Just happened this morning... the feeling of my clutch is different now. It's like 3/4 of the range of the clutch being depressed does absolutely nothing, then the last 1/4 segment of the pedal to the floor is where the clutch grabs and i put power to the wheels. this is a very short range of motion for my feet to adjust to. It's like a short movement of the clutch pedal is the difference between moving and stalling.
there is no grinding and i have no problems shifting.

This just happened overnight.. is my clutch dying or something? or what can cause this? help please

I've had a similar problem before. Check on the clutch fluid. I just needed to refill mine then everything was fine.

adjust grab point
bleed the clutch
check for leaks

How do you do that?
Jae

^ I'm very interested in this also...is it the bolt right under the clutch pedal?
Is it the one that controlls the height of the clutch pedal, also controlling the grab point?

the fluids are all topped out already.

how do i bleed the clutch? i'm relatively novice to all this so is it in the same difficulty as an oil change?
I'm also wondering if there is a writeup somewhere that i can follow to do this?

thanks guys.

Bleeding Clutch


-Adjust the grab point is a matter of losening the bolt (I belive 17mm or 19mm) by the shaft and rotate the rod clockwise (lower grab point) counter clock wise (raise grab point).

ok so today is the second day of this problem. it has gotten more serious...

mid-driving, i noticed my pedal would sometimes get stuck near the bottom of the floor. Soon after, i couldn't even shift into any gear anymore. It's like the clutch pedal doesn't do anything. I clutch-in, try to shift to a gear, and it grinds, or just doesn't go in. I have to keep trying until i finally get it in. This will definately be a problem getting home since i am at work right now.

I checked the fluid levels this morning and it's still topped out (brake fluid is what i should be worrying about right?) Nothing's leaking underneat the car either. so i dunno what's goin on.

would you guys still say it's the same problem?

you are looking into the slave cylinder right? the smaller one to the right of the Master Cylinder?

Examine your lines, check for a leak. Do a bleed, you may not have a leak but atleast get that old fluid out of there and get some new fluid in, it will help and should aid with the shifting problem.

When last was your clutch replaced?
Examine your linkage make sure all is ok.

sorry i'm a little confused at this stuff cause i don't normally get under the hood all that much..

what should i be checking? i should be checking the level of brake fluid near the back right? or is there something else i should be looking at?

i dont know where the slave cylinder is but the pics on motorvate show the "lower bleeder" and "upper bleeder" locations. is that what i'm supposed to check out?

and to my knowledge the clutch has never been replaced... mainly because i don't drive it hard.

this is the slave cylinder


its the small cylinder very close to the upper right of the engine bay.

it really sounds like a hydrolic problem, when the clutch doesn't come back up or is useless. How much fluid did you bleed out?

MDeezy: I'm not sure why I hadn't noticed that catch point before in the FSM. It's the same adjusting screw for the cruise control cancel switch. Very cool. Just for reference, the pedal should be adjusted until 6.61-6.89 inches off the floor.

Jae

It does seem like a hydrolic problem. I want to assume he might have been looking at the wrong place to check for fluid, and maybe his slave just need a good bleed or at most replace the stock rubber lines.

I didnt know its the same adjusting screw for the criuse control cancel switch . . . learn something new every day.

I think MDeezy could be refering to the "clutch hose connector". If you follow the brakeline from the lower slave cylinder on the transmission, it goes back to a gold box less than 1" square. That's a common place to leak hydro fluid. What lots of members have done is upgraded to stainless steel hydrolic line (similar to brake lines). The new line attaches from the reservoir straight to the slave cyl, so u only bleed the slave. Look in the group deal forum for info.

Jae

In my case i change the Slave Cylinder Hose
http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/802

and bleed like a toons of time

seems very common on mt maxima

Actually...this is the clutch master cylinder:


This is the slave cylinder:


To the forum starter, you have a hydraulic leak...bleed your system immediately. As you are bleeding the system, check the hydraulic line/hose connecting the two together, also check the banjo connection. If you see fluid coming from any of those areas, there's your leak. Replace as needed. When this happened, to mine, I replaced everything: the master, slave, and hose. I figured that since the car is over 10 yrs old, its time. If you are not comfortable in doing this yourself, it's best to let a mechanic do this for you. It's not a lot of work and labor should not cost you an arm and a leg.

ok i'm pretty stupid.
MDeezy you're right, i was checkin the wrong fluid level. I finally found the little clutch reservoir in the back. i opened it and low and behold, all is left is a little puddle of the fluid. I guess I do have a leak somewhere the hard part is finding where...

oh and i'm confused.. are the "master cylinder" and "slave cylinder" fluid containers? or are they some kind of tube/hose connection?

i'm gonna print the pics from motorvate and try and locate them...

