Well I was at school today and a buddy of mine from my class wanted me to take a look at his car...its a black 95 maxima bone stock...newer clutch with 140K miles on it..He said the clutch has been engaging lower and lower the past few days.

welL I popped the hood and checked the fluid first and it was BONE dry.. He said he hasnt really seen any leaks from it AT all..I peaked under the car and nothing. Well I went out and got him some fluid, came back, filled up the clutch resevior and told him to get in and start it...its still doing the same thing...grabbing towards the floor...

Well does the clutch need to be bled or if the master cylinder is dry, is it ok to pour the fluid right in and it will makes its way into the system ?? let me know guys ??

-matt

Any sites on bleeding the clutch if I HAVE To do that..I would like to just tell him to drive it ...thanks

 

He may be having a problem with his slave cylinder and might end up having to put his foot under the clutch and pry it off the floor in due course.

Get him to pump the clutch several times and monitor the fluid level in the clutch reservoir. If it continues to disappear, I would say the slave cylinder is toast.

I don't think there is any need to bleed the clutch.

 

if there is a leak fix it first, beacuse air will get in no matter what. if the fluid ran lower than the container then yes bleed the system. there is a bleeder screw on the slave and one on the divers strut tower. do them both for best results. its just like brakes. pump, pump, hold, open bleeder, close bleeder, repeat.

 

Well this kids really conserned about his car...do I bleed the system for him and hope it helps ?? the clutch master cylinder was bone dry...nothing in it..

-matt

 

Check the interior of the car for the missing fluid...it could have leaked out of the MC and into the cabin of the car.

 

I had the same problem with my 99 max. All of a sudden I had no fluid and the clutch would grab at the bottom barely. I would fill the reservoir again and then time would pass and it would happen again. There is hose that rests on top of the transmission that I believe goes to the slave. The mechanic said the hose would sweat like the fluid would just leak thru the pores. I got that clutch hose replaced and it has never happened again. Then bleed the clutch to get rid of the air.

 

wow this just happend to me last week i filledu p some fluid, bleed it and now its fine so far....

 

What are you guys using for Clutch Fluid by the way ??

-matt

 

If he ran that thing to the point where it was bone dry, the system must be bled.

After bleeding it, if it still is going to the floor, he probably blew the master or slave by running them dry.

Probably should locate the leak as replace the hose too.

 

hey

have you found any leaks throughout the whole line?....most likely its the rubber part of the clutch fluid line... here is a link that should help you out if thats the case....it sure helped me when i ran into the same problem

http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/802

if the hose is "sweating" the fluid out u may not see much of it...but feel on the the underside of the hose and if its moist...u found your problem....if thats the case bleeding the system wont help....while he gets it repaired he can make sure the fluid reservoir never gets empty so that he doesnt end up getting stuck in traffic with a dead pedal.

 

More then likely its the clutch line going to the save cylinder.
He may have not seen any leaks because its a slow leak, seeping out like described earlier.
If the reservoir ran bone dry, even after filling it and pumping the pedal will still feel mushy due to the air that has been sucked in.
Bleed it and then order a new clutch line. When thew new clutch line comes in, replace the old one and do the bleeding process again.
I would suggest the SS clutch line, its cheaper then the OEM unit and far better.
Check here to see if they are still available,..
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=338081
The install is the same as the motorvate write up, except the SS line replace both the upper hose and lower all in one piece.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....h+line+install
I had this same issue and went this route and couldnt be happier.

 

Same happened to my 95:
Two possbiliities:
1) First, just add fluid and you absolutely must bleed the system. As discussed above there are two separate locations. In my case, this fixed the problem. Try this first!
2) Many others have a leak in the system. This is very common. If number 1 above, does not work, then you have to find the leak. The line discussed above might do the trick. Otherwise you might have a bad slave or clutch master cylinder.

 

Just use a decent Dot 3 brake fluid. Ask at your auto parts store what brand is decent. I'm not sure if Valvoline SynTec synthetic brake fluid (silver bottle) is OK to use in clutch applications, but I suspect it is. A lot of BITOG members endorse it for brake fluid.

 

Dot 3 Brake fluid. I grab a good synthetic brand a few days ago, from advanced auto parts. Going to bleed this weekend, the old fluid is very dirty.


Also Bleed the clutch, it wont hurt, and it dropped way belowe the requirements, a bleed can never hurt, plus if there is a leak it could help expose it.

 

Well I went to look at his car today, to maybe see if I can find a leak and I cant find anything..hes stoppin by my house later on today or tomorrow and Im gonna bleed it for him.

If we cant find a leak, I guess it may be the slave cylinder gone bad ??

-matt

 

He cant, and I cant find the leak..im gonna do the bleed of it tomorrow...does the car need to be running when you bleed the clutch system ??

-matt

 

NO! Leave the engine off.

 

Car does not need to be running when you bleed clutch. The leak is probably small and difficult (if at all) to detect in a short time span. Just go on the safe side and have him get the ss line from the GD.

 

am i the only one that thinks its wierd that Matty doesnt know how to do any of this stuff?? being a member sense 2001 with a supercharged, MEVI'd, 01 trannyed, stage 1 clutched maxima? thats just disturbing if you paid somone to put all that stuff on or bought it like that. Nothing against you but i think this whole post should be common knowlage if you did any work yourself so im going to guess you didnt. either way good luck with his car and let us know what happens.

-Ryan

 

I have done about 96% of the stuff on my including full exhaust work, full brake job, full tune up, Full MEVI install, and the FULL supercharger install, and uninstall about 5 times. I do everything on this car down to the OIL changes...when it comes to something simple like this, I want to make sure Its done "right"..I dont wanna kill this kid if i do it wrong. Thats what this site is for ! >..this board is alot different these days compared to 01. Alot more USEFULL Information back then

Good luck

-matt