Have an ACT street clutch on my 3rd gen. Has been working fine for the past year or more... but lately it has been behaving strangely. If I shift throught the gears normally, and don't press the clutch in too long, it engages great, and grabs really well... the point at which it engages is fairly consistant and I don't have any problems getting it in and out of gear. Lately though, if I have the clutch pressed in for more than 2 or 3 seconds... like sitting at a stop sign... there is a decrease in the distance that the peddle has to travel before it disenages... yesterday, I was sitting at a light, and I normally throw my car into neutral, but this time I held it in... when I started to let the clutch out... it stalled the car... basically, because I had NO time to hit the gas... and it just froze up. Took a few seconds until it recovered from that, and then it was fine.

It's almost like the fluid is squirting out while the clutch is disenaged... causing the clutch to slowly drift back towards the plate. Oddly though, I haven't noticed a rapid decrease in the fluid resevoir (which I am assuming is the same for the break fluid... on the drivers side). You'd think if there was a leak, it would go down fast.

Hoping this is a simple fix... like an air bubble or a hose... or pump or something. Well... hopefully someone can offer some advice.

Thanks!

Steve

 

The system could have a leak and you will find it ,the system may have air in it and you will bleed it , but that will not just start one day. So my guess is that the master cylinder is tired and leaking inside of itself, or bypassing, not holding pressure. Rebuild the master and the slave cylinders at the same time to save work . Next month the other cylinder will go out. My mechanic always does both so he has no returns .He learned to do this from experience not from a forum or a book .

 

i have a question also, not to steal your thread or anything. I was bleeding my clutch tonight prepping for the rebuild to get started and I had my dad in the car pumping the clutch pedal and it wasn't getting "tighter", while I was bleeding. There weren't any bubbled in the line when I was bleeding it so I tightened it up and told him to pump it again, asked if it was getting tighter he said no. Then I see the fluid dripping from the starter crack, I was like uh oh. I take the starter out and take the clutch slave and master cylinder out and where the "rod" is that pushed the lever for the clutch disc in is sitting there hanging, the rubber boot was dripping with fluid and it was ripped. I pulled the rod out of the boot, which took no effort what so ever, and I have to get a new clutch slave and master cylinder. This is my story of how my night went. Can anyone tell me how much the slave and master cylinders would be? Thank you

Jack

 

Appreciate the thoughts duboisr.... it turns out there is a leak in one of the hoses leading to, or around the master cylinder... I had the car at Mazda for an oil change yesterday and told them to "look around"... so... hopefully that will solve the issue once the part comes in.

Thanks!