Got a call from my buddy today...having problems with his clutch. He drives an '88 GX if that makes any difference. I probably shouldn't be posting before I look at the car, but here are the symptoms:



Over the last two weeks, he noticed that his clutch fluid has been dropping from the full line to below low.



Claims that he cannot see any leaks from the clutch master cylinder, hoses, or the slave cylinder.



Depresses clutch and it drops/stays on the floor.



I'm going to look at the car tomorrow...I have a feeling that the hoses do have leaks, and that his slave is either stuck, rusted out or frozen (been getting really cold at night).



My question is, if there are actually no leaks in the hoses, where else should I be checking???



By the way, the car has roughly 180,000kms on it, and the master and slave have never been replaced. I think its a perfect opportunity to get some new equipment in there...agreed???



Thanks for the help.



Brad

he can have a bad clutch or slave cylinder, either would not have to leak to be bad



just change both and while your there change the line, all told its about $150 worth of parts.

if the level is dropping then its definately leaking, the pedal stuck to the floor indicates bad hydraulics. Luckily the plumbing on an FC is really short, I'd suggest replacing the master and slave and getting a braided clutch line, at the very least he could get rebuild kits for them.



edit: rob types a little faster than me

Cool thanks for the help guys...I think I'll get the pleasure of fixing the problem too, he's going on vacation in a couple days...I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

The slave might be leaking, it's pretty hard to see when it's partially stuffed in the transmission tunnel.

new circumstances...the car isn't at his place either...if I bleed the system, will I be able to get enough pressure back to drive about 3 kms??? The leak looks like its coming from the master resevoir seal...gonna need a rebuild...would be alot easier to do in a car port.



Thanks again

I would bleed it and overfill the cylinder a little bit.



Although when you bleed it, the bleed screw will probably be a bit siezed because you are from calgary.



Undo the two bolts that hold it to the bellhousing, bring it up closer to you and away from down there, and use a propane torch for 5 - 10 seconds to heat up the area around the bleed screw. Then break it free and tighten it again. Then bolt it back down. That way it's ready for the bleed process without stressing or getting stuck. Works for me.

So I started to bleed the system...it helped us find where the leak was. We ended up pushing the car for about 11 blocks to his house. When I removed the slave cylinder...everything looked fine except for the boot covering the pinion...analysis, bad seals on the piston. There shouldn't be any clutch fluid inside the boot...kind of outside of the hydraulic part of the system. When I removed the master cylinder...found that the reservoir seal was cracked causing a very slow leak. Got them all cleaned up and rebuilt...works like a charm.



While under the hood I also found numerous vac lines disconnected and a leaky brake master cylinder. Vac lines are all back in place...have to order the new master in.



Thanks to everyone who had some input on this project...really appreciated.



Brad

damn doesnt anyone know how to drive stick without using a clutch nowadays?



my slave went out while i was at a traffic light on the highway....i still drove all the way down the highway to the store, shopped, got back on the highway and got home.



seriously its not hard to do, just gotta use the e-brake and gas pedal when idling and starting to move. then to upshift or downshift wait till the revs are at around 2500-3500 and shift the shifter towards the gear, hold it by the gate for the gear and apply minimal pressure, it will slip right into gear, if it doesnt just blip the throttle to change the revs a bit.



kevin.

Rev matching isn't hard when you are in motion