was going through the taco bell drive through and let the clutch out to move forward after i ordered my food and all the sudden the clutch grabs really close to the floor (normally grabs higher) and the car stalls out. the pedal is stuck to the floor but i can use my toe to pull it back out.

bled it and noticed the fluid was dark black. so i changed all the brake fluid, bled the brakes and the clutch. drove the car and it was normal for a while and then the problem started all over again, happening sporadically (spelling) and gradually getiting to the point where i cant move my car out of the driveway without the clutch grabbing when i release the pedal and the car stalling out (pedal is also stuck at the floor when this happends).

i see NO leaks anywhere, the rubber hose, underneath the car, the tranny pan under the slave...

i should also mention that one does not happen without the other, in other words: the pedal will not stick near the floor without the clutch being super sensitive when i let it out, and vise versa.

One more thing: when this problem happends, if push the clutch back in all the way to the floor and put the shifter to neutral it will not go into gear again.

sorry for the long post but im just trying to give you all the most info possible so i can solve this weird problem.

 

I just had the same problem. It was either the master or slave cylinder. I had both changed, set me back $480.

 

Same problem as yours but i could tell it was leaking. there was a small leak coming outta the acces point B i believe under the car on the tranny near the clutch.

Now my problem turned out to be the clutch slave cylinder. I used a rebuild kit since there was no scoring or anything inside it. Only cost 10 bucks at napa.

 

When I let go of the clutch, my clutch sort of sticks as i'm letting go... I think mines the slave cylinder?

 

quite possibly could be. the only way to check is to inspect it. see if anything is leaking inside the clutch area. then inspect your lines from top to bottom. Than go from cheapest to most expensive part. Slave cylinder, lines master etc.

 

what is the exact name? a 'slave cylider rebuild kit' ? i want to know exactly what to ask for at napa....

could it still be the slave cylinder even though i see no leaks??

and i think i came up with a way to test if its the slave or the master... tell me if you guys agree here: have somebody pump the clutch and hold it and then slowly undo a metal line AFTER the master cylinder, as if you are going to bleed it or something. if theres plently of pressure, the problem would haveto be the slave cylinder because the master is creating pressure... right?

 

your clutch master cylinder is shot. The leak is internal, that is why you will not see anything on the floor or on your tranny. When it is leaking, the fluid is leaking back into your reservoir. The extremely dark fluid you see is most likely the rubber seals breaking apart inside of your master.

 

how do i know that it is the master cylinder and not the seals inside of the slave?

 

Because on the slave, if it leaks the fluid will come out and you will see the leak - it has no where else to go, plus the reservoir will be depleted eventually. In the master, it can leak back into the reservoir and there will be no external fluid loss and the reservoir level will not change.

 

Clutch Master Cylinder Kit
BA
0717759 $23.49


that is the rebuild kit for the master.

here is a brand new master.

Brake Master Cylinder - Remfd
TS
112673 $126.99
Core $33.75

Brake Master Cylinder - New
UP
390113 $339.00

 

guys, i just took the master cylinder off and apart. i did not notice any seals that were broken, but i did notice a bunch of black fluid.

should i still order the clutch master cylinder rebuild kit? or does this mean that the problem might be in my slave?

 

sorry.

i just looked at it again and noticed a very small crack in the cup-shaped rubber seal. there were a couple rubber shavings in the cylinder too, along with the black fluid.

would something like this so small be the cause of this entire problem??

 

The black stuff in the brake fluid was the deteriorated cups in the master cylinder. It will only get worse. You will most likely need a new slave as one seems to fail right behind the other.

 

Yes, because that is an area for constant air bubbles to form because it is not sealed off and can't build proper pressure. I would replace the rubber cap (you are talking about the cap/lid, right?) then re-bleed it. That would make sense why it worked for a just a little bit after you just bled it because there was no air in it until you started driving it again and dragging more air back into the system again...not a guarantee, just a thought!

Trev

 

I also have same problem but my fluid is not black an by tranny is always wet.......
I'm gonna check it 2 day ...hope its just the clutch cylinder...

 

If it's wet down by the tranny then your slave cylinder needs to be replaced.

 

x2

 

WOW. I had mine done (master and slave) and cost me about $200 total - parts and labor.

Ordered the parts from Ray at Malloy and had him ship it to my mechanic - cost was about $120 ish (forget the exact price) for bother master and slave shipped.

Labor was only about $80 to install both.

I had the same problem. Clutch was sticking to the floor. My mechanic suggested I pump it quickly about 40 times to see if it helped. No luck so to be safe I replaced both.

 

you might as well replace them both. usually when one goes the other one fails pretty soon. on the past 3 cars that i've replaced or seen either one or the replaced, the other one failed within two months