I had a "catastrophic failure" in the mustang yesterday in regards to the clutch.


The car had been making an on again and off again bearing noise a couple weeks prior, but the clutch had been engaging just fine (which this car had never been extremely smooth, but I thought it was pretty par for the course with MT82's -hard to get in gear when cold, lots deflection in the shifter as well).

I had a missed shift yesterday as the car wouldn't enter 4th gear from 3rd (not a hard shift, but a quick one), as I was trying to find 4th, it slipped to 2nd and an overrev occured (although caught it quickly and clutched-in). Everything felt fine until 5-6 shifts later when I heard a pop and clutch pedal went to the floor. it wouldn't come up but the car was in gear and wasn't slipping. I drove until I was somewhere safe, and in a parking lot I started testing. Couldn't change gears, and the pedal had very little pressure behind it. I could start the car in gear and it would move forward (an engagement issue), going heavy throttle resulted in little slip, but I can hear mechanical issues coming from the bellhousing.

I'm also worried about damage to the synchros in the transmission, as if the clutch wasn't operating normally, there could be some excess wear and tear there. I was hoping to have the TSB completed on the car for refill of the transmission with proper QDC fluid, and was hoping to look for shavings in the drained fluid to determine if there's any issues there. My transmission was one of the louder whining ones.

Otherwise, I have no idea what went wrong, my guess is something to do with the slave cylinder or throw out bearing.

Any thoughts? Its at the dealer now, they won't touch it until Monday and this is my first interaction with a Ford dealer and a new car. I hope they're thorough in investigating and repairing the issue, very much already miss the car

 

It sounds as you may be experiencing the flywheel bolts backing out. Definately not fluid related IMO. Keep us posted on your ordeal. Good luck.

 

I agree with what MP says.

 

well, here's the result:

A new clutch assembly was fitted, as the friction material/lining of the clutch disc on the pressure plate side seperated completely. The exact cause is unknown, but due to the flywheel and clutch pp surfaces looking abuse-free, they believe it to be a defect in manufacturing.

They replaced the entire assembly with BR3Z-7B546-AD
new bolts and washers
and 2 gaskets for something

Then completed the TSB on fluid fill with the proper QDC fluid.

The result is this: a mustang with a better clutch feel than it did the day I picked it up, much easier shifts, heel-toe downshifts are now buttery and easy to correctly hit. However the one downside is the whine from the transmission has picked up quite a bit. As long as its noise and not wear, I'm fine with it. You can hear it reflecting from buildings when you have the window down, whereas before you could just hear it through the shifter area.