Hey fellas, I had to leave my zed on the side of the road after my clutch failed. I was on my way back home from uni and was slowing down for set of lights on top of Silverwater Rd. I pressed the clutch to down shift but all i heard was a click then clutch dropped completely and the car stalled in gear. I was having problems before with the clutch too. This is my thread about previous probs that i had & was waiting till uni hols to fix. "hey everyone need some help. I was driving today and after about 30mins of driving it got hard to change gears. The gears were crunching a bit too and the clutch dropped a tad too. This happened about a month back too on the M5... luckily there was a break down lane. It fixed it self after like 10 mins tho so i didn't check it. The exact same thing happened today. It got better after i was changing gears while stationary till it got a bit smooth then it was all fine after a while." Luckily my friend's lending me his car but I need this fixed asap as this is my daily( i know not the best option) I want to bring it home and can't afford to tow it atm. I know you can shift without clutch but i have never tried this... Can anyone tell me if I could drive home without clutch safely?? Would you shift normally and how can you start off without clutch? thanks
dont need a tow truck to tow it, do what ive done a few times. buy a tow rope and tie it on.. sit in the car, put it in neutral and when the car in front of you breaks you break..
Sammy if you haven't driven a car without using a clutch before, do not try it with your zed in sydney as your first attempt. It can be done, but it takes practise. And, is certainly not something that can be explained on a forum (not in 1000words or less). Sounds like your clutch fork has failed. To replace it you need to separate the engine and gearbox. Not a small qucik fix, sorry. To get the car home place it in neutral, and have your friend tow it in their car. Be careful andmake sure you ride the brakes gently to keep tension on the rope.
Could also be a failure of the master cylinder as this has happened to a few of the Zedders up this was recently. I got myself to work when it happened, by cutting the engine, putting it in gear and then hitting the starter (yes started in gear). It started this way and I drove to work in first, slow but got there. May work for you and save you a tow but not guarenteed. Sounds like your clutch needs bleeding or the master or slave cylinders rebuilding - not that exy. See a good brake/clutch shop or take it out and grab a kit for the rebuild yourself. I saw Kevin at Specialised Brake and Clutch in Penrith. Top bloke, MattB
I agree with wokburner I'd say it's the master cylinder only because you said it happened before and it fixed itself most likely the master seal has failed causing it not to push the fluid to the slave. By the way is there any fluid in the resiviour?
My bro had a similiar problem a while ago, stopped at the lights, re-engaged the clutch and BANG it just dropped, no tension at all, middle of peak hour traffic, pushed it to the side of the road and there was just crap all over the road - the clutch cable (?) kerploded, was replaced with a steel braided line and now is indestructible. If the clutch itself was giving out prior to it not working all together, like DieselDave said, sounds like the fork is gone, gotta get it checked out bro, shame about ZXs man, everything breaks eventually.
Hello !!!! Dinga-ding-ding ! You had warning of impending disaster on a previous occasion & you chose to ignore it :bash: If I were you, I would make sure you're a fully paid up member of NRMA (or equivalent) and get the Gold Card Towing option if one is available
If you heard a "click" before it dropped to the floor, then i'd be on the side of a snapped clutch fork as dieseldave said. This has happened to me before. Have a look under your car and see if you can physically move the clutch fork that presses up against the slave cylinder. if you can then it's snapped. If it's still firm, then start looking at your clutch lines and master/slave cylinders as the culprit. Good luck.
if you cant afford to tow it you wont like the cost to fix it. On an econobox Pulsar of mine it the same problem cost me $1000 to fix. I cant imagine it being any cheaper for a zed!
this happened to me recently, the clutch was failing and was going through alot of fluid. then it just wouldnt disengage and was stuck in gear. turned out my clutch line which is accessible under the car was busted. got a new clutch line from chrispy and 571CKY istalled it for me. cheers to those boyz. have a look under and see if its leaking. if your going through fluid thats a dead giveaway something has busted
May also be the clutch fork pivot. Does the fork itself ever fail on a Z? I don't think I've heard of any fork failures...
Just had this happen to my triton, and it was the clutch slave, its the most common to go on cars, if its the master it will be leaking in your foot weel, cheak your carpet to see if wet, I hope its one of those parts and not internal.
Thanks for all the replies guys!! What I'm upset about is how I was slowly collecting parts for the car over like 2months so I can get everything fixed up on my hols Its still a rough diamond I think the fork did break off... It did feel like a snap. I left the car on the kerb and checked up on it today morning and at night on the way back from uni Its still there lol. I couldn't check anything tho cause it was raining, but tomorrow I have a free day so will go check it out and probably tow it with a towing rope. Don't want to screw up the syncros by driving without clutch. Really hope it doesn't cost a grand. My fam friend is a mechanic but I wouldn't say he's the best lol. I'll take it to him since its just the tranny and not the engine. I might have to let go of a set of wheels for the repairs Ohh well shiz happens... Anyone have a clutch fork for sale?? You guys reckon I should get the clutch replaced while I'm getting the tranny fixed? :zlove:
ohh anyone know of any cheap towing services around auburn/carlingford area?? Just want to look around, if its too much I'll just tow it myself. I got it towed for $120 from Penrith to cherrybrook tho I lost his number.. damn
Call Brett 0439 869 464, has towed my Zed at least half a dozen times during the course of rebuild project...... top bloke, top job, and good rates.
Its broken down near carlingford I live like 15mins away but I might as well get it towed to the mechanic as his place is like 20ks from there... no point paying twice. will try him tomorrow. Thanks bud
Yes, it would most likely be the pivot/ball that has snapped off. (i guess people just say the fork cause it's attached to it.
Yeah Sammy, common sense would dictate that you check the clutch while the gearbox is out. It's going to be a lot cheaper to do the clutch now, rather than go through the whole exercise again, somewhere down the track. My guess is also that the Pivot Pin has snapped in half(it's a somewhat common failure in the Z32, unfortunately).
Just went and checked on the car again... Its still raining bad so couldn't really get under the car to check but i did check the reservoir and its empty.. well there are some grey crap in it(very slimy) I'm guessing it wasn't maintained properly? . I've only had the zed for about 5months... :bash:
