so a few months ago, i was driving my car and when i went to go push in the clutch it went right to the floor. no pressure at all, wouldn't come back up. had it towed to my house, and slowly began to work on it. finished it all up, and it is still doing the same thing.
i replaced:
flywheel
clutch
pressure plate
release bearing
clutch master cylinder
clutch slave cylinder
and the clutch lines that hook up the cylinders.
filled up the transmission with gear oil, new oil, and new fluid in the clutch cylinders.
yesterday, i was trying to fill up the master cylinder with fluid and bleed out the system. i was able to get the fluid out of the slave cylinder but the clutch was not building up any pressure. if you push it in, it would stay in. you would have to pull it out to push it in again.
anyone have any ideas?

 

Sounds like you still have air in the lines. You will have to try bleeding them again.

 

The best way I've found to bleed the clutch is one of those brake bleed kits, just pull a vacuum and suck the fluid out of the clutch slave.

 

i forgot to mention that it is a 86 gxl. i was wondering if you think that maybe the new slave cylinder could be bad? or the just the lines have air in it?
do you think it could be anything with the fork? because i didn't replace the fork, just the release bearing and even the front transmission cover.

 

Unless the fork is physically damaged or fallen off it's pivot, it's likely not the fork.

You can check by trying to push on the fork with your hands. If it is improperly installed or has fallen it will be loose and wiggle easily. If you cannot move it with your hand, it is pushing against the pressure plate and probably working.

The procedures in the Haynes/FSM are fairly detailed in how to disassemble the cylinders so you can check to make sure the cups or bores aren't damaged.

 

when i push on the fork, it wont move, if i pull it towards the front of the car, it'll move a little bit. i bled out the system again today, and i got it to where no bubbles were coming out of the bleeder valve, but the pedal still goes to the floor and wont return. if it possible the new master and slave cylinder are bad? it just seems that they aren't building up enough pressure the push that fork in all the way..i dont know..

 

The pivot action of the fork sounds normal.

If the pedal is going straight to the floor then it is a bad cylinder. Which one is sort of hard to tell without swapping.

 

yeah. im thinking its a bad slave cylinder because the fluid is going through the lines, but i dont think the slave cylinder is pushing the rod all the way out.

 

when bleeding the clutch when you have the slave open to bleed it it doesnt have pressure but when you close the slave it should work right

 

when im bleeding the lines with the valve open, the pedal goes right to the floor, no pressure at all. when i close the valve, the pedal still goes to the floor, no pressure.

 

then you need a new slave and master

 

Wait just a second... I just did this last night. Replaced clutch MC, SC, new SS line, and new hardline from MC to firewall. I kept bleeding and bleeding... finally no more air bubbles, Asked my roommate if the peddle was still loose and she said it was.
It didn't stiffen up until I put the cap on the MC reservoir. Have you tried that? I kept adding more and more fluid to the reservoir to make sure I didn't let it run dry. Then it hit me as I was looking it, that the cap should probably be on. If you haven't tried that, please do and let us know if it helped.
If you have, the idk.... seems like you've addressed almost everything else.

 

than are you sure you hooked it all up orrectly??

 

close the cap and pump peddle as you slowly close the screw... continue pumping thereafter... wallah. unless the line is crimped, cracked and leaking somewhere

 

ok, so i replaced the slave cylinder and now the pedal works. i bled it out, and when i push on the pedal, it comes back up! the pedal is really easy push down though, like there isn't any resistance...i dont know if that is normal.

but, now the car wont start. keep in mind, the exhaust isn't hooked up yet, just the exhaust manifold is dumping underneith the car, i dont know if that has anything to do with it...
but even when i try and start it, the clutch pedal doesn't need to be pushed in. if the pedal is up, the motor will crank. i was looking the haynes manual, and i saw in a picture about a clutch/neutral switch? will that keep the engine from starting if it is bad?

 

The lack of exhaust should have nothing to do with the car not wanting to start.

The switch sounds like it is functioning exactly opposite of how it is supposed to, was it removed during your clutch work?

 

no, i didn't remove the switch. if the wires connect underneith the car then i disconnected them to take out the transmission. im not sure if i put them back together right because there was a green wire, and a red wire (i think..if i remember correctly) coming off the transmission, and the wiring harness had 2 red wires (i think)...so i dont know if the polarity of the wires matter. maybe i should switch them and try it.

i didn't think the lack of exhaust would have anything to do with it, i just wasn't sure the lack of 02 sensors and catalytic converters would mess with the ecu.

 

I'd wait for someone who knows if switching the plug would damage anything before you end up frying something.

 

The two red wires are the reverse light wires. Far as I know, it's just a switch to polarity doesn't matter.

'86s don't have the clutch switch so they will crank regardless.

Sure it's just not flooded?

 

it might be. when i tried to start it today, the battery was too low for it to start. so i'll have to try it again tomorrow when i can jump it.
so its normal for an '86 to crank without pushing in the clutch?

 

If you were cranking it with the battery low, then it is definitely flooded.

As I said, early '86s don't have the starter cut clutch switch.

 

well, i gave it a couple of days and tried it again on the day before yesterday, and its the same thing. the engine cranks, but never fully starts. when i turn the key to acc...i have a full tank of gas, and the voltmeter goes to up to like 14 volts.
i noticed that there is a wire coming from the engine, it looks like a ground wire but the end has almost a plug on it but i dont know where it could go. its on the back of the engine, above the top center transmission bolt. any ideas what that could be or it has anything to do with it not starting?

 

ok, so i looked up on how to unflood your engine, i took out the fuse and it still didn't start. i finally had time to take out one of the spark plugs and you could smell the gas on it. so i wiped it down, and did a spark test to see if i was getting spark. i was getting spark when i grounded it out.
i ordered new spark plugs and new spark plug wires. when i change them out, hopefully it will start. do i need to do anything else to unflood the engine before i try and start it so i dont flood it again?