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MG MGA - Clutch engadgement

Hi, I own a 1958 MGA and after garaging my car for two months because of the hot and humid weather that we've had this summer I started it up and let it warm up to operating temperature. Then I tried to engage reverse and back out of the garage but it seemed as though the clutch disk was hung up as the gears just ground. I turned off the car and with the clutch in, shifted through the gears with no problem. I then started the car again but still was unable to shift into any gear. The car has had no problem whatsoever with clutch or transmission up to this point. I'm wondering if the damp humid weather has somehow fused the disk to the pressure plate, if only temperarily. If anyone has any knowledge of this problem I'd greatly appreciate your input.

Thank you, Dennis Rogers
Dennis Rogers

Have you checked the fluid level in your master cylinder? If it's low, it might not provide enough push to the clutch slave cylinder to disengage the clutch.

If that's not it, or even if it is low on fluid, it could have air in the lines. So could your brakes for that matter. How are they? Try bleeding the line to the slave cylinder.

IF the clutch plate is really failing to come away from the flywheel, which is rare, try putting the transmission in gear before you start it. CAUTION: IF IT STILL DOESN'T DISENGAGE, IT WILL JUMP FORWARD OR BACKWARD. There is NO clutch safety switch on our cars, and even if there were, it would be negated by the stuck clutch, if any.

Clutches will fail in three ways. They either fail to disengage, slip, or the anti-shudder springs in the clutch plate go bad making a smooth engagement of the clutch very difficult. You may have the first scenario.
Chuck Asbury

Hi Dennis. Go to Barney Gaylord's website. He has an article on how to free a stuck clutch. Good luck! Glenn
Glenn

This thread was discussed between 28/08/2005 and 29/08/2005

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.