Clutch frozen?

F

fordfrank

Junior Member
Question for you folks. I have just gotten my recently acquired 31 started after it has been sitting for many (many) years. Tonight I got it idling very nicely and now little to no smoke. Great!
However, after it had been running for about 20 minutes or so the clutch (which had been working fine up to that point) doesn't seem to want to work any more. It feels fine but it won't let me put my car in any gear. My thinking is that, once everything warmed up, the clutch engaged with the pressure plate and then froze up against it so now it won't disengage.
Does that make any sense at all? Is there anything I should check to that may be a simple fix?
It worked fine right up till tonight. I was able to put the car in gear and drive it forward and back without a problem. This only happened after it had been running for about 20 minutes. Thoughts? Suggestions?

By the way - my cars body has a serial number of CAS2897 and engine is CAP2149. Is there anywhere I can look that may tell me a little bit about the story of my car - when it was made, where, sold when, etc.

TIA
 
Does the clutch pedal feel EXACTLY like it did when it last worked? Sometimes the clutch arm cracks and doesn't move the throwout bearing the full amount.
 
I think it feels exactly the same. However, what you are suggesting was just what we were wondering on this end. We were thinking of unhooking the clutch pedal and then trying to move the clutch arm to see if it will move further and seperate the pressure plate from the clutch. Any chance that might do some damage like pushing the plate too far? Any thoughts on how we can troubleshoot to figure what the problem may be without having to pull the engine to separate the X-mission and engine to get at the plate, clutch, and all the other parts that we will need to get at?
BTW - thanks for offering your thoughts.
 
Inspection cover????

Where can we find it? That may be the answer to my prayers. We were discussing the options of pulling the engine, dropping the ******, etc. just to see what we could see. An inspection cover may make all that go away. Where do I look to find it?
 
remove the floor board and on top of the clutch housing 2 screws to remove the plate. its also access to grease the throw out bearing. maybe youll see something going on in there
 
That sound GREAT!

Mitch,
That sounds like exactly the kind of advice that may make this whole thing work.
Thanks for your insights.
 
Watch for mice nests in the clutch plate/pressure plate assembly. They put a nest in the clutch of the F150 I use for snow plowing and I had to remove the entire transmission to get all the junk out. IT froze up the unit in gear.

Dennis L Oberer
Green Bay WI
 
"By the way - my cars body has a serial number of CAS2897 and engine is CAP2149. Is there anywhere I can look that may tell me a little bit about the story of my car - when it was made, where, sold when, etc."

"Body serial #"or do you mean the frame? Both #'s are Canadian (CA) These #'s (if it is the frame #) should match, as it did when it left the factory, otherwise, someone has changed the motor in your car. What # is on the ownership papers?
 
Ok, not very many people are going to like this but o well. My coupe did the same thing year about this time. For some reason the clutch would not engage and i could not put my car in gear. So what does my grandpa do when i ask him what we should do, he just jumps in it kills the engine. Then he put the car in gear pushed in the clutch and started it. It freed up whatever was stuck and we've driven about 5000 since then and havent had the problem since. You can try it if you want, but there is a slight risk of hurting something that wasnt hurt before. But it beats pulling engine, or ******. If worse comes to worse you car moves forward a few feet when you tap the starter. Just make sure it has enough room to move a little.
 
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