Got a call from my buddy today...having problems with his clutch. He drives an '88 GX if that makes any difference. I probably shouldn't be posting before I look at the car, but here are the symptoms:

Over the last two weeks, he noticed that his clutch fluid has been dropping from the full line to below low.

Claims that he cannot see any leaks from the clutch master cylinder, hoses, or the slave cylinder.

Depresses clutch and it drops/stays on the floor.

I'm going to look at the car tomorrow...I have a feeling that the hoses do have leaks, and that his slave is either stuck, rusted out or frozen (been getting really cold at night).

My question is, if there are actually no leaks in the hoses, where else should I be checking???

By the way, the car has roughly 180,000kms on it, and the master and slave have never been replaced. I think its a perfect opportunity to get some new equipment in there...agreed???

Thanks for the help.

Brad

 

Yep, rebuild or replace both cylinders would be a good start...

Also check at the back of the master cylinder, from the cockpit side, to see if any fluid is leaking there. Generally you'll smell it first, though...

I rebuild both of mine while replacing the fluid about once a year, keeps her in tip-top shape and I never have to worry about getting stuck somewhere for something as trivial as blown clutch hydraulics...

 

cool thanks

 

new circumstances...the car isn't at his place either...if I bleed the system, will I be able to get enough pressure back to drive about 3 kms??? The leak looks like its coming from the master resevoir seal...gonna need a rebuild...would be alot easier to do in a car port.

Thanks again

 

If the pedal stays on the floor, it sounds like either there is no/not enough fluid in the system to generate sufficient operating pressure, or, the seals inside the cylinder(s) are so shot that they can't make any pressure. Either way, you have nothing to lose by filling the master and bleeding it. Can't be any worse than it is now.

 

if there is a leak pressure will stay about the same regardless of how much you bleed it. Just take the cyllinder off and rebuild it. It doesn't take long and you shouldn't need a garage to do it in. 20 mins max to get it off.

 

So I started to bleed the system...it helped us find where the leak was. We ended up pushing the car for about 11 blocks to his house. When I removed the slave cylinder...everything looked fine except for the boot covering the pinion...analysis, bad seals on the piston. There shouldn't be any clutch fluid inside the boot...kind of outside of the hydraulic part of the system. When I removed the master cylinder...found that the reservoir seal was cracked causing a very slow leak. Got them all cleaned up and rebuilt...works like a charm.

While under the hood I also found numerous vac lines disconnected and a leaky brake master cylinder. Vac lines are all back in place...have to order the new master in.

Thanks to everyone who had some input on this project...really appreciated.

Brad