Hoping someone can help me attack this from an angle I haven't approached yet, or shed some light on something I overlooked.

The other day I noticed my clutch pedal sticking to the floor. Lubricated the pedal shaft per FSM, still stuck. Upon pressing in the pedal I heard a squirting noise, so with help I traced it to a stainless braided line between two hard lines in the engine bay that was leaking badly. I temporarily replaced the line with some rubber line so that the car would at least be drivable, until an AP braided line replacement came in. I understood fully that the rubber line would flex and cause that "spongy" feel.

After fitting the rubber line, the pedal still stuck, but the line did not leak any longer. I followed the FSM clutch bleeding procedure until no air bubbles appeared in the container full of fluid.

The clutch pedal no longer sticks, but it does not return very forcefully, and it is impossible to get the car into gear with the clutch pedal depressed while running.

So now I'm stuck brainstorming again, wondering if maybe I didn't bleed all of the air out somehow, as it seems there's not enough pressure in the system to engage/disengage the clutch. Curious as to what someone else might think, or if any of you guys have run into this before. I don't want to jump straight into replacing the master/slave, as it seems like it was initially just a leaky hose. Thoughts or suggestions? Thanks again guys.

Kyle

 

That hose is under high pressure when the clutch pedal is down. If you just put some rubber hose on it, that's nowhere near good enough.

I would buy a new braided stainless hose. Corksport has really nice hoses for a very reasonable price, like $20 or something. Replace it, bleed the line, you'll be good to go.

Dale

 

The rubber hose would be the cause of the inability to get the car into gear as the pressure being generated is being used to distort the rubber hose instead of moving the clutch fork. But the slow pedal return may not be caused by the rubber hose. The energy that distorted the rubber hose should return the pedal back. If it takes longer that implies the rubber hose is returning to it's original size slower. That's possible but not highly plausible in my mind. More likely you've still got a leak somewhere. Most likely candidate would be the clutch slave cylinder if you aren't leaking from the rubber hose.

 

Go ahead and replace that original clutch master cyl and do the slave while you're at it. Master is what the problem is. Just replace it all now since you have to bleed the system anyway. Get that new braided line in there, bleed it all at once and forget about it.

 

Sounds good, and thanks for the quick/thorough replies. I've got a new braided line on the way from Corksport, should be here tomorrow. I'll throw it in and bleed it out, then hopefully that'll take care of it. It's been raining like crazy here the past few days, so I haven't missed driving it TOO much.

 

Follow Up:

Got the Corksport braided line in yesterday, and installed it today. Installation was straightforward, and the line appeared to be a quality piece, no complaints whatsoever. It's slightly shorter than the line that was in the car before, but it fits perfectly regardless.

After installation and bleeding, the clutch pedal no longer sticks, and returns quicker than before. I've found no further leaks. It definitely appears that I underestimated how much pressure that line holds with the pedal depressed. Thanks again guys.

Kyle