Clutch popping when engaging pedal & Car off -- SOLVED
 

Today I moved the clutch engage position around based on the diy here

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8040

I moved it around a couple of times, found what worked for me, and tried it out. I came back, moved it once more, and all the sudden got this clicking sound. I moved the clutch pedal back to it's original engagement point and was still getting it. I'm getting it at the most extreme (long engagement) and 70% short engagement.

It pops when I push it in, and then pops again when I release

From there, it doesn't pop. But it's undriveable that close.

It happens both on and off. can be heard very well inside the cabin. Can also be heard above the dash as shown in the video.

I took the cotter pin out from the clutch engagement pedal, and moved the now two parts individually. Isolated the noise to between the cotter pin and the master cylinder. Noise does not come from between pedal and cotter pin.

Feels purely mechanical.. any thoughts? Not to worried about it, it's just annoying.

video here - you can hear it pretty well. Doesn't happen every time.

FIX!


Okay, so here's the fix.

This bolt here, with the red circle around it, is too tight. It may be hard to locate at first. Look for the rod that you adjusted that goes into the master clutch cylinder. Follow that back until you find the large rod that goes perpendicular to it, going all the way to the clutch pedal. The assembly to hold the actuator in, that bolt there is too tight. Factory spec is 13ft lbs but it should be more around 8 ft lbs. I bought a nylon washer from lowes, not sure if it helps much. This will remove the popping noise. I can still hear some kind of noise, but it is much more subtle and not as loud as the obnoxious pop.

http://i.imgur.com/q89wu3C.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TW6iV6h.jpg

The key is to not over tighten that bolt. Loosen it up a bit, and do a guess and check. Play and see if that causes it to pop. I think the nylon washer allowed me to make it a little tighter while still preventing the noise from happening.

If it is real loose, then the assembly will move around a bit. You want it right where it doesn't move around barely, and it doesn't make the noise

:cheers:

hmmm.......just a couple of "obvious" comments.

* you did tighten up the locking nut ..?

* are you sure the cotter pin isn't hitting the bracket .. ?

:iono:

lol, thanks humfrz. yes the locking nut was tightened back up, and the cotter pin isn't hitting the bracket. it really sounds like it's coming from the master cylinder. I appreciate the response

Another swing .... maybe the master cylinder is flexing (against) the firewall..?

.....and NO, I ain't sellen them braces .... :D

I think maybe this could be it. I don't know why adjusting the clutch engagement location would change it at all. It's really hard to diagnose because there is only 1 of me, and not someone to hit the clutch will looking at different areas

Adjust back to stock and see if it still does it.

If yes, then you have bigger problems... If not, then you mess up adjusting it.

Yes thanks, I did adjust back to stock and same issue. why would you say this is a bigger problem?

Ask that cute little neighbor girl to help you out .... http://www.runemasterstudios.com/gra...mages/woot.gif .... I doubt she has heard that pick up line before.

I hope you get it sorted out. Let us know what it was.

Does anyone have a diagram of the mastery /slave cylinder brace including the clutch line?

I'm considering disassembling it and trying to isolate the noise

Your case sounds very similar to mine, although mine didn't appear until ~4000 miles mark. (I did the clutch adjustment at around 500 miles) And as you stated, it does feel mechanical and after hours of troubleshooting, I believe the sound is coming from the weld where the long metal shaft meets the triangular metal piece - right above the gas pedal (if you did the clutch adjustment, you should know what I mean).

*edit: maybe mine is coming from the pin to the cylinder as well. I never took the pin out to test both pieces, so my assumption could be wrong.*

I originally posted a thread - http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51935, but the clicking sound still exists today!

I actually went into the dealership to get it looked at a couple months ago and the outcome was a brand new clutch and clutch cover/plate. Their reason was: loose clutch plate. And guess what? The sound came back on my drive back home on that same day.

I'm almost at 8k miles with no clutch failure; I've been just ignoring the annoying clicking sound...

