Exedy Stage 1 Clutch Issues
 

I just installed a new Exedy Stage 1 Clutch in my BRZ and I'm having some issues.

First it chatters a lot when I run the car in neutral with the clutch out.
Depress the clutch and it's quiet.

Second after running on the track and heating everything up the following sequence blocks the car from going into gear:

1) Put the car in neutral
2) Let out the clutch
3) Depress the clutch
4) Try to put the car back into gear

When it's cold this sequence works OK.
If I shut the car off it immediately goes into gear.
Rolling forward with the clutch in also allows it to go into gear but I can feel things aligning as I push it into gear.

Any ideas on what's causing this and possible work arounds?

1. That chatter is from the throwout bearing.. I presume one came with the kit and you replaced it? Sure its properly installed?

2. Sounds like your clutch pedal needs adjustment and is not fully disengaging when the pedal is pressed.

It was professionally installed.
The throw out bearing was replaced as part of the install.
If it's the throw out bearing it would make noise with the clutch in and go away with the clutch out correct?

When the OEM clutch was in I adjusted my pedal down so as to not release at the very top of the pedal throw. Maybe this needs to be moved back up?

I would suggest having it professionally inspected. No problems with my Exedy stage 1. I've used both included TO bearing and OEM. Currently running OEM TO bearing.

I made no clutch pedal adjustments after my swap and everything works great. Good luck.

Sounds like it's no completely disengaging. Adjust you clutch so it engages further up from the floor.

The chatter may be normal, a lot of aftermarket clutches chatter. Adjust your clutch first though and that may solve both issues.

@alpine @marcoaferrer

Chatter is normal, unless its absurd and ridiculously loud. Aftermarket clutches chatter, I'm not saying you are, but I can't comprehend why people expect aftermarket clutches to not chatter. It's the nature of the beast. It's like installing stiffer motor mounts but expecting zero added NVH.

Locking out of gears, the clutch instructions call for this, might be something to consider:

"Lack of lubrication/dry splines will cause failure to disengage gears and also cause clutch drag.
Never over lubricate / grease the spline of your clutch disc as grease will splatter during rotation of the engine and clutch."

Source: http://www.exedyusa.com/multimedia/s...structions.pdf

I've never had a mild clutch setup chatter on me ever, including a sprung 6 puck, maybe a little more noise when rolling off the clutch from a stop..

IMO it should not be chattering at all when sitting in neutral.

I'm positive the pedal needs to be adjusted correctly, and you should have the chatter looked into.

In this car I've owned CM FX350, FX400, Exedy Twin Disk, Exedy Stage 2, drove two ACT 6 pucks and ALL of them noticeably chatter, specially in neutral and specially the hotter it is.

Although I'll say the Exedy Stg 1 being full face, chatter/gear rattle should be very minimal.

I'm having the exact same problem with my Exedy Stage 2. The problem only started a few weeks after installation, once it was broken in. It was installed by a mechanic. I took the car back to him to check the problem and he doesn't think it's the clutch but rather the synchros. His mechanic friend at Toyota says they've had a few cars come in for transmission issues.

Thinking about it now though, it won't go into any gear so how could it be all the synchros? I'm going to see him today to try new tranny fluid so maybe I'll talk to him about adjusting the pedal at the same time.

The clutch pedal should always be adjusted so that the grab point of the clutch is as low as possible while still disengaging the clutch. Having the grab point high only accomplishes overextending the pressure plate and eventually premature failure of it.

I think what the OP is referring to is Gear rattle. Most people, including myself, refer to gear rattle as clutch chatter. They are two different things though.

Gear rattle is what you hear when the car is idling and the clutch pedal is not pressed in and clutch chatter is sort of a skipping/hopping feeling when taking off from a stop. I believe chatter usually only occurs on pucked clutches.

Good point.

I wil say this then, parting from your post.


CM FX350 (8 puck)/400 (six puck):

Minimal chatter (skipping/hopping feeling when taking off from a stop)
A LOT of gear rattle (what you hear when the car is idling and the clutch pedal is not pressed in )

Exedy Twin Disk (2 full faces and spacers):

A lot of chatter
Mild Gear rattle

Exedy Stage two (8 puck) fixed:

Minimal chatter
Minimal gear rattle

The stage 2 isn't a full face. It's (I guess you would call) an 8 puck.

