Hey guys. I'm at my wit's end. I finished rebuilding my motor without a problem, installed the transmission back and now the clutch pedal sticks to the floor (unless I pull it out by hand). It has absolutely no pressure. I thought it could be either the master or slave cylinder so I rebuilt those. Still sticks. So, I took it to a shop to make them deal with it. They've replaced the master and slave cylinders and the clutch line with brand new Mazda parts. When I went to pick it up, the clutch pedal would not go all the way to the floor, but it would come back out. It was very lose so you could tell the problem wasn't fixed. I then tried to prime the oil system and crank the car. The car primed fine, but the clutch pedal went all the way to the floor and now is stuck there again unless I pull it out by hand.

Now, I have a new slave cylinder, master cylinder, and clutch line...so what could the problem be? I towed the car back up to the shop and they haven't touched it since..not even to do a simple thing like bleed it (********). Anyway, I've heard that on FD's when the slave or master cylinders go, the clutch will engage and since the clutch has no pressure, you can't get it out. This seems to be exactly what's happening and makes me think that the slave or master cylinder is still the problem.

Could one of these still be a problem? Or do you think it could be something inside of the transmission that's the issue? The shop says something (they say clutch disc) is installed wrong inside of the transmission, but I think it's hard for them to know that unless they take the tranny out, which they haven't. Plus, when I first got the car back from them and the clutch somewhat worked, I could pump it to build up pressure and it would go in and out of gear. If something was installed wrong inside, wouldn't it not go into gear?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. This clutch issue is the last thing I have to do until I can drive my FD again, so I'm really stressed out about it and anxious to get it running. Please help and thanks for reading!

Erica

 

bleed the brakes, then the clutch

back right, back left, front right, clutch, front left

that's the order you bleed in, otherwise the slave cylinder is not seated on the clutch fork

 

If the Master, and slave have been installed and bled correctly, then your problem is in the clutch. Perhaps your clutch fork was installed wrong.

It sounds like you will need to pull the tranny.

 

I never took the clutch fork off, still a problem?

I'll try that way of bleeding everything, I never bled the brakes. Makes sense though. I guess being all up in the transmission I never even thought about the brakes

 

When you pulled the motor, how was it pulled? Did you pop the bearing inside and pull the motor with the pressure plate attached? Or did you take off the 6 bolts and left the pressure plate on with tranny?

 

look through one of the access ports make sure the collar in engaged. also make sure the slave rod is touching the fork and still seated in the slave cylinder. did you snap the throwout bearing into the clutch after you installed it?

 

my money is on slave cylinder, go with 93blackfd's advice

 

Get a power-bleeder to pressurize the system again (or just keep bleeding normally and pumping until you get enough pressure back into it).

 

guys, the collar doesn't matter, she'd still have hydraulic feel in the clutch if the collar was improperly installed and/or disconnected

the problem is in the hydraulics

 

Ok, I bled it the way 93BlackFD suggested and a lot of air came out. However, now the clutch only goes in halfway and it's hard. Air kept coming out as we bled the clutch, but we did it so much that it seems like it would have to be sucking in air somewhere along the line. I listened, but couldn't hear anything to suggest it. Would the clutch only going in halfway mean something is wrong with the internals of the transmission? I guess it's possible someone installed something in the tranny wrong. The person who did it swears it's right though as they went by the shop manual.

 

We took off the 6 bolts and left the pressure plate on with tranny.
We snapped the throwout bearing into the clutch after we installed it.
While looking through the access port, while someone pushes the clutch, the fork and throwout bearing don't move.

 

When I did my clutch/flywheel change, I had the same problem. Power-bleeder took care of it, as the system simply had no pressure.

http://www.motiveproducts.com/

You could probably rent something from a local auto store.

 

Did you check that the piston is seated in the release fork?

Not to steal this thread but I just installed the tranny for the first time. Can anyone confirm this is how the cage (wire ring) on the clutch looks after it engages the throw-out bearing/release fork? The best pic I could do is at http://www.geocities.com/gqmracerx7/clutch.html

It pulls the clutch away from the flywheel when the clutch pedal is pressed but the cage didn't really snap into place when I first pulled on the release fork to engage it to the clutch. I can't remember how it looked when it was taken apart.

 

Hard to tell in your picture, but there will be a little separation as the throw-out bearing pulls back. If it doesn't allow the throw-out bearing to snap away from the pressure plate, then it's fine.

If the throw-out bearing is popping out, then it's not right.

 

Thanks I appreciate the feedback Mahjik. I know I'm being paranoid, sometimes it helps to just get a little confirmation. It just looked odd because it always has that separation of wire ring but so far using the clutch about a dozen times it hasn't separated. I guess I can put the PPF and everything back on tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Grant

 

Grant, that's the way it's suppose to look.


I just finished my clutch job today. At first my pedal got stuck to the floor and found out the piston and spring thing came out of the slave cylinder because the rod was not seated on the fork. I put back together the slave cylinder then reinstalled it. At first there was NO PRESSURE WHAT SO EVER..we I just kept pumping and bleeding repeatedly and it is fine now. Although it felt kind of soft compare to before, I am going to bleed again.