Hello org'ers. With the help of this forum, I've been able to fix a good many things on my '99 (230K miles). I've run into a problem, that, although I've tried every solution and suggestion posted that I could find, has me stumped.

Background - several months ago, I noticed that I had very little clutch. That is, the clutch would not disengage until just a couple of inches above the floor. With the help of the org, I found that my clutch reservoir was low. Topped it off and after a few shifts, it seemed to be back to normal. I kept an eye on it over the months and had to top it off with increasing frequency. Recently, I checked the hoses and lines and noticed that the hose connecting to the slave cylinder was leaking (as many others have posted). I ordered both hoses along with a slave cylinder.

Today, I replaced the slave cylinder and the hose that connects directly to it (the one with the junction box). I couldn't get the other hose disconnected and it wasn't leaking anyway, so I just left well enough alone.
Before beginning the bleed process, I read up on it and saw several different approaches - bleed the upper first, then the lower; bleed the lower then the upper; use a mityvac; use a mini oil canister with a hose connected to the slave cylinder bleeder valve and pump fluid in until no bubbles appear in the reservoir (video someone linked to). Prior to beginning, i checked the clutch and it snapped straight to the floor - no pressure on it whatsoever. I had to lift it up by putting my foot behind it.

The last bleeding method made sense to me, so i gave it a shot. Sure enough it seemed to work - I pumped the canister and after several pumps air bubbles came out at the reservoir and the fluid level rose. I closed off the bleeder. I checked the pedal, no change, it snapped straight to the floor. I thought, well, I must need to bleed the upper valve. I got my wife to give me a hand, even though the pedal sunk straight to floor. I did this two ways and did each method about 10 times - 1. Opened the upper bleeder, had her press the pedal to the floor, closed the bleeder, had her pull the pedal back up; 2. Had her press the pedal to the floor, then opened the upper bleeder for ~3 seconds, close the bleeder then had her pull the pedal back up. There was a little air at first, then just fluid, but we never got any pedal pressure.
Stumped, we tried the same thing with the lower (slave cylinder) bleeder. No change. I double checked all the connections - all nice and tight, no fluid leaking at any junction. I disconnected the slave cylinder from the bell housing, pressed the plunger in by hand and could see the level rise and fall with the plunger. No air bubbles. No pedal pressure.
Grasping at straws, I put the original slave cylinder back in and re-bled the system, still no pedal. I saw a forum comment where someone said just leave the bleeder valves open for several hours. I tried this and it didn't work.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. I'm considering replacing the master cylinder, and maybe even going with the single stainless steel (read about quality issues with those though) hose between the master and slave, but I doubt any of the B&M shops has that hose in stock and I really need to get the Max back on the road for the work week. I'm not sure that will fix this problem anyway. This was supposed to be a Saturday morning project.

One thing I didn't mention was that the reservoir never dipped below MIN. I was very careful with that.

Thanks,
J.

 

I have the same problem with mine. I replaced the slave and the master, and it wont become stiff again. I'm thinking the junction boxes on mine are blown out. The same may have happened with yours. Mine has 261k, btw.


Posted from Maxima.org App for Android

 

Do not bleed the clutch no more just pump the clutch pedal. I change my clutch A month ago and bleed it and the clutch pedal went all the way to the floor i had to lift it with my foot. Just keep pressing the pedal unti it gets stiff again

 

I tried that for 2-3 minutes without any luck, but while I'm waiting on the stainless steel hose to arrive, I'll try for longer. Maybe 15 minutes or so?
Thanks for the tip.

 

Yeah, replace the entire line with SS.

SEARCH for LUKEGXE95 Clutch line how to.

I had replaced both the master and slave. At the time they were like 60 bucks each and i didnt want to play the guessing game

 

Id wait for the SS line to come, it gets rid of the ridiculous rats nest nissan bestowed upon us. Also makes bleeding very simple compared to the stock line.

Once i got my ss line in (getting it on the master cylinder is a pita especially when mosquitos are feasting on you) i bled from the slave cylinder. Go to the hardware store and buy some clear tubing, i forgot what size (3/8ths maybe? Dig the forums its around here somewhere) but itll fit perfectly on the bleeding nipple of the slave. Run that line into a cup of brake fluid, you will be able to see it bubble as air is forced from the line.

