Hello All,

I have a pretty serious problem that I'm hoping that someone can help me out with. I own a 89 TII.

OK here's what happened.

I was coming home from work (25 miles) when I was leaving San Jose the clutch started to feel scwooshy like something was wrong. There was still good pressure on the clutch (as far as I could feel). On the drive home I was kicking the **** out of a GTI and everything was still OK, at least that's what I thought. When I was about half way home there was some traffic and I tried down shifting,

OH ****, I couldn't get it back in gear!! There was NO PRESSURE when I pushed on the clutch! So I pulled over. NOTHING, I could push the clutch down all the way, still nothing. I waited about 30 seconds. I was finally able get it back into first, second, third, and I left it in fourth (I really didn't want to get stuck). When I was going throught those gears there was nothing from the clutch until it was almost to the floor.

So when I looked this morning, there was a huge wet spot on the under plastic piece and the clutch reserve tank was empty completely.

Ok, what should I do to figure out where the leak is? And what steps would you suggest I take? Now I don't really have a rack to put it on, would it be safe to drive?

Thank You!

Rick
home - psycheus@home.com
work - rtm@frys.com

 

anyone?

 

Clutch master cylinder went away. Needs a rebuild kit(maybe 10 buck). Simple job. Download the manual at fc3s.org or http://www.iluvmyrx7.com and download the chapter on the clutch. You could buy a quart of brake fluid and top it off and bleed the clutch slave cylinder, but its gonna leak out again. That would probably get you to the auto store to buy the kit. Hand tools is all you need. No jack etc. Maybe a 10mm and 12mm open end wrench. When you take the clutch master cylinder off you'll see the leak around the plunger on the master cylinder. It just takes removal of the circular clip to remove the piston. Rap the face against a piece of wood and it'll come out.Replace the rubber parts that come with the kit. Yeah, 10-15 bucks and a couple of hours. Or you can go to a dealer and he'll do it for maybe two hundred and fifty bucks.

 

I would suggest that before you rebuild the clutch master cylinder...take a good look at the clutch fluid hose (it runs from the clutch fluid reservoir tank to the clutch master cylinder). Mine cracked a few months ago and caused a similar problem. It was easy to replace and costs around $20 from Mazda.
Good luck!

 

Thanks! I still haven't had time to look under that plastic piece yet. I really appritiate the help! Thats what I'll check when I get home.

 

Actually a additional note, does anyone know what the advantage to having some steel braided hoses is (I believe it's the pressure strength??) and does anyone know where I can get some for the clutch line?

Thanks!

 

The major advantage is that the pipe is more rigid and does not expand under load(or expands much less)-check with a local speed shop.You might also check the slave cylinder--they have been known to fail.

 

What is the *Plastic Piece*? The brake booster? About 10inches in dia, painted black and has the brake master cylinder in the middle? Usually when the clutch master cylinder goes on me, the fluid ends up inside the car, under the carpet.

 

The plastic piece under the engine.

UPDATE:

I was just looking to further troubleshoot this problem and was following the clutch master cylinder to see where the leak may have come from.. It appears that the clutch master cylinder is fine and there are no signs of leaks. However the only line that I could follow off of that (it goes from a formed steel line to a plastic one with grooves). At the bottom of that there seems to be some leakage. Is that the clutch line? And I really had a hell of a time getting down in there to seeing anything.

Any more suggestions on what I can do?

 

When I was looking at that line I also noticed what appeared to be a vacuum line coming off the block not going anywhere. Does anyone know where I can get a vacuum line diagram for a 89TII?