Umm ok I finally found out why my car is hard to shift, I opened the bleeder valve on the slave cylinder and it was bone dry, left it off, pumped the clutch many times, nothing comes out. Anyway, I have been driving my car around town with no clutch, just matching the revs ect, and it seems to be working fine. Is this permissable for a little while untill I round up 100 bucks? Or will it cause clutch damage? It is a brand new ACT clutch with ~5000 miles on it.

 

it should work for maybe just a few days, but i would say if you can get somebody to give you a ride until you get your money for it i would do that

 

you dont really need the clutch to shift, but isnt it hard to get going from a stop? i guess you could do it but couldnt imagie it being fun

how do you start the car?

 

I would not say you would get clutch damage, since your clutch would alway stay in contact with the flywheel. What is more likely to happen is you are damaging the transmission. All the gears would probably grind unless all your shifts were perfectly matched.

Its an expensive way to drive if you ask me.

 

Umm I havent had any grinds. The shifter will not go forward into gear unless it is at the right rpm. It is hardest to go into 1st and reverse from a stop. I find that if I approach a stop sign and hit the breaks, if I just push forward gently on the shifter it will slip right into first when I slow to the right speed. I still hit the clutch pedal when shifting ect, and it helps a little bit, I just cant imagine it doing much when there is no fluid in the slave cylinder.

 

Have you figured out what's wrong with it yet? Bad master/bad slave?

 

Not really, I mean the master is full of fluid and the fluid looks good, yet the slave has no fluid in it. The whole hydraulic system is stock and the car has about 85000 miles on it. It should all be replaced probably anyway. Right now is a sad time for me, as I am unemployed for the next 2-3 weeks or so untill I can start lobstering for 200 bucks a day. Once that happens Ive got about 2 grand worth of stuff Im gonna do that is really critical. But for now is it ok to drive like this say for about 200 miles? I have to go pick my girlfriend up from college and its about 90 miles each way.

 

Try pulling the boot off the slave cylinder and see if that's where your fluid is going. And are you closing the bleeder valve before letting the pedal up each time? Otherwise it'll just suck air back and never work.

 

Umm, ok I will check that to make sure. But when I first opened the bleeder valve it was bone dry. Shouldnt it bubble or something?

 

Generally it should, this is why you should check the boot on the slave first, the seal tends to go bad and leak inside the boot, and this is why you can't seem to find the 'puddle' from where it should drain. If the boot is dry, it's possible that the master is bad (check the inside of the car near the clutch pedal for any wet spots as well)