Hi, I went to drive my 355 and the clutch became heavy although it engaged and shifted gears ok. I removed the clutch cover and found about a tablespoon of transmission gear oil on the clutch disc surfaces and could see gear oil drips where the output shaft (3) washers are located. It appears that the seals just went. I examined the flywheel and pressure plate and they appear to be in excellent condition except for some oil burn (blue) marks and pad material spots. I used a 600 emery water paper and cleaned up both discs and they look very shiny. The slave thrust bearing shows no signs of any leaking and I have not lost any hydraulic fluid. The clutch disc measures at 6.8 mm and per the manual a new disc is 8.3mm (+-o.3mm & the max wear limit is 1.5mm). It therefore appears that my disc is at the max wear limit in any case. My plan is to replace the 3 shaft seals (part #137249) and the clutch disc (part #157756). My questions are as follows: 1) Should I use a rougher emery paper (say 50) to take the shine off the pressure plate and flywheel surfaces (they look like shiny rotor finish) or leave them as they are? There are no grooves or ridges, ect in the finish. 2) The manual says you should check and line up the yellow paint mark on the pressure plate and the max imbalance mark on the flywheel....but I cannot see any mark on the flywheel. What kind of mark am I looking for here? There are no paint marks on the flywheel (unlike the pressure plates yellow mark) Pls advise 3) Would a heavier clutch not be indicative of a problem with my slave cylinder or should I just leave well enough alone and reassemble and see how it works? 4) Do I need a tool to line up the clutch and pressure plate? The dealer refuses to sell me one and I have heard of some others here using a 7/8 socket instead......is there a special nack to using this? 5) Should I use dealer parts or aftermarket clutch disc parts? any difference? Thanks , Chris
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154232&highlight=355+clutch Here's my experience on the subject...
Thanks for the response. I should have mentioned though that I have a manual , not a F1 . Note: I mentioned in my original post that I had read that a 7/8 socket could be used to line up the clutch disk and flywheel.....but not in my application. I tried it and it didnot fit. A 19 mm socket did in fact fit perfectly the clutch disk and flywheel bearing.....so this may work. I have since ordered a clutch disk from Ricambi and the triple seals from the dealer. Anyone else re my original questions?
If you have the stock pressure plate and the disc is worn, I would replace BOTH. If you already have the AP unit, I would replace the disc and just clean any oil off the pressure plate. (you may also want to upgrade the throw-out bearing if it is the stocker, and you can order it and the tools from Ricambi) Tell-em Dr. Scott sent ya! ;o)
Clutch is the same for F1 or left-legged, only real difference would be the calibration that I had to go through. For the questions: 1. 50 grit seems too rough to me. May not make a real difference after a few clutch engagements anyway, but I'd lean towards 200 grit. 2. I also didn't see any markings on the flywheel to line up. Seems silky smooth to me at 8500. Anyway that Kluber grease in the flywheel is supposed to help even out any mass imbalance. 3. not sure 4. I used 7/8 socket, but it wasn't perfect. Actually had to take it apart and try 3x to get it right. The socket was a teeny bit too small, so ended up wrapping the socket with a thin shim for a better fit. 5. I believe there's only one supplier, Valeo. I replaced the disk and pressure plate, but next time plan to try to get away with just the disk.
I did'nt realize that the f1 and 6 speed shared the same components.....thanks for the followup. My pressure plate is in excellent condition so I was intending to re-use it unless there is a real problem in doing so (The forks are perfectly lined up and there are no obvious cracks or mis-allignements). Please advise ( have already ordered the clutch disk). I will try the 200 grit emery paper on the flywheel and disk surfaces as suggested. I got the triple seals today and the dealer said there is a special 3 prong tool (of course not available to customers ) to expand the seals prior to installation. How did you install these seals.......is their a special method to avoid damaging them? Once I get the disk I am going to install the seals and disk and re-install temporarily the housing to test the clutch effort. If it is still too high then I guess I'll take apart the thrust bearing to see what the problem is. The slave/thrust bearing.... appears to be in perfect condition (no brake fluid leaks and perfect bearing surfaces front and rear and slides smoothly. I did bleed the clutch a few days before and found no air or serious contamination......just a little dirty brake fluid for a brief moment. Is there another way to test the thrust bearing? Keep the advice coming......I really do appreciate the help.
ah those damn triple seals...not alot of fun. Tried a few things, but in the end just oiled them and slid them on. They seemed to stretch and be too loose once on, but haven't seen a drop in over 1k miles. One recommendation was to buy a few extra (which I did), but ended up not needing them. You'll find the problem is getting the farthest one back on - it first jumps into the first two seal slots, until stretched sufficiently.
I just use my fingers to put them on. The seals are pretty hard but they do stretch a little bit. You don't want to stretch them too much just enough to get them over the end of the shaft. Which is why I use my fingers. I started with the seal groove closest to the end of the shaft and then worked back. The first seal in the groove helps to get the others over and into their grooves. Once I had all mine on I lightly pushed the shaft back through the hole, making sure the seals didn't get cockeyed as I pushed it in. This is to help the seals close back over the shaft.
I'd try putting the seals in mildly hot (not boiling!) water. While they are soaking, wrap a piece of printer paper (or thicker if you must) around the shaft. Now hold the paper while it is wrapped in a tube shape as you slide it off of the shaft. With the paper now in a tube shape the size of your shaft, place one seal on the end of your paper tube. Next, slide the paper tube with seal back to the end of the shaft. At this point you only have to slide the seal a tiny amount to get it off of the end of your homemade paper tube and into its slot on the shaft. Now repeat these steps for the middle slot/seal, and then for the nearest slot/seal.
Thanks for the advice on the triple seals........it looks do-able, albeit a bit of a pain. My parts s/b in shortly, I'll keep you posted.