Wow, thanks for the post! That is crazy. So they replaced the clutch.. same issue. It's gotta be something in the hydraulics of the master cylinder.

It's something really hard to explain to someone, because most people would shrug it off as being part of the transmission noise. I'm glad you spoke up

You should go take the cotter pin out and disconnect the cam from the rod that goes to the cylinder. if you move the pedal, do you still get the sound? I didn't, so I know it's got something to do from the rod down

Np! Now that I've read your post, I'm going to try and remove the cotter pin to further investigate where the sound may be originating. (Does the clutch move back up when you have the pin removed? I guessing you moved it with your hands back and forth??)

What I'm also planning on doing is to revert back to the original clutch height and rotate the U-bracket instead of the small rod that goes into the master cylinder. I used my fingers to rotate the rod for adjustment, but now I am questioning myself if I should have rotated the U-bracket.

I remember in the clutch adjustment thread someone saying they rotated the U bracket instead and that was the proper way to do it. I have this popping noise as well so maybe that was our mistake. Keep us updated!

I rotated the rod as well. There is definitely a common trend there.

So, remove the cotter pin, and then you'll need vice grips or pliers to squeze the white cap to pull the pin itself out. At that point, the clutch will probably pop, either forward or backwards. It's on a huge spring, and is binary in nature - either fully engaged or fully not engaged. You can play with it a bit to see if you still hear the noise

I hope the solution is as simple as that. Once I get home at 5PM EST, I will try it out and let you know.

Sounds good. My clicking sound only occurs ~60% of the time I use the clutch, so I will play around with it for a good amount of time to see if I can replicate the sound between the pedal and the pin.

Great investigation going on here guys...does anyone have the link to this specific post in the thread / rationale behind it? I went through 10+ pages and I didn't find it...maybe I'm filtering for the wrong key words.

Cheers

I can't remember if this is the same information I read a couple of months ago, but here's one I found:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...t=8040&page=14

post #290 by s0sl0w

I just started getting the clicking too. I just assumed it was the helper spring (I'm at 8k miles. did adjustment at 7.5k

I genuinely think it has something to do with the rod going back and forth, instead of the bracket

OMG! I am not crazy. I have been hearing the clicking ever since I went over 7k on the odometer. I just thought I was clutching bad or something and have been trying all sorts of different levels to no luck. Really interested to see what you guys find out.

mine only clicks/pops at about about half an inch from the top, just after I begin to press the clutch. I can push it to the floor and pull almost all the way back then press it again and never hear it again till I let it out past that same point.

I did some additional troubleshooting last night and have found that my clutch does the same thing. It clicks when I press the clutch (about half-inch down) and it clicks again once I'm almost at the top (again, about half-inch down from resting point); I can't replicate the clicking noise as long as it's within that point.


trevorovert,
So I played around with the parts once I pulled out the pin (where the cotter pin is), and the noise is definitely coming from the master cylinder area/rod area. I played around with the clutch pedal (detached from the master cylinder rod) for a good few minutes, but I couldn't replicate the noise.

I spent 2 hours adjusting the rod and the U-bracket, and the clicking sound still exists (took me freaking 15 minutes to realize I can pull down on the rod to adjust the U-bracket... lol. I ended up rotating the rod at least 30+ revolutions after removing the speed sensor before I figured that out)

It's a bit softer when I drove it this morning, but that may be due to the cold temperature. (I remember last Wednesday, when Charlotte had snow, I didn't hear the clicking noise. That's when I wondered if ambient temperature had anything to do with the noise)

Man. I think tonight I may play with the clutch line.... see if I can isolate the issue as being between the master and slave cylinder, or as being in the master cylinder

Cool cool. Let us know how that goes.

Curious, doss the noise persist to the same degree of you clutch in and out very, very, very slowly?

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

If I'm understanding your question correctly, then yes. Whenever the clicking noise is made during clutch in, the same clicking noise will occur during clutch out.

However, there has been instances (for me at least), where the noise is made during clutch out when there was no noise during clutch in.

