My clutch had what I would consider a very unusual and abnormal failure mode. Don't have the exact terminology, but the clutch assy that bolts to the flywheel consists of the clutch disc, a pressure plate, and a pressure plate mount. The pressure plate and pressure plate mount are attached together with 3 straps that are attached with rivets on each end, fairly typical setup. One of the straps on my clutch assy decided to give up the ghost
.
On visual inspection and some quess work, I'd imagine the stress concentrations around the rivet hole proprogated in to a crack that under the cyclic loading fatigue out and tore. Maybe there was some defect or flaw present. Once the strap failed around the rivet, it swung out and became very good friends with the tranny inner bell housing. Not sure how long the relationship was, but I never really heard anything. This really explains the abrupt changed from fine to WTF
. Nevertheless, the tranny and clutch are going to be replace under warranty. Not sure if anybody else had run into this, but I hope it's a rather rare failure mode.
Looking at my pressure plate and flywheel surfaces, and the clutch disc, they have held up quick well for 17k miles and lots of lapping sessions. It's amazing how nerve racking this whole ordeal has been so far
, I just want to get her back now
... The tone from the dealer was so somber, we can't say anything till we get final word, it seemed like I'd get nothing but bad news
... Check out some of the pix and see for yourself...