Clutch Problem

Posted by JWL On 2015/6/9 15:37:06

I had a problem with the clutch of the 115C. The car sat for about two weeks after a 60 mile round trip to a car show in a nearby retirement community. The Packard performed flawlessly on this first trip since I had performed an extensive service and maintenance on it. This included dropping and cleaning oil pan, changing all oils - engine, trans, and diff. - packing front wheel bearings, removing brake drums to inspect brakes, adjusting foot and hand brakes, bleeding brake system, and replacing engine coolant.

Anyway, went out to move the car so I could replace the fuel pump. The pump on the car has been working with no problems, but it has been there for about 10 years. I thought it was a good time to get a new rebuilt one and do it at my convenience and location of choice (garage). Started the engine in normal manner, but when I went to back the car the clutch would not release. I checked pedal linkage and operation and everything seemed to be working properly. My guess was the disc had become stuck to the flywheel. This problem has been discussed on this forum a few times. It is not a common problem, but one that does occur.

I had resigned myself to jacking up the car, removing the lower bell housing cover, and seeing if I could free the disc from the flywheel. Since it was going to be a couple of weeks before I could manage this on my schedule, I tried one more thing. I placed a board against the front of the seat and then fit a piece of metal tubing between the board and the clutch pedal with the pedal fully depressed with the transmission in high gear. Every day or so I would go out and rock the car back and forth to try and break the disc free. I did this several times over the last two weeks. Today I tried it again and the clutch released.

I took the car for a drive around the neighborhood and everything seems to be working normally in the clutch and transmission area. This is a bit confusing to me as I never had this problem when the car was in a storage unit for months at a time. The only thing I can think of is I did shorten the clutch pedal pull back spring about one-inch to fully return the pedal.

I am a bit anxious about this problem reoccurring, and will watch it closely. I wanted to share this with folks who may experience this problem and let them know what has worked for me.

(o{}o)