Elan s3 seized clutch

[Fergus]

Hi All

I’m pretty sure my clutch has rusted to the flywheel. Hydraulics, peddle action all seem normal and I had a similar problem the last time I moved the car but managed to free the clutch by Kangarooing in gear with the starter motor.

I’ve tried various remedies suggested in earlier post but eventually resorted to drilling a 12mm hole in the bell housing 5.5cm in from the outer edge …. this method was suggested a few years back, the idea being to access the area between flywheel and clutch to insert a chisel and prise the two apart. It sounded foolproof but didn’t work for me.

Can anyone tell me from my photo if the hole is in the correct place? The gap between the two rotating parts appears not to be constant and also the part closer to the prop shaft has machine marks parallel to the face making me think it could be the flywheel?

My first drive of the year and my toys broken!

Any help much appreciated.

[elanman999]

If that's the edge of the flywheel then you need to rotate the crank until you come to a gap in the pressure plate and then you can see the friction plate. Don't forget you need to jam the clutch pedal down.
Cheers
John

[AussieJohn]

I usually use the hole in the bellhousing method but if the car is not on the 4 poster I have had success by running the engine at 2,000/2,500 rpm for 45 minutes, the heat transfer has worked for me, good luck.

[2cams70]

OMG. You drilled a hole in the bell housing. Remind me never to buy a car off some of you guys.

[alan.barker]

In the past i have had the clutch stuck to flywheel. I bump started, kept clutch down and accelerated. It freed within a few seconds. All done on empty new straight road.
But the best is to remove Engine, get Flywheel resurfaced + new Clutch.
Alan

[UAB807F]

Heat soaking has worked for me as well in the past and with me not driving the car over winter, it's not an uncommon problem. Jamming the clutch pedal down with something and then starting it in gear after one or more heat cycles when the engine is going to fire up instantly usually does the trick, it just takes patience.

Brian

[mbell]

Mine was stuck after possible 20+ year lay up. I heat cycled it a few times. Then with car fully and safely in air I started it a high gear (with clutch pedal down), ran it up to speed and hit the brakes with throttle still open. Which was enough to break it free.

[Fergus]

Thanks for all your help … tried to post earlier but site problems?

I rotated the engine a few times and managed to get a screwdriver in and free the clutch just as the snow came on!
no test drive for me for a week or two, looks like back to winter.

I’m living just north of Oban, West Coast Scotland and although my garage is dry the air is not - unless I protect the car better I can see I’ll have more problems with corrosion but that was partly my reason for going fibreglass.

Thanks again