Sippix

It's a long read, so please bear with me...

Alright, here's the deal. I'm a total newbie when it comes to Mustangs, and especially driving a standard. I've never even been behind the wheel of a standard until I bought my Mustang a few weeks ago. It's a '94 Mustang GT with everything stock except bolt-on I/E mods. So the tranny, clutch and shifter are all stock - Not original to the car (so says the guy that sold it to me), but they ARE stock components. He said the clutch only has about 30k miles on it. Well, I have no freakin' clue if that's a lot for a stock-type clutch, or if I am in need of a driver mod. I bought my Mustang a few weeks ago, but I had to settle some out-of-state tickets to get my license unsuspeneded. My insurance wouldn't let me cover the car unless I did, and I can't get Regi./Insp. stickers unless I provide proof of insurance. Well, this all took a while, so I never actually got to give her road time until this last thursday (12/18/08).

So, here's what happened...

The area I live in has a lot of rearward slopes at stoplights. Since I had never driven a standard before, I stalled my Mustang out several dozens of times, gave her many cases of the lurches and I know that many times I never released the clutch fully before hitting on the gas (I thought this was the best way to prevent rolling back after letting off the brake, since everyone rides your bumper like it's prime real-estate.) On that following saturday, I was at a light, and I got used to the clutch release point enough to smoothly follow through with accel. But...I think I learned a little too late, because a cloud of smoke began rolling out from under the chasis, right where the firewall would be, and there was a GODAWFUL smell. The best I can describe it is burning cigarette butts and cat feces. The RPM's on the car were rolling up on past 4K, but I was only going MAYBE 5MPH. Then, the CEL lights up in my face. Thankfully, I was only a block away from my apartment, and I limped back in first with my hazards on. During the whole time, there was never any more smoke, but the RPM's were high and I was almost literally going nowhere and the CEL turned off after I got her off of that incline. There's no play in the clutch pedal, and I never heard anything from the engine bay, so this leads me to believe that I burned up the clutch.

I guess I'm asking if this sounds like I burned up the clutch. Also, if anyone could relay the price of a new clutch and the difficulty of installation on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the hardest). I'm not a mechanic, but I am an engineer and I was a machinist for about 5 years. I understand concepts extremely well, so is this seriously something an average guy could do with the right tools and an assembly manual?

Thanks in advance for any help and all replies.

FORD TOUGH

When you go down the road in 5th gear and floor it does it slip then?

Sippix

5th?! I've never even taken her out past 3rd. I drive like a grandma, and the speed limit between where I live and where I work gets up to a max of only 45. That's why I've driven on a suspeneded for so long. If they don't have a reason, don't give them a reason. lol

My girlfriend gave me a ride in this morning, because I've been scared to death of destroying anything that I may have already broke. But, if it becomes a general concensus, I'll take her out when I get off work and blast down the freeway to see if she's slipping when in the higher gears.

You know, now that you mention it, I do remember her slipping a bit in 1st, then acting a bit better in 2nd and holding much, much better in 3rd. I thought this was just the gear ratios to give the lower gears more torque and higher gears more speed - Kind of like a 10 speed bicycle - Stay in low gears to go up hills, then switch to high gears once you have momentum. Remember, I'm still a total newbie, and standard vs. automatic is a totally different world.

FORD TOUGH

Well if it is not slipping in the higher gears your okay just stand on it in high gear and if the engine doesn't rev way up your okay. Also when you drive a manual do not drive with your foot on the clutch. 45mph is fast enough to get in 5th gear.

Sippix

Alright. I'll give her a run down the street when I get off of work.

Should I look at replacing the clutch anyways? I mean, there was a huge plume of smoke from under the chasis when this all happened.

Also, should I just keep her in second, even from a dead stop, since 1st is probably not going to cut it? I really don't want to burn it up to the point of having to get her towed to the shop.

Thank you very much for the input and help. I can't tell you how stressed I'vebeen the last couple of days. lol

FORD TOUGH

Always take of in first. Were does the clutch start to engage is it close to the top? If the clutch is not slipping when you go up a hill or when you floor it in high you should be okay.

FivePointOhh

pull up on the clutch pedal until you hear it *click*, if there was any slack in the line it will take it out. then try driving it. burning up clutch wont cause a CEL. hard to tell where that smoke came from.

try taking the slack out of the line. also check out your set up and see if anything isnt stock. look under the dash at the clutch pedal at the very top. if its stock it'll be a dull plastic deal, then under the hood look where the clutch cable comes out of the firewall, if its a dull plastic piece its stock, look under your car, if the clutch cables just hooks into the the fork and has no adjustment nut, its stock and you should be able to look into the bell housing and see your clutch if you dont have the cover on the bellhousing, or its two bolts if you want to take it off. if its a greyish black color its stock. most aftermarket clutches are bright colors like orange or red or purple.

let us know what your set up is. if the quadrant or firewall adjuster is metal it's soemthing thats been changed and good chance its not set up right.

i'd also run koeo/koer self tests in your driveway and find out whats up with your car.

Sippix

I'd say the clutch starts to engage near the top. There's a tad extra at the end of it, which is what gave me so much trouble when trying to learn it. If I had to throw out a number, I'd say about 3/4 to 7/8 from the top and it would engage. If I let the pedal all the way up, she would stall before I could even give her gas.

As far as the clutch slipping when I go up a hill, that's where I noticed the problem in the first place.

Since I'm on my lunch now, I just gave a call to a mechanic that I know works almost exclusively on Mustangs. From everything I told him, exactly what I've posted here, he said it sounds like the slave (or master...I can't remember now) cylinder is going out and is not delivering enough pressure against the plates and causing them to slip. Does this sound right?

Also, he said that total parts cost (clutch plates and cylinder) would be around 800.00 for OEM replacements, and that they're pretty rare now due to the age of the car. Does this sound right, as well?

Anyhow...Please advise.

Sippix

I'll check everything out that you've advised me to do. It seems pretty straight forward. I saw a link on another thread about how to do those koeo/koer tests, so I'll have to do that as well.

As far as the CEL goes, I think the smoke/fumes from whatever was being sucked into the intake and caused the CEL to trigger from one of the sensors. It was only lit up for a maximum of 30 seconds. Does that sound about right?

Also, it was a pretty chilly day, so it may have been vapor from the friction rather than actual smoke from burning up.

Right off the top of my head, my set-up is as follows - Edelbrock intake, Lightning mass air, Cobra Instake Manifold, MSD Ignition, Flowmaster cat-backs. All other mods are purely cosmetic, and serve no real performance function (wheels, head unit, badges and RPM/Shifter Light). I think I might have UDP's on my alt, because my charge is CRAP at idle. I'll have to look into that and get back to you.

Thanks for the heads-up.

86 5.0L

I'd make a guess and probably say the rear main seal is leaking and some oil got onto the flywheel/clutch