Toluca Built Vehicles

CLUTCH ASSEMBLY
Neon vehicles produced at the Toluca assembly plant, in Mexico, have conventional clutch and flywheel assemblies. Vehicles produced at Belvedere assembly plant have modular clutch assemblies.

TOLUCA BUILT VEHICLES
The transaxle must be removed to service the clutch disc, flywheel, clutch cover and/or the release bearing and lever.

REMOVAL
1. Remove transaxle.
2. Mark clutch cover and flywheel to maintain their same relative positions when installing clutch assembly.

Fig. 4:

3. Insert Clutch Disc Aligning Tool 6724 through the clutch disc hub to prevent the clutch disc from falling and damaging the facings.
4. Loosen clutch cover attaching bolts, one or two turns at a time, in a crisscross pattern. This will release spring pressure evenly and avoid cover damage.

CAUTION: Do not touch the clutch disc facing with oily or dirty hands. Oil or dirt transferred from your hands onto the clutch disc facing may cause clutch chatter.

5. Remove the clutch pressure plate and cover assembly and disc from flywheel. Handle carefully to avoid contaminating the friction surfaces.

INSPECTION
1. Inspect for oil leakage through engine rear main bearing oil seal and transaxle input shaft seal. If leakage is noted, it should be corrected at this time.
2. The friction faces of the flywheel and pressure plate should not have excessive discoloration, burned areas, cracks, deep grooves, or ridges. Replace parts as required.
3. Clean the flywheel face with medium sandpaper (80-180 grade), then wipe the surface with mineral spirits. If the surface is severely scored, heat checked, cracked or warped, replace the flywheel.

CAUTION: Do not flat-machine the flywheel face. The surface profile is tapered.

4. The heavy side of the flywheel is indicated by a daub of white paint near the outside diameter. To minimize the effects of flywheel unbalance, perform the following installation procedure:
- Loose assemble the flywheel to the crankshaft. Use new flywheel attaching bolts which have sealant on the threads. If new bolts are not available, apply Loctite sealant to the threads of the original bolts. This sealant is required to prevent engine oil leakage.
- Rotate the flywheel and crankshaft until the daub of white paint (heavy side) is at the 12 o'clock position.
- Torque flywheel attaching bolts to 95 Nm (70 ft. lbs.). Use a crisscross pattern when tightening bolts.
5. The disc assembly should be handled without touching the facings. Replace disc if the facings show evidence of grease or oil soakage, or wear to within less than 0.20 mm (0.008 inch) of the rivet heads. The splines on the disc hub and transaxle input shaft should be a snug fit without signs of excessive wear. Metallic portions of disc assembly should be dry, clean, and not discolored from excessive heat. Each of the arched springs between the facings should not be broken and all rivets should be tight.
6. Wipe the friction surface of the pressure plate with mineral spirits.
7. Using a straight edge, check pressure plate for flatness. The pressure plate friction area should be FLAT TO SLIGHTLY CONCAVE, with the inner diameter 0.000 mm to 0.1 mm (0.000 in. to 0.0039 inch) below the outer diameter. It should also be free from discoloration, burned areas, cracks, grooves, or ridges.
8. Using a surface plate, test cover for flatness. All sections around attaching bolt holes should be in contact with surface plate within 0.015 inch.
9. The cover should be a snug fit on flywheel dowels. If the clutch assembly does not meet these requirements, it should be replaced.

INSTALLATION

Fig. 5:

1. Mount clutch assembly on flywheel with disc centered with tool 6724, being careful to properly align dowels and the alignment marks made before removal. The flywheel side of the clutch disc is marked for proper installation. If new clutch or flywheel is installed, align orange cover balance spot as close as possible to orange flywheel balance spot. Apply pressure to the alignment tool. Center the tip of the tool into the crankshaft and the sliding cone into the clutch fingers. Tighten the clutch attaching bolts sufficiently to hold the disc in position.
2. To avoid distortion of the clutch cover, bolts should be tightened a few turns at a time. Use a crisscross pattern, until all bolts are seated. Tighten bolts to 28 Nm (250 in. lbs.) following a crisscross pattern sequence. Remove clutch disc alignment tool.
3. Install transaxle.