Check my post right above yours. The slave is not a reservoir. There is a "nipple" in it that goes in and out controlled by hydraulic pressure to engage and disengage the clutch disc inside the transmission. This is where hydraulic pressure is critical as loss of it will result in hard shifting.

Fill it up and bleed the clutch, IT WILL TAKE A WHILE!!...my car has the same problem. The leak is very very slow, and yours may very well be slow also, so you can drive with the leak for a while until you're ready to do some work on the system.

ah i see... so the master cylinder is INSIDE the reservior then?




is that thing located under the main engine with the Nissan cover? if it is, then i think i found it. I traced to it from the 1" gold box ThurzNite talked about.

it looked kind of shiny where the banjo connection was. I don't get how you're supposed to reach all the way toward the bottom and replace the hoses?

The reservoir is part of the master cylinder. The banjo connection should be in very close proximity from the transmission mount.

Go here: http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...84&postcount=1 , click on 4th gen FSM link. Go to the CL - Clutch section, then go to Hydraulic Clutch Control.

the leak probably happens to be ur hose wich connects to the slave cylinder ... seems to be a prob for alot of 5-spd owners.

I replaced mine with a 25 bux stainless steel one.

ah that fsm link helped a lot thanks, DR-max.

but where is the slave cylinder?
is it somewhere in this pic?


where do you guys buy the actual hose replacement from? like any auto parts store?

thanks!

get the SS hose online.

The slave is right there, to the left of that connection where the yellow arrow is pointing to

cool thanks.

so first i need to remove the old hose from the slave cylinder to the master cylinder.
is this the item?

then.. reattach the new hose.
fill up clutch reservior.
bleed the clutch from both ends.

is that pretty much all of it?

That is the actual slave cylinder attached to the hose with the yellow arrow. In that photo however, it was removed from its location so that I can be photographed better. It is actually located here:


Notice that the area is wet from the hydraulic fluid, that's caused by a leaking slave cylinder.

So! The clutch feels loose when your depressed? It's all in your head, you just need to push harder

i just have to remove the slave cylinder hose right? not the actual slave cylinder itself? you just pull it out?

i'm wondering how you can reach all the way down there without removing anything in the way...

looks like the only place i can order the hose is through a dealer. so i'm either gonna get it online or just walk into a dealer part's store. Is there any way for me to drive my car while i'm waiting on the replacement parts? will filling up the clutch fluid temporarily fix my problem?

sorry for all these questions; my inexperience shows.

Once you remove that bolt that holds down the hose onto the slave cylinder, hydraulic fluid will leak down. Put a catch ban under the car to catch this. Remember to bleed the system after replacing the hose.

When I did mine, I removed the upper and lower airbox and the battery and tray just to make sure that I have plenty of room to work. If you still have the stock OEM intake snorkel, remove that as well.

damn... well that's a lot of stuff i'm not sure about.

do you think if i just top off the clutch reservior with fluid it will temporarily solve the problem? so i can drive to school and work for the next week, or couple days?

Not recommended because if it happens to get worse as you are driving, then you'll end up being stranded on the side of the road. It will cost you more because now you have to have your car towed somewhere. The decision is still up to you.

i'm aleady having trouble getting into gears, but at least i need to be able to drive it to the auto store, back home, or to a mechanic. so pouring some clutch fluid probably won't do anything for me?

Thank you for the correction.


put some clutch fluid in, bleed it. hopefully your leak isnt bad enough to where after a day or two of a bleed your back to square one. Order the SS line from the GD for $25 shipped. It will replace the stock rubber lines and provide better for your clutch, plus a firmer clutch feel.

when I had this problem, I could refill it and it only drained after like a month ... kept doin that for about a year before i got the slave and hose replaced.

it wasn't THAT much of a hassle ... worse case, keep fluid in your car.

well i gave up...

i tried doin this clutch bleed but the slave cylinder is too hard to access without removing stuff that i'm not familiar with.
as of today my car is undrivable so it's sitting at the parking lot at work. It will not shift into any gear anymore. I'm probably going to have to tow it to a nearby shop or stealership tommorrow so i can get it fixed asap. it's probably gonna cost me a lot but now i realize how much of a dependancy i have on cars. i don't want to keep bumming rides off people either... if it was christmas break and i had time i would probably go for it myself. but bleh.

anyway thanks everyone for your help... at least i walk away with the knowledge i've gained here.

why not contact derrick int he GD section and get a SS line from him, see if he can ship it out express and install yourself in a few mins

oh dang, i just noticed you're in SoCal! Send me PM or find me on Instant Messenger, lemme kno where you're at, and I might be able to help you out tues afternoon or evening.

Or post a thread in the west coast forum.

Jae

I recently had the same problem and ended up replacing the hose between the slave and master. Problem solved.