Idk if i did it the hard way but it worked mint; had my brother pump the pedal to force air out, then id close off the bleed and have him stomp to build pressure, rinse and repeat a bunch of times until the clutch was stiff. Just make sure you keep topping off your master cylinder res with fluid as needed since youll have to start over if it gets too low. Never bled a line before this so i was learning hands on but everything worked out.

 

+1 on using the SS line, What happens is that the existing rubber lines get weak and balloon out slightly when pressure is applied. They will also leak tiny amounts of fluid as they deteriorate. Good luck.

 

Thanks guys. I'll post back when the SS line comes in (the only vendor on ebay lists a 5 day handling period - WTH?) and I get it on.

 

The 1 piece SS clutch line is possibly the most underated mod for our Maximas. I had the same problem with bleeding the sloppy clutch until I installed the line. You will be very pleased with the new feeling of the clutch.

 

Hey euclio, which clutch line did you get? The $25 one piece or the $40 full line?


Posted from Maxima.org App for Android

 

I always referred to the full line as the 1 piece. It's the only way to go. Replacing just the lower section won't help the bleeding issue.

 

I ordered the one piece $40 line.

 

Alright. Thank you.


Posted from Maxima.org App for Android

 

+1 on this. For $15 more it replaces the "rat's nest" and both rubber pieces. Agreed that fitting it on the master cylinder end is a bit of a PITA - a flare end wrench (10MM, I think) helped a lot. Good luck.

 

Had the same issue we had to replace the line cuz something was wrong wit it

 

The only issue I had with install was pulling all the old hard lines out. I had to use a hacksaw and cut some of the lines up. No regrets whatsoever. You will not want to put that crap back in so do whatever necessary to remove it. It cleans up your engine bay a bit too. Good luck.

 

have you tried Bench Bleeding the master again? i had the same exact problem and tried EVERYTHING. When i finally stoped being stubborn and re bench-bled the Master, the stiffness came back after a few rounds of pumping/bleeding.

 

The single piece stainless steel line came in yesterday. Went to the parts store and grabbed a 10mm and 11mm flare wrench (old and new line to the master cylinder). Got to work on it and yes, the access to the line off the master cylinder is tight. Unbolted something that looks like it is related to cruise control that is in the way (one 10mm bolt up top and two 10mm nuts up in the wheel well) and positioned it out of the way. This gave a bit more room/visibility. I thought about snipping the line coming off the master cylinder and using a ratchet to remove the line but chickened out. The old line took some effort as you can only get about 1/16 of a turn each time (or at least it felt that way). Threading the new line on was difficult as well - space was still tight and you have to be very careful about not cross threading as others have mentioned. Connected up the slave cylinder, filled up the reservoir and bled the system. There was no pedal initially, but after about five cycles we had a little bit of pedal feel, then about 10-15 cycles after that, pedal feels better than it has in some time.
So, thanks to all...now to go degrease the bell housing that has collected so much grime from the leak over the months. Then I have to decide if I'm going to cut out all the old mess.

 

Hey guys, I know this is thread is a bit old, but I thought it needed a bit of additional info to help future searchers. In regards to this particular quote:

If anyone orders on ebay from rtperformance118 (the same company from the GD section here) they will actually reimburse you for the shipping if you tell them your an org member. If any of you are like me, you'd probably prefer to buy things from ebay than just send a random GD board member Paypal money, even if they are trustworthy. I actually just bought the 1 piece line from ebay last week and it was $48 with shipping, so they refunded $8 after the transaction was complete; same price as buying from the group deal section. I did ask beforehand if they would do it, and they said yes before I clicked "buy". It should work just fine if you send them a message with your Paypal transaction number or order number, however you pay for it, and notify them that you're a member here and would like to get in on the free shipping deal.

Also, the five day turnaround time they list must just be to cover their ***** should they need it, because they sent my SS line out the following day, refunded my shipping cost at the same time, and I got it in the mail about 3-4 days later. I was actually fairly surprised at how quickly it arrived since the shipping was free.

And yes, the full line looks too short in the packaging, but it ends up just reaching with a bit of slack that can be zip tied onto existing wiring looms and hoses for support. I would highly suggest installing the SS line from the master first, as the line doesn't rotate very much and the tip on the master side is angled. If you do like I did and install the slave side first, you may end up having to take it back off because the master side is in no way willing to rotate enough to thread in.

Good luck guys! The stainless line looks heaps better and it feels smoother throughout the pedal movement. I'm going to try bleeding mine one more time today to see it it'll stiffen up more, but it isn't bad at all as it is. Definitely a worthy investment in my opinion.