Yeah my other car has an ACT sprung 6 puck and the gear noise is ridiculously loud. Sounds like a knocking rod loud, but that is just normal for SRT-4's with a light weight fly wheel.

Also get some chatter on that clutch every once in a while if I don't take off smoothly.

OP, I agree with adjusting your clutch pedal. Give it a shot and also maybe try bleeding your clutch line.

I have the Stage 1 as well. It does chatter quite a bit.

I just called Exedy technical support about this. He said the first thing he would try is pedal adjustment. Otherwise, it sounds like the disc is hanging up on the input shaft due to a lack of lubrication between the shaft and the disc.

He said on their test vehicle they initially had the same problem with getting into gear after a bit of break-in. They cleaned up the shaft and the spline, lubricated and reinstalled then it was fine.

They include a little packet of grease for this reason. In my case I can't say for sure if it was used because my mechanic did the installation, but I would hope he did. I'll be trying the pedal adjustment today and hopefully solve the problem.

Me again. I was with my mechanic trying to fix the issue. I found that when he put push in the clutch pedal and attempt to put it into first without any brake on, the car would move ever so slightly. I could see the wheels turn a degree or two. So the clutch is definitely not disengaging completely.

He tried adjusting the pedal plunger in both directions and neither helped, unfortunately. So I at least know where the problem is but I don't yet kow how to fix it. It seems like the slave doesn't have the pressure to fully depress the pressure plate. Either that or maybe the clutch disc has too much meat on it and it will eventually wear down and correct the issue.

It seems strange that it's a hit or miss problem. Does anyone sell a braided clutch line? That might help get that extra bit of fluid to the slave.

Maybe bleeding the system might get you the necessary travel to get the clutch to disengage completely. Air in the line will cause your problems with getting into gear.

I thought about that but how likely is that to happen? These cars are still fairly new. Clutch fluid doesn't ever boil like brake fluid, does it? Our systems aren't shared.

One thing it may be is that I'm not out of the break-in period yet and I don't think the OP is either. I suppose it's possible that by the 750 miles they recommend, it could fix itself. I wouldn't expect this to be a normal part of break-in though.

I am fairly certain your issue is right there in my above post. The splines need more lube. The bad news is that to do so, trans needs to come down.

Could be, but my mechanic says he definitely lubed it. He said he just used a thin coat on the shaft and the inside splines. They don't exactly specify how much to use. Is 'clutch drag' the terms for trouble engaging gears? I don't have a problem with disengaging.

This! The quote from exedy directly said that this is likely the issue, why bother messing with other things before attempting this?

Because this is the most expensive option for someone who doesn't have the facilities to drop the tranny himself.

I can't speak for the OP, but in my case this problem came up after a few weeks with the clutch. I wonder if there was too little grease and it became contaminated with filings and dust. It seems like a bad design to require lubrication that will eventually become full of dust (and therefore stop lubricating.)

To support the theory, local @marcoaferrer had the issue getting locked out of gear almost everytime, put a very minute amount of grease on the splines (paranoid of getting too much there and getting it on clutch), and his issue improve incredibly better, now he gels locked out maybe 5% of the time. So it's an encouraging result. @jamesm had the same issue on his ACT clutch, put lube in splines and all smooth after that.

Exedy has an oddly specific procedure for greasing the splines. They stress the importance of this in several documents.

This is a direct copy/paste from Exedys FAQ doc.

http://www.exedy-racing.com/racing/e...yfaq.html#ac13
__________________________________________________ ____

Do I need to apply grease to the spline of the disc?

Yes, it is required.
However, depending on the method of application and the amount, applied grease may disperse, causing judder and bad disengagement.
Precautions

• (1) Apply grease evenly to the spline tooth surface of both the main shaft side and the disc side using a brush or similar.
• (2) After the application, insert the disc into the main shaft, and slide it to see if it will move smoothly.
• (3) Wipe off the grease straying out from the disc and the main shaft using a rag or something.

<Caution>
Be careful not to deposit any grease or any other oil on the friction surface (flywheel, P PLATE, IM PLATE, disc). It may cause judder, slip, etc.

__________________________________________________ _________________


Im planning to perform this after break in is complete. I am even contemplating buying the grease that the specifically supply with the kit.

Good call. Since driving around after my mechanic playing with the clutch pedal, it hasn't locked me out. It's just somewhat tougher than it should be from a stop. I can deal with that for now and I'm curious to see what happens to the problem as break-in continues.

