. what will happen is the voltage will change usually to .96 or .98 but that it okay. Once you are done with this manually open the throttle body a few times and close it then reread the voltage and make sure it is still within our desired range.

Depending upon how loose your set screw was you might want to cover it in RTV to hold your setting. At this point you have CORRECTLY reset you idle.


If this does not work and your TPS voltage was correct then replace your IAC (with an oem one) and redo this procedure."

Do you have access to a vacuum gauge that you can hook up in your engine bay? This may help you diagnose whether or not you have a hard to find vacuum leak. I've read 18-22 is a good number to look for with the stock cam.

Assuming (and hoping) your clutch slipping problem was just a worn out clutch, here is the order I would personally check for problems:

IAC/TPS, vacuum leak, throttle body.

Good luck man. We know how frustrating these cars can be sometimes!

EDIT: Lengthy but helpful thread. Click

Also, you should check for codes if you haven't already.

I'm with D. ^^

Please say exactly what the car is doing now. For instance, is it still squealing? A new TOB and bearing retainer inspection should have taken care of that.

Does it still smell like burning clutch? If so, is it adjusted properly?

A nice little recap would help. I agree with D in that it sounds like two different issues (the idle/wanting to drive itself, and the clutch issues).

That IAC test kinda suggests the IAC is the issue. If it was a vac leak causing the high-idle speed (driving by itself), it would have continued to some degree with the IAC unplugged.

Did you really clean the IAC thoroughly? I let TB cleaner marinate in it for a half hour and then rinse. For the next rounds of cleaning, I fill it up again and let it sit for 10 mins or so. I keep doing this till the stuff comes out clear. I then use a cotton swab to swish around and remove all the sludge inside there.