• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

LUK clutch blew, stranded......

I was talking to someone on the phone the other day and I was saying that we need someone to contact LUK and findout the differences between LUK clutches, and OE SVT clutch, and why there have been so many LUK failures and very little OEM failures.
 
RFcsvt said:
I'm beginning to think that way too, fortunately I'm not in need of a clutch yet but I have a feeling it will be something needed in the next couple of years.

Yeah man, hopefully next time for you is in the distant future, the very distant future.

I think I have a sprung disk hanging around, I kind of want to dismantle it and see exactly what would need to fail in order to let the center break free.
Click to expand...
I still have my Spec one where it was coming aprt. I might do that if I am bored.
 
Car hit the ground tonight about an hour ago. No problems, no leaks, fired right up :cool:.

Do you guys know what twitterpated is? :laugh: that's how I feel right now being finished. Its much easier to part these dumb cars out than to be careful and have to put it all back together :laugh:.


I gotta say, the clutchnet disc feels nice..... I will take eggy to work tomorrow and see if it stays in one piece.

The new suspension raised the car up about .5" in the front and about a full 1" in the back making a raked but even wheel gap look :cool:
 
Good deal, nice to hear it's back in working order.

So I emailed LUK yesterday morning after it was mentioned someone should contact them in regards to the differences between OE and the aftermarket SVT clutch kits. I got a response pretty quickly and they are saying there are no differences. I was also told they went through their previous warranty claims and they have no reports of failure related to the center spline breaking loose. He noted that a failure of this type may be related to trans dowel pins missing or possibly the front bearing inside the trans. I'm not familiar enough with the inside of a trans to know which bearing he's thinking of.

If someone wants to speak to the guy or see our email conversation send me a pm and I'll copy my original message and his response with contact info.
 
^ PM sent


1212122355.jpg

1212122355a.jpg

1212122355b.jpg





The only thing that seems to be an issue is a power steering fluid leek. When I unhooked the fat rubber hose that goes into the pump (low pressure side), I put a vice grip lightly-ish on it to keep the fluid from leaking out everywhere. Saw a little puddle under the car this morning about the size of the base of a coffee cup and I'm pretty sure it's fluid from that hose.



Now I can get my 2 new front tires mounted/balanced and have an alignment done. :cool:



The work list:
-2 ball joints
-main coolant hose
-drivers wheel bearing (twice)
-passenger wheel bearing
-crank pully seal
-DMD (had to cut old one off)
-drivers axle seal
-shift rod input shaft seal
-clutch disc
-throw out bearing
-replaced drivers side axle
-wiper cowl (my fault)
-re-surface flywheel
-new fuel rail hose
-thermostat
-fuel filter
-Accel yellow coil pack
-2 axle nuts
-sandblasted and painted the trans case silver
-coolant
-brake fluid
-PS fluid
-royal purple MTX fluid
-16 longer wheel studs
-H&R springs
-shocks
-greased all zerc fittings
 
elraido said:
Waiting for the post where the hub fell apart and he is in the ditch.
Click to expand...

You know, that drivers side hub bearing was still f'n loose after I picked it up at the dealer last night at 7pm.


Went in the parts shed, and I had a really high mileage post98 drivers side front knuckle and the bearing was GOOD! Thank goodness because I was going to install that ••••ty one with the new bearing because I was fed up. I transfered the longer wheel studs into it, swapped over the BAER brake kit bracket, and the hubcentric ring for the rotor.

It's the service techs job to see that the new bearings aren't fitting properly and that's why I pay them to do it. Obviously you just can't get anyone smart enough to notice that the hub is wiggling around :nonono:. I'm taking the knuckle to them today to get a refund for the parts and labor for that one.
 
holy •••• man! blu get me the part number for the knuckle and Ill check for you
 
I have it in my trunk, I'll get the number before I hand over the knuckle to the dealer. The part number was exactly the same on the loose bearing knuckle and the one that was in the shed with good bearing and they would be for '97+ I believe. The tie rod end part number changed sometime before '97 because they changed the hole size and pitch of the end that goes in the knuckle.
 
RFcsvt said:
Good deal, nice to hear it's back in working order.

So I emailed LUK yesterday morning after it was mentioned someone should contact them in regards to the differences between OE and the aftermarket SVT clutch kits. I got a response pretty quickly and they are saying there are no differences. I was also told they went through their previous warranty claims and they have no reports of failure related to the center spline breaking loose. He noted that a failure of this type may be related to trans dowel pins missing or possibly the front bearing inside the trans. I'm not familiar enough with the inside of a trans to know which bearing he's thinking of.

If someone wants to speak to the guy or see our email conversation send me a pm and I'll copy my original message and his response with contact info.
Click to expand...

He is referencing a pilot bearing. typically in rwd cars the input shaft rides in a bearing that is in the crank. Its similar idea to the pilot bushing the atx uses. However the MTX-75, and many other fwd cars do not use one. The input shaft used tappered bearings which keep the input shaft turning true.

I had a similar response from SPEC when my stage 3+ failed. Read around the internet but many companies are having issues with the clutch hub failing on fwd cars that don't have a pilot bearing. In my case my MTX-75 was rebuilt and only had 14k miles on the rebuild. After 7k, when I got it, HMS inspected the transmission and it was fine.

And chances are no one here that had a failure filed a warrenty claim. I would guess, much like SPEC, they will argue that it was the install that caused the problem, not the product. That means no warrenty claims. Seems we can't go anywhere for a clutch that someone will stand behind ...
 
^ You are right on Brian about the excuses and the pilot bearing. I made a thread about my conversation with LUK.
 
I'm sure my clutch blew out today. I rolled to a stop leaving my shop. I let the clutch out to go and a horrid sound and vibration came out of my car. I can still move and I limped it 8 miles home but my pedal feels strange.
 
Is it the plastic that broke, and the metal spring frame center? :confused:

Not good.

I see yours is a "made in china" clutch, where did you get that? What are you replacing it with?
 
My brother bought it, then he wrecked his car and I bought it and the car to fix my SE. The funny thing was it was all still in the box but the p plate was LUK. I got clutchnet sending me the kevlar sport disc to go with that LUK plate.
 
That guy will not answer phone calls or call you back after you leave a message. Only time he contacted me was after I sent him a fax.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top