Creaking Clutch M7

4730 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Vigilance247, Jan 31, 2016

jschneider

Discussion Starter · Jan 28, 2016

Hello all!

Currently own a 2015 Corvette C7 Z51 M7 2LT.

Car's been great, but recently my clutch developed a creaking noise happening when being pressed down, and on the way up. Also the vehicle has become a lot more notchy, and tougher to shift. I find down shifting from 4 to 3rd to 2nd, even with rev match is not as smooth anymore. I find when the shifter warms up it is a bit smoother still, and higher rev shifts are often smooth as well.

I also installed an MGW shifter when the shifts first started becoming notchy and rough and saddly it didn't make much different for the smoothness. That being said the MGW shifter feels great!

My vette has 8900 KM on it.

Anyways, going to bring it in to my local chevy dealer for the service manager, and the lead tech to have a listen to the clutch and we'll go from there.

Thoughts?

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Derbo2

· #2 · Jan 28, 2016

I started to have a creaky spot in my clutch pedal at about 7000 miles and shifts were feeling rough. My friend and forum member, Z06 Owned had told me about how quickly the clutch fluid gets loaded with contaminants and I thought that I would try to change the fluid. I used the Ranger method outlined in this YouTube video:

I pulled out fluid, refilled fluid, and pumped the clutch pedal 30x. My fluid came out black as stiff coffee! I did this 6x and finally had perfectly clean clutch fluid. My clutch pedal no longer creaks and with the addition of the MGW shifter.......It's a fun moving through the gears again! It's a cheap and easy fix, and although not as thorough as bleeding through the clutch master cylinder.....it worked and the improvement in clutch action is very noticeable.
Good Luck,
Derik

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Fleet

· #3 · Jan 28, 2016

About the same number of miles on mine and there has been no change in how it shifts. It has always been "notchy" but I have accepted as somewhat normal as it performs better then my old Z06 with 65Kmi.

I will argue, based on my experience any change ….. be it new noise creak in the clutch or more notchy feel at the shift lever… is abnormal.

elegant

· #4 · Jan 28, 2016

jschneider,

Sorry you have having a clutch issue and your going to the dealer is what I would do. Definitely they should figure out the cause and complete a fix.

Hope your problem gets fixed soon!

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[email protected]

· #5 · Jan 28, 2016

Derbo2 said:
... I used the Ranger method outlined in this YouTube video:

...
Derik

Great and informative video. Thanks, Derik.

jschneider

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 28, 2016

Did it help your creaking noise?

I completed the ranger method about 6 or 7 times recently and no change to the creaking clutch, but it did smooth out the shifts a bit when I took it for a quick spin on a nice winter day.

jschneider

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jan 28, 2016

Ya that's what I was thinking. I'm hoping it's just a matter of lubrication and that my vehicle wont be torn apart by a tech who's most likely never worked on one.

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elegant

· #8 · Jan 28, 2016

Perhaps nothing more than just lubricating where the clutch pedal pivots, goes through the firewall, but thinking at least that and also flushing/replacing your clutch fluid as several have posted above. Hope just those two things, for they involve not tearing anything apart.

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Derbo2

· #9 · Jan 28, 2016 (Edited)

You're welcome Carl. This topic has been a polarizing subject on the forum before, but I figured that I'd try it out anyways. I'm happy with the outcome now but will have the dealer do a complete service to clutch as per the manual when the time comes. The car is still under warranty, and I agree with John that you should have your dealer take a look at anything that you feel is unusual.

It did resolve my creaking noise....perhaps it was just me pumping my clutch pedal 180 times! What I really noticed the most is how much better the clutch uptake felt.....much nicer modulation than before.

Derik

Vigilance247

· #10 · Jan 30, 2016

The timing of this thread is amazing and saved my butt! Last night, at 13150 miles, I checked my clutch reservoir to see the color of the fluid. I figured if it was dirty, I would perform the Ranger Protocol this morning. Well, the reservoir was completely empty! In fact, the cap was hard to remove because of the vacuum. The rubber boot was fully extended and there was a ring of grey gunk about a 1/4 down from the top of the cap. I was shocked! My eyes must have popped out of my head just like a cartoon character. I called the dealership this morning and expected to hear that it's Saturday and the Corvette tech is not in. However, it was my lucky day and the Corvette tech was there prepping a Z06 and C7 for the showroom. Now this is the part I don't understand, the reservoir is completely empty but the clutch works great? So, I drive down to the dealership and we cannot find any leaks. Then, they top off the clutch fluid and we call it a day. When I got home, I went ahead and did the Ranger Protocol. It took two cycles for the fluid to turn from dark brown to clear. So, not that bad. Anyway, if you have an M7 go check your clutch fluid level.

Animated cartoon Cartoon Animation Fictional character Illustration

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West Ham Utd

· #11 · Jan 30, 2016

Vigilance247 said:
Now this is the part I don't understand, the reservoir is completely empty but the clutch works great? So, I drive down to the dealership and we cannot find any leaks. Then, they top off the clutch fluid and we call it a day.

Your clutch works the same way as brake pads. As the brake pads/clutch plates wear, the fluid level drops to compensate for the lost material. I am really surprised that your clutch reservoir was practically empty with only 13K miles though. Did your Tech bleed the system, incase air was pulled into the line.

Vigilance247

· #12 · Jan 31, 2016

West Ham Utd said:
Your clutch works the same way as brake pads. As the brake pads/clutch plates wear, the fluid level drops to compensate for the lost material. I am really surprised that your clutch reservoir was practically empty with only 13K miles though. Did your Tech bleed the system, incase air was pulled into the line.

No, because the pedal never went dead to the floor.

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West Ham Utd

· #13 · Jan 31, 2016

Vigilance247 said:
No, because the pedal never went dead to the floor.

Sounds like your fluid level hadn't dropped below the line inlet & you caught it in time. The pedal might not feel much different if air had been in the line, but the clutch would not have been fully disengaging & causing it to wear prematurely.

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Mobius

· #14 · Jan 31, 2016

Vigilance247 said:
The timing of this thread is amazing and saved my butt! Last night, at 13150 miles, I checked my clutch reservoir to see the color of the fluid. I figured if it was dirty, I would perform the Ranger Protocol this morning. Well, the reservoir was completely empty!

When I checked mine at 9100, the diaphragm was also fully extended, with my fluid level below the -Min- line, but still visible. It wasn't pretty.

I flushed the system (Ranger method), and haven't seen any significant change in fluid level for the last 7000 miles.

http://www.stingrayforums.com/forum...id-you-replace-clutch-fluid-3.html#post147448

Vigilance247

· #15 · Jan 31, 2016

Mobius said:
When I checked mine at 9100, the diaphragm was also fully extended, with my fluid level below the -Min- line, but still visible. It wasn't pretty.

I flushed the system (Ranger method), and haven't seen any significant change in fluid level for the last 7000 miles.

http://www.stingrayforums.com/forum...id-you-replace-clutch-fluid-3.html#post147448

Thanks!

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