My Tremec and Clutch keep acting up!

[Nitrous N20]

What keeps causing my clutch to quit engaging?

I have a 91 LX 5.0. Used to be an AOD but was converted to 5 speed Tremec. The clutch when installed was fine for a week or so of driving and then started to quit engaging. (Car wont go into gear with pedal down). I had it in and they replaced my firewall adjuster and clutch cable. Smae thing happed. I had it replaced yet again and it was oK for a while ut now it is going away again. I adjust the firewall adjuster and it will be OK but after a while, it stops working and I have to adjust again. I havent got any more adjustment!

What could be causing the cable to stretch? Could it be that or something else?

 

[ECU5.0]

it could be that the clutch was never adjusted properly to begin with and you are burnin the clutch up because its not engaging all the way. never heard of that problem, unless you are just getting crappy clutch cables

 

[Nitrous N20]

The car will go intogear OK after it is in motion but only at certain RPMs. That is after the problem starts to occur and the pedal goes away. Also, you can really feel it in the peda when that starts happening. It doesnt have any resistance to it really and only wil go down a tiny bit before it hits the floor.

The clutch isnt slipping when the car is in gear either. I dont think I have burnt the clutch up. I only have abot 2-3K miles since the Trans install anyways.

 

[ECU5.0]

do you have a stock quadrant on there? make sure its aligned properly....kind of sounds like its not lined up with the hole in the firewall and the cable is slipping off of the quadrant

 

[Nitrous N20]

I have a UPR aluminum firewall adjuster. Right now a have it all the way out and it is still starting to quit grabbing.

That is a good suggestion though.

Also at one time they did say that the cable had been getting stretched. Any thoughts on that?

 

[ECU5.0]

you have a stock quadrant on there though? the piece that the cable hooks to under the dash. it could be gettin stretched if its too close to the headers and is heating up...or is routed wrong

 

[Nitrous N20]

Thoseare all good ideas, I will check them all. I am going to take the car to a different shop if none of that seems to be the problem.

 

[ECU5.0]

no need for a shop to do it....buy a cable and quadrant from MM http://www.maximummotorsports.com/cq.asp and put it on yourself...its really not hard. that way you know that the cable is on the quadrant and it saves you some cash

 

[v8only]

you have a stock quadrant on there though? the piece that the cable hooks to under the dash. it could be gettin stretched if its too close to the headers and is heating up...or is routed wrong

that's a really, really good point. If they just installed a firewall adjuster with the factory plastic quadrant, that's likely your problem. You can't use the plastic quadrant with a firewall adjuster!!!

do you have aftermarket headers?? If so the cable could be stretching from the heat. get an sn95 oem cable, which is longer and you can reroute away from the headers.

also, if your cable is misrouted that will cause binding and stretching. for now, click on and read the link ecu gave you. A lot of good info there.

Next time you get in the car, look above the gas pedal and see if you have a plastic white quadrant or an aftermarket aluminum one.

 

[ECU5.0]

that's a really, really good point.....

gotta learn somewhere

 

[v8only]

hey, hows that tko going??? got all the parts?? just waiting for an install?? you've got to be excited.

 

[ECU5.0]

hey, hows that tko going??? got all the parts?? just waiting for an install?? you've got to be excited.

almost got everything, waitin on afr flywheel bolts. they should be in tomorrow....but other than that ive got everything i need including an appointment for the install on monday. goin home tomorrow night for the weekend to fix the leak from my lower intake so it doesnt leak all over my new trans.....im so excited you dont even know

 

[v8only]

Even new flywheel bolts eh?? I finally dropped the 5.0 into the 85 ttop I'm helping my friend restore, so officially now the upcoming week I get to (or try to) rebuild my first t5. Wish me luck. Someday I'll own a tremec tko, for now I'll have to be content with breaking t5's regulary.

 

[ECU5.0]

haha, nice. yeah sirsureshot talked me into gettin new ones. more than likely they are the stock ones from 1989...so it can hurt. plus i got them for next to nothing with my 10 dollar coupon from summit. got he arp flywheel bolts...so they should be good to go. ill let you know next week how everything is

 

[stangman_ia]

Ok, well I've done this projext before on my 91 coupe and the same thing happened to me!

Your cable is streching! My cable was getting kinked and is putting alot of strain on the cable! check your route on the cable to see it is correct. I've had mine where I was adjusting it every day until the cable snapped!

Also did you get your cable routed right through the firewall? Auto cars have the speedo cable routed through where the clutch cable would be on a manual car. You should of gottin a longer speedo cable for a manual and routed in the hole where a gromet was at!

 

[Js5ohLX]

Also did you get your cable routed right through the firewall? Auto cars have the speedo cable routed through where the clutch cable would be on a manual car. You should of gottin a longer speedo cable for a manual and routed in the hole where a gromet was at!

I moved my speedo and it's the stock auto one? You couldn't hook a clutch cable to the quadrant if you didn't move the speedo.

 

[stangbear427]

One other thing hasn't been mentioned by anyone yet so I'll bring it up. You never said which tremec you got. If it's the TKO then it'll require a different spline clutch disc, and sometimes they'll happily sell you just a disc to save you money and you re-use your pressure plate. I did this on USA Motorsports' recommendation with mine several years ago, and had the same problem you are. Many clutch discs and pressure plates simply aren't compatable, so this is a really stupid thing for them to do- you should always buy a clutch as a package even if they say you don't have to. Otherwise, what everyone else said: sounds like you still have the stock quadrant up there and if you do, that's most likely your problem.; make sure the cable's routed away from the headers, etc. You also didn't specify which cable you've been buying- if it isn't an OEM Ford cable then it'll stretch like crazy if it isn't adjusted perfectly- and some of them can't be. Good luck