#4385, "SPEC stage 3: known problems, post if you're involved" May-25-05 11:58 AM by turbo8u
Please post any known problems you've had with your Spec stage 3, i'm going to link this page to David Norton at SPEC so he can understand our frustrations.
My problem:
After 10K miles or so, I can no longer go into gear from a stop. the clutch does not disengage entirely making the car extremely annoying to drive daily, with me having to rev it up to like 3K before it even goes in gear. No changes to the hydraulic system have been made whatsoever and the pedal pressure is just fine. Basically it worked fine then all the sudden it just crapped out and stopped disengaging.
#4386, "RE: SPEC stage 3: known problems, post if you're involved" In response to Reply # 0
I've installed 3 of SPEC's stage 3 clutch in my own car. At first they would work properly and then, just as you described Josh, the clutch would not fully disengage with the pedal fully depressed. The first time this happened, I replaced EVERYTHING including the clutch pedal, master cylinder, slave cylinder, all lines, clutch fork, throw-out bearing, etc. Literally everything. The problem was the clutch. Put in another SPEC stage 3 and few months later it started happening again. Also happened a third time. There's definetely a flaw in the pressure plate design. I said fuck it and installed a Clutch Masters stage 4 and haven't had a single problem since. I recently had a guy bring me his car for repair because his clutch was doing the same thing to him. Turned out to be a SPEC stage 3. Replaced that with a CM stage 4 also and everything's been great. These 420A/NVT350 SPEC clutches are very notorious for this problem, as SPEC knows it.
#4388, "RE: SPEC stage 3: known problems, post if you're involved" In response to Reply # 1 May-25-05 05:24 PM by grain
i had the spec stage 3 also. maybe 10k miles as well. and when i drove from florida to chicago. it went out in chicago after a 2nd gear to 3rd gear pull. clutch wouldnt disengage at all. took it apart and looked fine. some peices were off the clutch in the area around the springs. i know it wasnt the tranny, cause i stuck the spec stage 5 in there and it worked fine. i hope this clutch dosent go, cause i wont return again.
i just threw the thign away due to the lack luster responce when i called spec. the guy knew nothing.
The 2 SPEC products that I had in my bellhousing BOTH failed, at different times. The one of the springs on the friction disk fell out at an auto-x event after crossing the line, I went from full boost (about 10 PSI at the time) to 0% throttle in a fraction of a second, near redline, while leaving it in gear. Maybe that had something to do with it, I'm not sure. The dislodged spring made it impossible for me to disengage the clutch, I was lucky a friend of mine had AAA which I used to get a free tow home. When I replaced the broken disk with a new ClutchMasters friction disk the pressure plate broke less than a week after I got it back together. Some people don't have any problems with SPEC stuff, but I think it's garbage.
#4390, "RE: SPEC stage 3: known problems, post if you're involved" In response to Reply # 3
After about 12000 miles with my spec stage 3, it began to become difficult to put it in first gear at a stop, then it basically became impossible to put in gear without revving. I adjusted the clutch master rod all the way out to get the most travel out of the clutch slave and it resolved the issue for about 500 miles and now I am back to the same crap again where I have to rev to get in gear. I can hear that the clutch is not fully disengaging when the clutch pedal is depressed all the way to the floor. basically a pain in the ass.
#4391, "RE: SPEC stage 3: known problems, post if you're involved" In response to Reply # 4
This must be a problem soley with the stage 3. I've put on over 10k miles on my stage 2 with no sign of problems. The combination of the spec stage 2 and the Retrofit is amazing for a full street car. Do they use a different plate combination for the stage 3 and stage 2? I've spoke with several people with stage 2 and so far no problems (knocks on wood). I will say the TOB that was included in the stage 2 was not up to par when it came to the tabs, after upgrading to the new TOB it works great.
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#4562, "RE: SPEC stage 3: known problems, post if you're involved" In response to Reply # 7
I Replaced my clutch this weekend and I found the defective part on the spec clutch that causes our problem.
I want to know if all the people with this problem is seeing it on clutches using the luk pressure plate. this is the one that lookes like it has ramps on the cover and it has 2 sets of fingers that the TO bearing would press on.
This cover also has 3 coil springs on the outside in a circular pattern evenly spaced.
well this is what I found out.
The LUK clutch acutally has a compensating feature to keep the diaphram spring fingers in the same location regardless of the wear on the flywheel, disk and pressure plate. this is a disk that has a rotational camming action that works against the blue cover "ramps". what this thing is "supposed" to do from what i can tell, is that every time you step on the clutch the plate will rotate from the pressure of the 3 springs pushing it which would take up the slack between the diaphram spring and the cover. it is the actual part that the spring pivots on, or it presses on this pivot. well, its basically a wear compensator. On my clutch. the areas where the 3 springs press on the plate were totally bent outta wack so the plate could not rotate, therefore not allowing the cam function to take up the slack. I kept adjusting my clutch pedal for more throw. if the cam assembly does not work the diaphram spring fingers will continue to come out of the cover towards the engine pressing on the TO bearing and eventually you will run out of Slave cylinder throw and the clutch will not disengage. I know i received this clutch like this because the paint on the springs and the associated assembly had not been disturbed, even after 10k miles.
I wonder if SPEC will do anything for us on this. It looks like it was due to poor assembly and quality control at SPEC.
the pressure plate surface, disk, and flywheel are all in great condition. I bent all the crap back into place where it should be and put some pressure on the clutch and I saw the cam plate rotate into the proper position.
#4654, "RE: SPEC stage 3: known problems, post if you're involved" In response to Reply # 8
i'm not sure how many miles i put on my old stage 3 but it was not very much... like 6-8 months of driving, when mine was totaly destroyed. not crazy racing or anything either, mostly just stop and go...
no problems yet with my PT cruiser clutch (knock on wood)
#4717, "RE: SPEC stage 3: known problems, post if you're involved" In response to Reply # 9
hey james, if you could please....post some pictures of your clutch if you havent sent it back already. i got mine out and replaced it and its all working marvelously now, so it was definately the clutch like i suspected. im noticing some small things on the clutch itself and had my drivetrain teacher take a look at it, and im wondering if some of the same things exist on your clutch.
let me know if you can post some pics, and if not...e-mail them to me. id really appeciate it, and im pretty anxious to get to the root of this problem.
