lost my 5k mile clutch/hydraulics
 

About 6 months ago I did a t56 swap, I have about 5k miles on the swap so far. Today I drove about 100 miles, nothing strange, shifting smooth as ever, driving nice and easy all day. I was getting off the highway 2 miles from home, went to shift and part of the way down the pedal just died. It felt almost like the master pushed right through the firewall or something, but nope. No leaking fluid, no signs of anything wrong, just no clutch. Had to drive home by starting it in gear at every light and rev matching every shift.

I used a rebuilt t56, brand new tick master, brand new perfection/zoom slave, brand new perfection/zoom clutch, resurface GM flywheel. Every bolt torqued to spec, loctite on flywheel/pressure plate bolts, etc.

I guess I have to pull the trans and see, but any ideas? Maybe I popped the slave?

UPDATE (1/2/11 @ 2:49pm):

Got the trans out today. I could see the pressure plate fingers were uneven, which obviously isn't good. My Dad was convinced from the beginning that a bolt was stuck in the pressure plate preventing disengagement. He was pretty darn close, except it was the friction material off of the clutch instead of a bolt:

http://i53.tinypic.com/xq5n5.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/2uhwmfr.jpg

UPDATE (1/16/11 @ 11:33):

this is my garage, and the new clutch:
http://i55.tinypic.com/15gbhoj.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/2qn62he.jpg

it's a Diamond Stage 2 (by TDP) so far I like it a lot

If the slave failed down inside the bell housing, I think you would see clutch fluid somewhere? But if the master failed, fluid could simply be bypassing internally and not leaking, but also not building pressure?

that crossed my mind, but after attempting to bleed it 15 or 20 times I unplugged the line from the master to the slave, and the pedal was rock hard. I didn't push too hard because I didn't want to blow the seal in the master if it was still good, but I would think if it's blowing past the seal in the master it wouldn't be so stiff right?

original post updated

oh man....so the clutch came apart and locked itself in the fingers. Did you feel any vibrations or anything, from the assembly no longer being in balance? That sucks man.

Any other collateral damage?

for the first few thousand miles I was convinced something was wrong with it as the pedal with this clutch was always WAY too stiff for what it was. I called Tick and the company who made the clutch to try to figure it out but never got anywhere, and it has worked 100% perfectly aside from the ridiculously stiff pedal, so I just got used to it. wasn't enough reason to pull the trans out. even driving home after it failed everything felt perfectly fine. I normally notice even the slightest change with my car, so when I pulled the trans and saw those chunks sticking out of the pressure plate I was shocked.

luckily it was the pressure plate side that failed, so my flywheel is fine. you can still see the resurfacing marks on it and it looks good as new so I may not even touch it when I install the next clutch. the side of the disk facing the flywheel has a nice big "crack" in the friction material so I'm sure that side was just about ready to go too. odd for a clutch that has never seen a clutch dump, track, or even an autox.

got the new clutch in on Friday, finally back on the road

I noticed it idles a lot smoother now, the slight vibration/rumbly feel I used to have at idle is gone, so I guess there was a chunk missing from the clutch disk for a while and the balance being off was causing it

Are they going to warranty it?

Yeah I got my money back no problem