I turned on my car this morning before I left to go home and let her warm up a bit as usual. As I started driving the clutch felt very weird all of a sudden (2 or 3 shifts after driving) and the clutch drops to the floor completely. I can pull the car out of gear but not back in (easily anyway). If I pull the pedal back manually with my foot and I press it, it will allow me to shift but the pedal is very soft. What is my problem and also what kind of $$ am I looking at to fix it?

Thanks in advance guys!

Dan

 

Sounds like you had a slow hydraulic leak and sucked air into the system this morning as the fluid level dropped to low.

 

bleed your clutch system, its easy!

You can get and install a one man bleeder check vavle at any parts store in the "HELP" section.

They are selling teh check vavle brake beeders here now.

OR

you could buy a vaccum pump for $30
Thats cheap and its great for removing fluids and testing other vaccum things.

Once its bled, see if you can constantly pull sir through the system (check to make sure that the hose is on VERY TIGHT).

Once all the air is out, it should work.

MAKE SURE YOU PULL THE PEDAL TO THE TOP FIRST!

 

Is bleeding it easy enough to be done with the car parked in a dirt parking lot? I am at college and wish the car would be in a state where I can drive it home. Is there any easy way to check for leaks or anything in the system to find the problem? Is it possible to have a component failure? If so how do I test it?

 

No sense in bleeding it till you fix it. Find your leak, fix the leak then bleed it. for my 87 it cost me $11 for slave cylinder rebuild kit, ans $16 for the master. If you can't pinpoint the leak I would recomend poping those kits in. Make sure you clean the parts up real good as you put those kits in, if you catch sand and **** it there you are bound to end up with another leak.

 

From what I've heard, the rebuild kits are a waste of money. The cylinders will just break again. Its better to buy a new cylinder if thats what you need. Check the hydraulic line that goes to the top of the transmission. My line had a little hole in it. its an easy fix.

 

I guess that is a matter of opinion. I did the rebuilt on both of mine on my 87 N/A been flawless since. They cost a freakin fortune to but new. somthing like $60 & $140 respectively (autozone) But thats why I said clean them up well! If you a re putting new kits in a heavily pited cylinder of course they are going to fail again. But if it is well cleaned and completely smooth inside there is no reason it won't work great, if installed corectly. Hell, try rebuilt first at least ... for less that $30 its worth the chance it will work out fine before spening over $200.

 

Thank you for all the replies and help so far fellas. I am gonna go out and take a look at the car at some point today. What should I be looking for ie how many hoses are involved in the system and is there any way to tell if its the master or slave cylinder by looking at them? Thanks in advance!

Dan

 

bump

 

bump bump bump

 

update: took the car out for a spin...clutch pedal feels almost dead. hardly any pressure and I don't feel any resistance untill about 1 inch off of the floor. I took a look for some leaks and could not find any. I checked the master and it seems to be between the min and max line with fluid...any ideas guys? I am not very good with hydraulics. Any help is really appreciated...I am right now stranded 70 miles from home. (I am at school but I do NEED to make a couple trips soon) TIA

Dan

 

I put rebuild kits on my master & slave last year. The trick is to polish and inspect the cylinder bores, then clean them good. About 6 months later the hose went. The whole system is easy to fix, only the master is hard to pull if you don't have a 12mm swivel socket..

 

Thank you for all the help so far fellas...I know this is all very basic car knowledge just something I have never dealt with at my young age. One last question...aside from there being a hole in the hose or something is there any way to test or be able to tell whether its the master or the slave? Will I have to take them out to inspect them? Or is it one of those things that if one fails then the other is pretty much on its way as well? Once again thanks for all the helpfull info!

Dan

 

Just rebuild them both, If one has packed up the other is not far behind I would say. Its cheap enough and no that hard to do