So, I haven't been able to get under the hood because it's pretty cold out. and unfortunately I don't have a garage :( will try tomorrow

I have monday off and will play a bit with the clutch line. Today I drove it and the sound only happened maybe 30% of the time.. much less than usual. Only difference is it was 85 degrees out today.

@BaeK @JB86'd @Target70 @whiskerbox @1Cor10:23

took my car into the dealership today for my "free" oil change. Also told the tech about the clutch popping, showed him, he heard it, etc.

whoever did the work said they couldn't replicate the sound (wtf.. why didn't they come get me to show them) and then all they did was "lubricate contact points and inspected" - didn't find any issues. the second I got in the car, I pushed the clutch in, and bam it did it again. Go figure.

I had been there for 2.5 hours and was really kind of sick of the dealership. The guy gave me his card and said call him back if problems continue.



so I got home and started playing with it more. I can't figure out wtf the deal is. I took the dash almost completely apart. When I play with the pedal with my head down under the dash, I swear it sounds like it's under the dash. But that could just be resonance. I couldn't pin point the location of the sound. I'm starting to think that it may not be inside the dash.. even though every time it happens, it sounds like it.

Ultimately what has to happen is the master clutch cylinder has to be completely disassembled. Which means bleeding the clutch line, something I'm not really wanting to do. I think I'll call the guy again and have them look it over and show them what parts I'm seeing that could potentially cause the issue in the service manual


the noise is really just in my head now.. I can't fix it, so I constantly think about it. Pretty frustrating. How is everyone else's issues holding up?

mine is still the same, i think it double clicks when it's really cold out, and clicks less often when it is warmer. I have been too busy building ramps so I could get under and change the tranny/diff oil today. I'll keep an ear open for any changes in the sound.

@trevorovert

Thanks for the update. My popping noise still exists, but as long as it doesn't cause any clutch failure, I guess I'm just going to drive it as is. It did annoy the hell out of me for the first few thousand miles, but I've gotten used to ignoring the sound/feel.

Disassembling the master cylinder and bleeding the fluid sounds a lot of work lol. I guess next time I'm in for service, I'll mention the popping noise (and recently my crickets came back after 2 fuel pump swaps!).

A bit frustrating, but it is what it is!

unfortunately, I don't think I have the same issue as described here in the post. Mine just has the minor click sound which I'm 99.9% sure is coming from the white sensor head.

Sorry gents, all the best on finding the solution! Will keep tabs on this thread though, very curious and would like to contribute to the solution somehow.

Cheers.

I'll try to record a video on my way home after work and post it up later tonight or tomorrow.

Here is a small clip of the clicking noise.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcBf753g0Xo"]FRS Cluch popping/clicking - YouTube[/ame]

yep I've got the exact same thing. man it's annoying.

Okay, so I took it into the dealership today again to see if they'd be willing to fix it.

Here's what the invoice says

"Customer says there is a clicking noise from the clutch pedal when pushing. Report heard click type noise from clutch pedal. Added lube to pedal linkage assembly. Still hear click. Compared to other FRS and click noise is normal for this vehicle. No problems at this time."


This time I made the tech sit in the car and hear it with me. He definitely heard it. He tried to feed me some BS before he heard it about how it is a standard sound. I think it changed his mind when he realized it was pretty obviously an out of place sound.

The guy on the phone told me they had 2 other FRs in the shop and they both did it. I don't believe that in any way. So that's why they basically said it was normal. However the guy on the phone also told me it wasn't normal... and that I'd have to wait for some kind of TSB to be put out to get it fixed.


wtf, really?

Time to try and fix it myself. Incoming clutch line, clutch fluid, tearing apart mastery cylinder, etc..

Damn man! I would be annoyed too if he kept bsing me like that. Other than the annoyance, have you been having problems with the clutch??
I already told my service manager that the sound came back. I will mention it again to him when I go in for my next oil change.

Nope, no issues with the clutch. Ordered new clutch fluid and clutch line just now to see if that may remedy