So about 6 months ago, my OEM clutch was completely toast on my cobalt.
On here, I found a used 6 puck clutchmaster stag 4 clutch with ~2-4k miles on it, and got it for a steal! I got the pressure plate, clutch disk, and alignment tool. Everything looked good. I bought my own, brand new throwout bearing, from the GM dealership. I never changed the pilot bearing. I was working and going to school full time, so I didn't have time to change the clutch myself. I took the car to a shop that my dad and I knew the owner of, and had them install the clutch. 2-3 months later, my car is having major issues.

So, here are the symptoms that the car has...
-When taking off, slowly letting go of the clutch, there's a pretty loud chippering sound. I believe that's from not resurfacing the flywheel? Not sure, that's what I've been told.
-When I press the clutch all the way down and it's in first gear(any gear, really), the car slowly takes off, as if I'm letting go of the clutch or as if the clutch isn't all the way down. When the car is already moving and I'm going through the gears, it's VERY hard to put it into gear. It's almost as if I'm not pressing the clutch all the way down, and it's not going in correctly.. When the car gets warmed up, it gets to the point where I can't even get out of 1st, or into anything else, and I'm stuck driving the car home in 1st gear.

I bled the clutch system multiple times. Had people come and do it for me even, thinking I did it wrong. Still, the car is really acting up and I NEED to get it up and running. It's just sitting in my backyard collecting pollen. I have no problem of doing all the work myself and buying all the parts. I just need to know what to buy/replace.

Anyone that can help me, I will be really grateful for. Please, does anyone know what's going on?

 

Sounds like the TOB is bad.

 

That's what I've been told, but how? It JUST got replaced...

 

"Depending on preload and engine rpm this clutch often goes over center. The fingers pass center and it overextends the throw out bearing. The travel is supposed to be checked upon clutch installation and in some cases a spacer is added to adjust the travel." from zzp's website

 

Never heard anyone needing a spacer. They state that in "some cases", someone might need a spacer. I mean cmon, I'm not the only one running a stage 4 clutchmaster.

 

It would not surprise me if your tomb was bad. GM's tob are really hit and miss. When I did my clutch a year ago. I went through 3 tob from the dealer before I got a good one. They leak a lot. And plain give out very prematurely. I would bet it is your tob.

 

I have never personally seen a new TOB go bad. I have seen lots of mistakes made in installs. It looks like the clutch you are using has potential issues from travelling over center. In my experience, OEM clutches work best, but we have installed both KY and Exedy without issues, and SPEC, but the SPEC took additional spacers for sure, which Pwerkes told us about in advance.

If you want advice its this: replace the clutch assembly with an OEM kit from Crate engine depot with new TOB and clutch pipe. Have it installed by a reputable shop.

 

Sounds like a poor install. Air in the lines and an unpreped flywheel must make for an interesting driving experience. Grab a gmpp clutch from CED. I think they go for around $275 for the kit. Hit up mongorat on here for a new flywheel cheap

 

Guys... I'm not gonna be getting another clutch kit. I'm sticking to this one because this thing was almost brand new when it was installed.
Could the throwout bearing be causing all of this?

 

From my personal experience. Yes , most of thoise issues can be caused by a bad slave. I can't even explain to you how hard and how inconsistent my lsj was with a bad thow out bearing. All though , keep in mind that with some new clutch kits. Thjey do need to have some sort of a spacer installed on the throw out bearing to work proplerly. But that may have only been with some of the lsj clutcjes. I once installed aBullydog stage 3 4 puck clutch kit. And it came with some type of a spacer to work with the cltch and throw out bearing. But I can't for the life of me remember why ? I'm not too sure if any of the lnf clutches need the same sort of spacer. But may , it could be worth looking into. I can only tell you. That when my throw out bearing was leaking. It made it really hard to get into gear alot. Made for very hard shifts and at times I would tottally loose my pedal . And then all of a sudden it would return. It took TWO more bearings BACK to BACK before I got a good one that didn't blow right away.