Gilliangirl

Hi! Hope I'm in the right section....

Yesterday I put my foot on the clutch and it went straight to the floor, no pressure at all, and stayed there! Couldn't get the car into any gear except reverse. When I'd try and pull away in reverse, car stalled. This clutch is less than a year old. Anyone have any ideas what's going on?

Oh, btw, I have a 1984 GSL-SE, if that matters.

Icemark

Is there fluid in the clutch master cyl?

Gilliangirl

If the clutch master cylinder is the little clear plastic reservoir where you put fluid, then yes, there is fluid in there. If not, I don't know where the clutch master cylinder is?

hypestar1983

look under your hood on the driver side, the big noticable one is for your brakes and is on the fire wall, now look farther back to your right and you'll see a baby version off that bigger one that holds a small amount of fluid and that small one should be for your clutch. Both use brake fluid, dot 3 or better, this site recommends dot 4 brake fluid

Gilliangirl

Ah, maybe I checked the wrong container. Will take another look. Thanks Hypestar1983. You too Icemark!

Crit

iTrader: (6)

There's also a chance that you've emptied the slave cylinder, which is on the transmission. You can follow the short black hydraulic line from the clutch master, which they described to you, and follow the line over and down to the back side of the engine. Look for any fluid anywhere.

RENMAN

Possible clutch finger and or other breakage internal to clutch if not hydraulic related - seen it several times before.

Gilliangirl

Well, that's what it was! I can't believe the difference in the feel of the clutch now that it's fixed. I barely depress the pedal and the gear is ready to shift. I was having to depress the pedal all the way to the floor before I could shift. I guess I just didn't realize how bad it was until it was too late. Anyway, thanks!

hypestar1983

i just canged my slave as well and the boot of the slave actually contained the excess fluid since these are flexible squezze or move the booot to see if fluid comes out; finding that leak drove me nuts

Gilliangirl

Hi again. I'm bringing this thread back because I have another problem with the car and I'm wondering if it's the fault of the mechanic who fixed the slave cylinder last week.

I went to get in the car today to start it and ...... nothing. Dead. The headlights, radio, etc all worked fine. But, the car wouldn't even crank. No clicking sound, just silence. The alternator is only about 4 months old so it's not that. I did notice that the panel underneath the steering wheel was loose and I'm wondering if, when the guy fixed the slave cylinder, he could have loosened a wire or something. I now have to spend $90.00 (again) to tow the car down to the shop, for hopefully/probably something simple. Anyone know what it could be?

farberio

iTrader: (7)

Probably the starter, screw towing it to the shop. If you have a jack and simple tools then its an easy project to get done.

DRBRIGUY

Check the big fuses under the hood. There is an 80 amp. I had the same problem every thing worked but did not start. I replaced the bad fuse and it started.

Gilliangirl

It shouldn't be the starter, Farberio, not yet anyway, I hope. I just had the starter replaced about 18 months ago.

Gilliangirl

Okay, where exactly is that? What does it look like? The only fuses I know about are the small ones below the steering wheel. Are you talking about the solenoid?

Crit

iTrader: (6)

Your GSL-SE doesn't have big fuses under the hood. You've got 5 loops of wire just ahead of the driver's side strut tower. The top two are for the EFI computer, the bottom three are for headlights, headlight motors, and everything else.

When you turn the key on, does the interior power up? Can you hit the pushbuttons for vent, defrost, etc and hear the motors turn? If so, you have juice necessary to fire the starter. There are two likely causes for the problem - either the starter trigger wire, which is a single wire with a female spade on it, has fallen off the top of the starter, or the ignition switch / harness has been fiddled with so that the key isn't energizing the wire that goes to the trigger wire.

By the way, have you been able to start the car after the mechanic looked at it?

If you can get under the car, you'll see one fat wire going to the back of the starter. This is the wire that will spin the starter once it's engaged. Above that, high up on the starter, is a little flat copper tab that the trigger wire slips onto, and that's likely involved with your problem.

For what it's worth, starters draw a HUGE amount of current, so that fat wire going to the from the starter to the battery, and the other fat wire going from the block BACK to the battery, aren't fused or anything. If they were, the fuse would just blow. When you put 12V to the copper tab on the top of the starter, the starter bendix (a little gear on a shaft) gets thrown forward and meshes with your flywheel. When that shaft lunges forward inside the guts of the starter, it actually acts as a switch, too, which applies all this huge current to the starter motor and gets it spinning. It's a 2-part thing, and it takes a low current trigger before the high-current motor gets turning.

Usually, if you just hear the click, that's the bendix jumping forward and engaging the starter, but the starter's either bad or has bad cables. Unfortunately, you're not getting the click, so it's either that simple circuit that triggers the bendix, or the bendix is stuck inside the starter, which happens sometimes.

Check to see if that single wire has come loose from the starter. If it's secure on there, you'll need to use a volt meter or test light to see if it gets 12V when you turn the key. If it does, then your starter has let you down. If it doesn't get 12V, your mechanic has (by monkeying with the wiring).

Either way, it'll be pretty easy to fix - just post back on here once you know something.

hypestar1983

make sure your battery cables are on tight, and your mechanic shouldn't have messed with your interior at all. The most i did when i replaced my slave was an oil change cause the oil filter was in the way of giving me enough space to ratchet the slave off so i drained oil, took off oil filter, placed rag over oil filter apparatus, removed and replaced slave, bled the slave, replaced oil filter and oil plug and filled up on oil. Took me like 30 minutes altogether.

racerotary

I have had a similar problem several times before. From my experirence the most common cause has been the ignition switch wire is disconnected from the starter. It is a spade connection and they tend to get loose. You may need to tighten it before re-attaching it.

Good luck

Styleman

ive had this problem twice. my clutch slave gave out on me and i had to replace it. so that might be whats wrong

Gilliangirl

That's exactly what it was. It was corroded and loose. It's all fixed now! I'm happy and moving again!