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Clutch pedal vibration either when you've got the pedal fully disengaged, when you're launching, or
a constant vibration these are the most common clutch issues that can cause this problem.
1. Clutch Misalignment
Misalignment in the clutch happens when the assembly is not accurately aligned
with the vehicle’s flywheel. This will cause the clutch to engage inconsistently, putting an
unbalanced load on the surfaces of the clutch and flywheel. It’s not uncommon for the result
to be chattering, pulsating, and vibration coming from the clutch pedal.
Misalignment between the engine and gearbox of a vehicle is a common problem
which is not fully understood or accepted in the market. The presence of a misalignment
condition between the engine and gearbox of a vehicle will result in serious damage to the
gearbox as well as premature and recurring clutch failures. Most vehicles have two dowel
pin or bush locations on the rear engine flange or front bell housing flange, and some
vehicles have a separate gearbox and bell housing which also has dowel locations on the
front gearbox flange and rear bell housing flange. The dowel locations are designed to
centralize the engine and gearbox to within 0,1mm, as it is impossible to centralize the
engine and gearbox correctly by means of the gearbox mounting bolts and/or flywheel pilot
bearing alone.
Misalignment is commonly caused by damaged or missing dowels or damaged
dowel locating holes between the engine and gearbox, with the result that the engine and
gearbox are no longer correctly centralized. Misalignment is also caused by bell housing
distortion or cracking, welding repairs to a damaged bell housing, and engine or gearbox
conversions where the adaptor plate or conversion bell housing has missing or inaccurately-
positioned dowel locations. Misalignment can also be caused by fitment errors such as
trapping a wire, pipe or bracket between the engine and gearbox when fitting the gearbox,
distortion of the sheet metal cover plate on the rear engine flange, or failure to clean old
hardened dirt or sealant from the mating surfaces of the engine and gearbox flanges before
fitting the gearbox.
Misalignment of the gearbox input shaft relative to the engine crankshaft in excess
of the maximum permissible tolerance of 0.1mm causes rapid driven plate torsion damper
spring, spring window, friction washer, hub spline and stop pin wear, cushion segment
failure and premature driven plate failure, and will cause recurring clutch failures unless the
misalignment condition is rectified. The rapid driven plate torsion damper assembly wear
also results in severe driveline torsional vibration which can cause severe damage to the
gears and bearings in the gearbox. Misalignment places excessive strain on the
flywheel pilot bearing, resulting in premature and recurring pilot bearing failures and
subsequent clutch non-release and noise problems in the vehicle. Misalignment also
prevents the release bearing from centralizing itself on the cover assembly diaphragm,
resulting in clutch shudder, vibration, severe diaphragm finger wear, premature release
bearing failure, and severe gearbox input shaft sleeve wear.
Misalignment problems should be properly rectified by ensuring that all damaged or
missing dowel locating pins or bushes are replaced with new parts and all dowel locating
holes are undamaged. A new or undamaged second hand bell housing should be fitted if the
dowel holes are damaged or the bell housing is cracked or distorted as it is extremely
difficult and expensive to attempt a proper repair of a damaged bell housing. The entire
front gearbox casing will require replacement where the bell housing is an integral part of
the gearbox casing.
Figure 1.1: Misalignment clutch Figure 1.2: Severe Misalignment Mating Surface
2. Diaphragm Issues
The amount of pressure applied to the pressure plate and clutch disc is controlled by
a diaphragm spring that seats these against the flywheel. Should the diaphragm spring
become damaged or broken, this will cause the clutch plate to engage unevenly with the
flywheel when applied or released the result is vibrations and pulsations in the clutch pedal.
Worn clutch disc facing fibres and dirt lodged between diaphragm spring and clutch
cover housing causing loss of clamp load. One of the cause is the bell housing not degreased
and cleaned. Careless installation of new clutch. The new clutch disc has not worn but the
fibres that have become lodged in the new clutch cover are that of the previously worn
clutch. It is a requirement due to ventilation designs that the bell housing area be free from
old fibres, dirt and grease when installing new clutch. This problem is common in 4 wheel
drive vehicles when an inspection cover or a clutch fork cover boot has not been replaced
when installing a new clutch.
Excessive wear on the diaphragm tips and a highly glazed pressure plate casting is
because of the lack of free travel/bearing riding on diaphragm. The driver resting foot on
clutch pedal. Besides, quill shaft worn/bearing stuck on a worn spot and not returning to
original position. The clutch slave cylinder corroded or worn and piston not returning to
allow free travel. Stretched or sticky cable also might be the cause of the excessive wear on
the diaphragm tips.
