I have searched through this forum and can't seem to come up with an answer to this problem. Here's the deal. I have 289,000 miles on my 96 XJ. I dropped a new clutch, pressure plate and flywheel into it at 274,450 miles back last September. All the clutch parts were Luk Clutch, including the flywheel. I have had zero problems until Wednesday.

I left work on Wednesday night and my XJ was acting up. It was making what sounded like a short repeating light whisper sound. My shift boot doesn't connect to my center console anymore, which is somewhat advantageous because I get to hear the unadulterated sounds eminating (sp?) from my driveline. I tried to put it into reverse, but it started grinding bad when I attempted it. I tried it once more with the same result, so I just pushed it out. It definitely felt different when I put it into 1st gear. It seemed like it wanted to stall as I was easing off the clutch. I managed to get it home with little issue (5 miles of interstate driving, 3 miles of surface roads, no stop signs or lights) and woke up and checked the clutch fluid. It was perhaps a tiny bit low, so I topped it off with some DOT3. I started it up and after it warmed up, it started whistling again.

I was thinking that it may be my clutch master and slave cylinders. My XJ is old and they are still the OEM cylinders. I am pretty **** about torquing every bolt down properly and in order, I used all new parts in my clutch assembly, so I don't believe that it is my clutch (again, I replaced it 15k miles ago). I am convinced that it is my master and slave assembly (one or the other) because if the cylinder doesn't have compression like it should, then it wouldn't fully engage the clutch. The weird part is that I don't see a fluid leak on either the master or slave.

So, my dear friends here on CF. Any thoughts?

 

Several more things to add:

I just replaced the alternator 10 days ago. Doubt it makes any difference, but I like to give as much information as possible.

Also, can you reuse the fluid line on the clutch hydraulic system? It doesn't look like it unbolts off the cylinders. In fact, I can't immediately tell how you would even remove the line.

 

did you have someone push the pedal down while you looked at the clutch fork to see if it was fully engaging?

 

Great point. No, I did not. I have an external slave. Should I just hang out under the bell housing with a head lamp and look up into the inspection slot and see if it engages? Is that the best way to do it?

 

Yea I would get to where I could make sure you can see if the fork is actually moving back and forth. That should let you know where the problems is that way you can trace it down to the slave cylinder or a throwout bearing issue.

 

Ahh...throwout bearing. I guess that could be it, too.

 

Emanating* lololol. Yeah, if you were **** about the installation, then I doubt it is the clutch. Did you replace the throwout bearing when you did the clutch? If you did, then thus is more than likely a cylinder problem. Did you also resurface the flywheel when you did the clutch?

 

LOL thanks, man I knew I didn't spell that correctly.

I checked the throwout bearing when I did my clutch, and it looked fine to me, so I didn't replace it. I kept the throwout bearing that came with my clutch pack, as I never throw away parts. I don't like to resurface flywheels because runout tolerance on a flywheel for an XJ is .003". Every time I do a clutch, I simply replace the flywheel with a brand new one. That extra $150 is worth the assurance.

 

Get those cylinders done. If that don't fix it, you'll be pulling that tranny again, unfortunately, to put in the new bearing. That's why ppl do them when they get the clutch done, because with that many miles the throwout bearing is bound to go sooner or later...

Good luck

 

It is a rather ironic situation: easy to fix, but fairly costly (master and slave), or hard to fix, but very inexpensive (throwout bearing). I'll be testing it tomorrow. We shall see.

 

At least it's diy and you won't be paying a fortune either way lol

 

Here's an update on the problem:

I did replace my throwout bearing when I did my clutch (15k miles ago). What I did not replace was my pilot bearing. That being said, on Wednesday, I replaced the Clutch master and slave as a unit with a pre-bled one. When I started it, it still had that whistling with the clutch engaged, but by the end of the day, it went away. The XJ drove fine until today when I went to the gas station on my way to Denver. I had to do a three point turn to get to a pump that wasn't out of service. Prior to that, since replacing the clutch hydraulic system, I hadn't tried to put my XJ into reverse while it was on. I would throw it in reverse with it off and then engage the clutch and start it up.

It did the three point turn just fine, but started the whistling noise again. After I filled up, I started it and it would not shift into first gear. It wouldn't engage. Again with the whistling sound. I turned it off and put it into first. I had my foot on the brake and it was trying to stall. I started to go and when I tried to shift into second, I couldn't take it out of first (clutch engaged, whistling sound). I eventually got it going.

I have a leaky rear main seal and oil pan gasket. They're not leaking like a sieve, but they do leak, all the same. It occurred to me that I may have an oil soaked clutch and perhaps that is the problem. I went to Walmart and bought a couple cans of brake cleaner. I sprayed both of them into the clutch inspection slot on the bottom of the bell housing, thinking that hopefully that would at least get me back home (obviously not going to Denver at this point).

I got back on the freeway and I was able to shift into the higher gears just fine. No problem there. I took the freeway over Vail pass, keeping it in 4th and got off on my exit (I don't have to stop when exiting to my road). I downshifted into 3rd and kept it there all the way through my town. I got to my stop sign and it was about to stall when I put it in first gear, so I quickly got it going again and went down my street. I got home and it really wanted to stall as we switched Jeeps, but I got it back in my driveway just fine.

Any ideas on what the hell it is that I need to do to my XJ? I would love some input on this one.

 

So, here's an update on the problem.

I bought the pre-bled clutch hydraulic system for my 1996 XJ (4.0L, ax-15). It was manufactured by Crown. It is a quality hydraulic system, but it is sold as a bleederless system. The problem is that during shipping, some air found its way into the line and caused the aforementioned problems. Because it doesn't have a bleeder screw, I have three options: 1) pop the roll pin and hydraulic line, unbolt the slave, toss it in the trash and install a slave with a bleeder screw or 2) drill a hole in my current slave where the recess is for the bleeder screw, install my own bleeder screw and bleed it that way. A close friend of mine that owns a very successful auto repair shop actually suggested that to me. 3) leave it alone, as it is driving fine now. Perhaps the little air bubble worked itself out of the equation, which is very posible. Everything else in my clutch system is functioning properly, mechanically speaking.

As far as I'm concerned, the problem is solved for me, I just wanted to put this up there for future XJ'ers that have this problem to hopefully help someone out in the future. The bottom line: don't buy a bleederless clutch slave cylinder, and best of luck!

 

id get a better slave and master localy abd send the crown back just my2cw

 

Pfft. Call the company and make them replace it for no cost