My slave cylinder area caught on fire today. We put in the transmission perfectly without any problems. It slid right in perfectly without and problems just a few jiggles and it went in like cake work. We put in the starter, the driveshaft and filled it up with the proper fluid. The only messed up part is the 5th/Reverse Connector is broken so i need to get a new one. Any help on that part would be very helpful and widely appreciated.

Now the shifter is sitting about 2-4 degress over to the passenger side due to the Custom T&R crossmember bracket, so there wasnt much that we can do. We tried 4 times to rearrange it to make it fit more even but to no avail.

So we filled it up with some good new fluid (the fluid T&R said they replaced and DIDNT!) and checked the driveshaft for play and re-inspected all the work. Then we left the car on jackstands to make sure there was nothing wrong after we started it.

We go to start the car and the car is not turning over smoothly. Feels a bit rough like something is restricting the movement of it turning over. Some Smoke was coming out the housing and after continuing the smoke was less and less present. So we needed more power (because since i gotten teh car back from T&R my battery have been gettting CORROSION) so i got the battery from my girls dads MOUNTAINEER.

So we began cranking and i let it ride for a while becuase it was moving a lil better, and didnt felt so restricted. Next thing i know i have my OWN fourth of july special in my engine bay ( it was localized).

So we put out the fire quickly, then we see that the Stainless Steel Clutchline was foaming and whitish. So im thinking that T&R didnt wire something properly and has a loose wire somewhere that maybe ignited the line to make a FIRE.

Now can it be that or can it be from the car turning over and over feeling restricted?

So any suggestion are widely needed and will be taken very seriously. I need my car as soon as POSSIBLE becuase i want my car ready for ROTORFEST next week.

Jason NYC

 

how does a slave cylinder catch on fire?

 

The wire , the clutch line (its Stainless Steel), was on fire. Dont ask me how. Im telling you what i saw and what was on fire. LOook at the pic and see how it looks all nasty and messed up.

The SS clutch line was on FIRE..

 

yeah thats effed. i didnt know brake fluid was flamable.

and how would it have ingintied? you think it was a short?

 

Something nearby, (electrical) more then likely made contact with your SS line... Look for burned insulation/wires in the immediate area.

 

im not doubting it was on fire, im just stimped on how it would ignite......

 

there is no ground wire connected to the engine/trans( there is supposed to be a big one that bolts on the the starter bolt), or the cabe is very coroded and not making a good connection, so the ground traveled through the steel braided line and heated up, melted the teflon inner hose and cought the brake fluid on fire(yes, its flamible). good luck

 

dayum man, what the ****, 6 days before rotorfest and this **** happens, carajo meng. i'll be going to T&R tuesday. tommorrow. so if you need help on something, give me a shout man.

 

Im going to be at T&R tomorow to meet up with twinturbo93, but im mainly going to discuss some work T&R did on my car and the work was not quality. Im am very upset but will try to refrain from choking somone tomorow.

See ya there SCORPIO around 630-7pm, given u didnt leave yet, but thats the time i will be able to go cause i leave work at 530pm and im all the way downtown in teh city.

Now what can be causing my transmission to make that hard churning sound and not kick over. Did i mess soemthing up with clutch plate or clutch disc when i was inserting the transmission shaft in between teh clutch/motor?'

I will try fevereshly to get my car ready by SUNDAY.....i just spent all my check on tires and other goodies to get my car pimped out for RF2005. Im so sad and mad .

Jason NYC

ANYONE GOING TO ROTORFEST FROM NY CHECK OUT THE NE SECTION

 

Makes sense to me.

 

Yeah, you have very bad grounds, and you probably tried to start it and it used your clutch line as the ground. A good reason why mazda used rubber!

 

WELL THIS is my first 5speed car i assumed the SS clutchline was better quality i guess it helped route the ground. So i saw a bracket that with a hole on it which i put the starter bolt on. Is that peice the ground?. If so then isnt it grounded.

Im going to inspect at the end of the week. Cuase im too busy and got work from 730-5pm so by the time i get home its like 7pm haha.

Jason NYC

 

There's a massive ground wire that gets bolted to the engine block with the transmission, chances are that ones not very good.

 

yeah i bolted in on with the tranny/starter, maybe one of the wires is exposed . I will take a look at it and i think i can find it.

Also my car was automatic and the swap was done by T&R racing. Now the connector/sensor for the 5th gear / reverse taht goes into the tranny is broken. I need to get a new one (where do i get onE?))), can that be stopping the car from starting?

Jason nYC

P.S where can i buy that sensor?

p.s 2 why isnt the car turning over so slowly, did i mess up the pressure plate clutch when i was tryin gto put the tranny shaft between the clutch hole/motor?

 

Do you mean why is it turning so slowly? If yes, it's because it has a very bad ground and it's not getting a good connection and you're stressing every ground point on the car by overloading them, which is what started your first fire, keep that up and you'll be in for another!

 

ding ding ding! we have a winnar! This is the exact reason of your fire. It happened to my friend but he didnt crank it long enough for a fire to errupt. I asked if he connected the ground and he said no. The SS clutch line was pretty hot after this. Once the ground cable was bolted up, the engine started on the first crank.

 

I've seen this exact problem before in DeLoreans. Common cause is a bad ground. The braided stainless line then becomes the ground. At least on the RX-7 it's easy to fix. On the D, getting to the clutch slave is a nightmare...

The higher resistance of the braided line also causes all kinds of other electrical problems if it becomes the primary ground.

Best run a new ground from the starter mounting bolts to the firewall, and another on to the battery.

 

Yo ure acting like im still doing it. I cranked it a few times didnt start, so i assumed i must of bent something inside the clutch with the transmission spindle. So i thought maybe the clutch was stuck so if i cranked it maybe i can remove any ruff areas. I didnt know it was becuase it wasnt grounded properly. Next thing i know the clutch liine is on fire. I am not gonna go and crank it again to start knowing its not grounded right, im not a dick.

Im going to go find the wire fix it make sure everythign is right then start my car. IM not going to Keep that up so i can fry my car....im not that dumb thats why im here asking.

NOTE: THis was the first time of me ever taking a big job as swapping a transmission and taking everything apart. The most work ive done was basic stuff like plugs and unflooding and an oil change not rocket science. So to me this is all new and im maybe asking dumb questions looping around on itself but im LEARNING.

Jason NYC

EDIT: Im not good with electrical stuff. So if you guys can be a lil more descriptive that would be great. Think of me as a newbie in all this even though i had my car for 3 years...I never done major work like this before. Just basic stuff. It was automatic so i never beat it or did much to it. ITs stock mainly. Just has a K&N intake, a strut bar and a sony radio THATS IT.

 

Damn kid, better get working on that!

 

Stainless steel is not a very good conductor of electricity to say the least.

What happened to the stock ground from the battery to the engine?

988

 

i will post a pic later of the connector i think is the ground. I guess when i was under the car i wasnt paying attention to the ground wire. Where do i connect the ground after that? Me no good with electrical stuff

 

Run the ground from the starter mounting bolt to the body of the car (ground bolt for battery is on the drivers shock tower, down near the frame rail).