Clutch diaphragm fingers or levers are uneven and caused the pressure plate cover
assembly was torqued down incorrectly or not diagonally. The pressure plate cover assembly
was torqued down with an air wrench.
Figure 2.1: Diaphragm spring clutch parts Figure 2.2: Uneven diaphragm
3. Warping of the Clutch Disc
It’s the clutch disc that actually connects the engine flywheel to the driveshaft/axle
when the clutch is engaged. It is constructed of materials similar to brake pads and operates
on the same principals of friction. To work properly, the contact surfaces must be smooth
and flat. If the clutch disc becomes warped due to wear or overheating, it won’t engage
smoothly. The result of a lack of smooth engagement with the flywheel and pressure plate is
chattering, vibration, and pulsation in the pedal.
The car’s clutch connects to a spring that controls the movement of a pressure plate.
This pressure plate presses against the clutch disc whenever you let up on the clutch pedal.
As a result, the clutch disc encounters the flywheel, which attaches to your engine’s
crankshaft. This system ensures that anytime you don’t actively engage the clutch, your
engine and transmission rotate at the same speed. When you press down on the clutch, the
clutch disc pulls away from the flywheel, allowing the engine and transmission to spin
separately. This separation allows the transmission to switch gears before re-engaging the
flywheel. Because the flywheel attaches directly to the engine, the flywheel experiences
many extreme temperature swings. Over time, the stress of these changes may cause the
flywheel to warp. This makes the clutch disc engaging the flywheel more difficult. Eventually,
as the problem grows more pronounced, the engine may not start at all. Yet in the early
stages, a warped flywheel often manifests in your clutch pedal. We may notice that the
clutch has begun to vibrate when we release it. Known as clutch chatter, this problem stems
from the bumpy flywheel knocking against the clutch disc as the two grow closer. You must
replace an excessively warped flywheel to restore proper functioning to the car.
Worn clutch disc can causes the high-friction surface of the flywheel will take its toll
on the clutch disc as time goes on. Simply put, the face of the clutch disc will wear down
over time. No matter how responsibly we use the clutch pedal, we can’t do much to prevent
the clutch disc wearing down over time. In this regard, we can think of the clutch a little bit
like the brake pads. Allowing the clutch disc to wear down too far, however, can end up
damaging the flywheel. If the disc excessively wears down, the bolts that attach the clutch
disc to its hub may become exposed. These bolts will then dig into the surface of the
flywheel each time we take foot off the clutch. The more worn down the clutch disc
becomes, the higher the clutch pedal’s release point will be. This change in height
corresponds to the farther distance that the clutch disc has to travel to meet the flywheel.
Eventually the clutch disc simply won’t be able to exert the necessary amount of pressure on
the flywheel.
At this point, you may notice that the car has a much harder time accelerating up
inclines or carrying heavy loads. To prevent this potentially dangerous scenario, next time
the clutch pedal’s release point seems much higher than usual, be sure to have a mechanic
properly and thoroughly inspect the clutch disc.
Figure 4.1: Throw out bearing on clutch Figure 4.2: Throw out bearing
These are the most common causes of vibrations in your clutch pedal coming from the
clutch/transmission.
DIAGNOSING
Diagnosing clutch performance issues
1) The car starts out slowly but the engine races
This is known as clutch slippage. As we release the clutch pedal and accelerate, the vehicle
moves slowly while the engine races, usually in high gear. Slipping is common when a clutch
disc is worn out. With the friction material almost worn away, the clutch disc has less surface
with which to grip the flywheel and pressure plate, making it hard for the engine to transfer
rotating power to the transmission. Another symptom notice is the clutch releasing sooner,
without much pressure on the clutch pedal. But there are other common causes for a
slipping clutch, besides a worn-out disc:
Clutch linkage in need of adjustment
Clutch linkage or cable binding (cable housing filled with rust)
Clutch linkage bent, misaligned, or damaged
Blocked master cylinder compensation port
Pressure plate weakened or warped
Clutch assembly contaminated with oil (because an engine or transmission oil seal is
leaking)
Broken motor mount
A clutch pedal that's hard to push or "stiff" may point to problems with the release
mechanism (or the hydraulic system, on modern vehicles). Release mechanism components
to check include the cable, linkage, clutch fork, pressure plate, and throw-out bearing. Check
for a part that is in need of lubrication or worn out. Consult your vehicle repair manual for
the maintenance service the system needs.