At first my world was crumbling when I thought there was something wrong with my transmission. I can deal with this. :)

Another local experienced being locked out after 1000 miles. So I want it to get to that point before I get under the car again. Just as another margin of safety. Also I noticed that if the car isnt warmed up its not likely to happen. Might be due to the difference in the rate of expansion of input shaft and clutch spline hub. (but i no iz scientisticle)

I think the dust generated from break-in is causing the contamination of the grease. This is my guess since the first 200 miles of break in the car drove flawlessly.

Take it back to the mechanic...?

As for the design, all clutches work this way. Until someone comes up with a way to have the clutch work well without needing to float on the input spline of the transmission they'll continue to work this way.

Now maybe the Exedy ones have super tight clearances or something, but the basic design is extremely common.

Gremlins

I spoke to Steve from Exedy tech support this morning. I told him that my mechanic did grease things during install so Steve had a strong feeling that it has more to do with the pedal and getting full disengagement. On their test car they had to adjust the pedal a bit to get full range out of the master. He said if it was his car, he'd look at the pedal again, but I told him my mechanic adjusted it in both directions quite a bit, so he suggested maybe bleeding the fluid.

Should it come down to it, I took some notes as he explained his steps for installing the clutch:

• Clean input shaft with wire brush.
• Apply grease to input shaft. It needs "high temp" grease like axle grease, which is what's in the packet that came with the kit. Not brake grease or something else I forget.
• Slide clutch disc on and off multiple times to get grease in spline hub of disc. It should slide freely.
• Grease will build up on sides of disc. Wipe off. (So I guess enough grease should initially be on the shaft that sliding the disc will scrape it off)
• Then install assembled clutch

If anyone does end up refitting the clutch, he said to look for red dust mostly on the disc, and maybe some on the shaft. That would indicate insufficient lubrication.


Between this and my tuning issue I'm really not enjoying my car, which is the opposite of the point of having it.

Tell Steve to take his thumb. Clip the nail so he doesnt get cut, then shove it up his ass until he looses his watch.

We've had people bleed the pedal, and I have adjusted mine up and down in 4000 increments.

Its not the pedal. Do you trust that your mechanic did a sufficent job of adjusting your pedal? Cause Im sure he wanted that to be the solution to the problem. Im sure he would rather adjust your pedal then have to drop the tranny again just to lube a shaft. Im sure your mechanic did his best to properly adjust the pedal. I did my best to adjust my pedal (Im not a pro by any means) and many others have adjusted their own pedal in every direction in hopes of a solution.

Steve sounds like a tard behind a desk that knows how to read the Exedy FAQ page.

ps. my douchyness isnt directed towards you or anyone that doesnt work at exedy...

I know this isn't going to be helpful at all, but that's always the risk when you start modifying things.

I adjusted my pedal this past week and was able to get back into gear after exiting from a hot track this weekend. The neutral, clutch out, clutch in, and back into gear sequence wasn't smooth but I didn't get locked out.

I had my car back to my mechanic last week. He removed the clutched, cleaned everything up and reapplied grease as instructed by Exedy. He also flushed the clutch fluid and had previously adjusted the clutch pedal for more travel. So I think that covers just about every adjustment.

It still isn't great. It will sometimes lock me out and sometimes doesn't want to come out of gear so easily. At this point it either is the worst part of break-in (I still don't have much mileage on it) or there is something wrong with the clutch itself. Maybe tolerances. My plan is to just keep driving it to see if it gets better with age. If it isn't better by the time the car goes away for the winter, I'll be talking to Exedy again about warranty.

I heated my clutch up on the track this weekend and got locked out again after a clutch in, neutral, clutch out, clutch in, sequence. Even rolling forward wouldn't get it back into gear. I ended up shutting the car off and then it went right in.

So much for the pedal adjustment.

I had this same problem with my act clutch. The issue was fixed after cleaning and re greasing the input shaft and replacing the TOB. Also to note, upon inspection my pressure plate and flywheel were slightly warped. This will all be replaced shortly and I'm going with the exedy stage 1 with oem flywheel and oem TOB

Don't be surprised if it stops working properly in 1-2 thousand miles. I recently got rid of an act clutch.

I expect it too. Which is why I gave an exedy on its way


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