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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)

IIRC, last year another poster that had the problem after the car had sat for awhile lived on the east coast which had gone thru a really wet stretch. Am assuming clutch linings have been reformulated to eliminate asbestos and yours is not the original clutch.

Probably out in left field but with all the rain Texas has endured recently and some other locations of people reporting problems being extra wet I wonder if there could be some formulation of newer linings that might get sticky or is particularly sensitive if the lining sits for awhile and moisture condenses repeatedly over a several day period.

Howard, you may be correct. We had record rainfall in May and the increased humidity may have contributed to the disc sticking to the flywheel. I blame Al Gore. There was no problems with the clutch operation in previous years with less rainfall (read: drought) and longer inoperative times. I'll keep watching and let folks here know if the problem raises its ugly head again. Thanks.

(o{}o)

Clutch discs do not swell or get sticky. There are steel fibers woven into many clutch facings and when it is very humid or damp they rust to the clutch cover and flywheel. All that is usually needed is to depress the clutch while in neutral and rev the engine quickly several times. If that does not work, put the trans in first gear with a clear path ahead, push the starter button (or gas pedal) and start the car. It will accelerate so be careful, once moving at a good clip of 15 mph, depress the clutch and rev the engine. If that does not work repeat last step, depress the clutch at 15 mph and hit the brakes sharply.

This had happened to Fred and Dan with a 34 v12 they had and a 37 120.

Thanks
James From
Kanter Auto Products

It was a common and pretty much standard practice of the day that when you put a car up for storage for a length of time, especially in humid conditions, that you "blocked" the clutch pedal down (released) with a block of wood between the seat frame and the pedal. That rather well-known practice seems to have fallen out of use these days.

John (JW), it might be that this clutch-related thread is additionally helpful. It confirms Dave's strange-sounding blockupy statement.

Thanks, Gerd and all the others who replied. Many different ways to free up a stuck clutch. These methods and the one I used provide owners with choices.

(o{}o)