I spent the entire day replacing the clutch part that I bought in a kit.  I replaced all new parts exactly as I found the old parts.  And after reassembling everything, I go to check the clutch pedal, and it goes right to the floor and stays there.  What did I do wrong?

Could be anything. Start with the cable. Is it connected to the fork?

I only disconnected the hill holder cable, in order to lift the engine out.  And then I reconnected after setting the engine in place.  The engine did not easily slide back into the clutch housing.

You didn't pull the fork to grease the pivot ball?!?

 

Sounds like you need to do it for real this time. Consider that a dry run.

 

GD

Actually, I narrowed it down to the plastic insert not coming out easily enough as the clue that the internal clutch disk shifted slightly in the process of tightening the 6 small outer bolts that hold the outer steel disk.  I am just going to loosen enough items to shift the engine back 6 inchs, so that I can reinsert the plastic insert, loosen all of the 6 outer bolts and then retighten them, so that the clutch disk shifts slightly and the plastic insert slides out easily this time.

I experienced a similar situation to this recently with a clutch from the local Napa.  

 

ended up being a bad pressure plate out of the box.

 

Hopefully it's something easy like you forgot the throwout bearing. lol

 

But just know that it is possible to have a bad clutch set.

What were the symptoms of a bad pressure plate?  I took everything completely apart again today.  Trued up the clutch disk so the plastic insert did not have a lot of resistance when removed, and it made not difference whatsoever.  I also put some grease on the pivot point, and examined the throw out bearing for any defects.  The parts that I installed were exactly like the parts that I removed, because they were from the same manufacturer.  I did not use NAPA.  The engine just popped right back onto the clutch which told me that everything was a perfect fit.  When I had it apart, I examined the lever when I worked the clutch pedal.  The lever looked like it was working fine but would not return to it's original position with the pull of the hill holder cable.  The clutch pedal still had no resistance, even though the hill holder spring was supposed to pull the lever back to it's original position.  So I tightened up the hill holder cable further so more spring had to be working to pop the lever and the clutch pedal back.  No luck.  I examined the hill holder cable by itself for some sort of resistance that was overcome the spring pull.  It appeared normal.  I am going to replace the clutch cable tomorrow.  It seems extremely strange that a clutch cable would go out with no warning, and at the exact same time that I was replacing the clutch.

sounds like a bad PP

Ooh YES, you better believe it - that is exactly how a clutch cable goes - without warning

 

Eliminate the hill holder from your thinking

 

There is cable adjustment that will change between clutches so needs adjusting as per manual

 

Can you express or take pics how much space between radiator side of the clutch fork and the mating faces between engine and box?

 

At the fork, the fork should pull back 25 mm from rest to fully depressed for EA82, only about 15mm for the EA81 4 speed.

Throw us some part numbers in case we can spot something

When the pedal is on the floor has the clutch fork actually moved?

 

Have you checked the cable at the top of the pedal to ensure it's still hooked up properly?

 

I hope it's an easy fix!

 

Cheers

 

Bennie

Problem solved.  The pressure plate appeared to be out of spec.  The split leaves on the new pressure plate did not protrude out about the 1/4" to 3/8" as the old pressure plate that I removed.  The one that I installed had leaves that had zero protusion.  This meant that the release bearing had further to travel in order to release the clutch and before I got the resistance to keep the peddle from collapsing to the floor. So I had to reposition the keeper nutting on the clutch cable, toward the lever arm a significant distance.  It was listed as an Exedy 15008.

Edited April 8, 20187 yr by scoobiedubie

A good rule of thumb for reliability in a lot of cars is to renew the cable when renewing the clutch.

 

 

You missed the cable adjustment section of the manual eh?

 

At least you have had some clutch work practice !!

Problem solved.  The pressure plate appeared to be out of spec.  The split leaves on the new pressure plate did not protrude out about the 1/4" to 3/8" as the old pressure plate that I removed.  The one that I installed had leaves that had zero protusion.  This meant that the release bearing had further to travel in order to release the clutch and before I got the resistance to keep the peddle from collapsing to the floor. So I had to reposition the keeper nutting on the clutch cable, toward the lever arm a significant distance.  It was listed as an Exedy 15800.

 

That's normal when you go from a worn out disc to a new disc. You just needed to adjust the clutch cable. That's a normal part of a clutch job. 

 

GD