Over the past month with all the craptacular cold weather we've been getting (thanks global warming! ), my clutch pedal gets hard to push in at times. There has been a couple of time where it won't go past halfway and I half to let it out then back in. Could this just mean there is moisture in the fluid? I went ahead and bought a new slave cylinder thinking it was that as there was a bit of fluid around the exterior of it, but now I'm thinking it might just be the fluid itself as it's not had a problem after the weather has warmed up.

 

If you suspect its fluid, and it "could" be, I would bleed the system. Its not hard. The hardest part is filling up the resevoir on the firewall. I bleed mine once a year using a mity vac. Its not even a multiple beer process. Barely one.

 

I've read that the clutch is a pita to bleed on this car as there are two separate areas it needs to be bled at? I've been wanting to pick up one of those Mity Vacs. Does it work good?

 

I noticed that when it is really cold out, my clutch is harder to push in and takes longer to fully release.

It seems like the clutch fluid gets "thicker" during the cold weather.

I'll probably flush out all my clutch fluid soon for some ATE Blue DOT 4.

 

All clutches take longer to "spin down" when it's cold. There is some lube on the spline the disc engages, and that gets thicker. That's the "longer release."

In the cold, fluids gets thicker, and seals get stiffer, yep. Not much you can do there, except avoid being cold.

 

I have always had that too in cold weather, but this is different. I'm literally pushing at least twice as hard to push the clutch in.

 

I would bleed it first as well. Hopefull you have a garage to do it with this cold weather...

 

Try bleeding from the bleeder hose if you think you got air or fluid in the system(closest to the firewall and clutch fluid resovoir. If that doesn't work you can always go to the res near the tranny. But if it's just the fluid and the cold weather not much you can do unless you got a garage..

 

The nice thing is I have an insulated garage and a 40,000 btu heater to work in. Even if it's 10F out I can turn the heater on and have a 60F garage in 20 minutes. It works out great for waxing the car in the winter and any auto work.

I'm going to try bleeding it tonight before the real cold weather gets here tomorrow and Thursday. That way I can see if all it needed was to be bled.

 

No, it's super easy to bleed. Just one fitting at the slave. Flush out all the old fluid and see if that helps. It's cheap and easy so rule it out before looking at replacing anything.

Also, before replacing the master or slave look into replacing the rubber hose. I had problems with pedal feel for a long time and it turned out to be the hose failing on the inside. This is after a new master, slave and flush didn't help.

I'm not familiar with the Mity Vac but I got a little hand pump vacuum bleeder at Harbor Freight and it's worked great for years.

 

Ok so I finished bleeding the clutch line. It took awhile for me to get the Mity Vac working right. I was thinking because it was getting so many air bubbles through the line it wasn't pulling the fluid fast enough. According to the instructions this is normal as this is just air being pulled in from around the threads of the bleeder screw.

The fluid from the slave cylinder looked dirty but otherwise normal. I then did the upper bleeder valve and noticed the fluid was almost milky white, ie moisture, and plenty of it. I did a test drive and everything felt fine, but then it didn't have a problem at all today due to the warmer weather. I'll know for sure if I fixed it once the temps drop again over the next day or two.

 

good luck in the 20 or so degress weather.

 

I was betting on water/moisture before I got to post #11, as it sounds like any other problem involving trying to make a not-quite-frozen liquid flow through a pipe. Maybe not frozen enough to make the entire volume of fluid/water mix freeze solid, but enough to turn it into a thickish slurry that doesn't flow much better - especially if you try to hurry it through a tiny orifice or a length of small pipe.

Having almost certainly now found the cause of the symptoms, the next step should be to figure out the root cause - how the moisture got there in the first place (and how to keep it from happening again). A bad seal at the reservoir cap for any of a number of reasons combined with repeated heavy water splashing might be enough. Given enough time, maybe even sustained high humidity and a cracked or poorly installed cap.


Norm

 

Good advice, but if that was the original 10 year old fluid I'd expect it to be in that condition. If it's been changed recently then start looking at the causes above.

 

Dark in color, yes.

But not milky with water contamination. In order for that much water to get in, there's got to be a leak somewhere for it to get in through. And that 'somewhere' almost certainly has to be where the fluid is not under pressure, else you'd already have known about it from the smell and/or the mess from the fluid leaking out. Not too many places in the clutch hydraulic circuit fit those criteria.


Norm

 

I am in agreement with the whole bleed the system idea. any moisture will freeze up in th cold. it will ALWAYS get a little harder in the cold, but your description makes me think its time for a flush

 

I'm almost positive it was the original fluid. The woman I bought the car from was the original owner and she had no idea she had even bought an extended warranty from Nissan on it so I'm thinking bleeding the clutch fluid wasn't on her list of maintenance! I should have changed it years ago when I bought the car but forgot about it. On my drive in today the transmission seemed to be shifting smoother. I don't even want to say it but I didn't even have the infamous 2nd to 3rd gear clunk either. I doubt a simple clutch fluid bleed could fix that problem but I can hope can't I?

 

A fluid bleed certainly couldn't hurt. And if for any reason there were some air bubbles in the fluid, chasing them out will improve clutch action (resulting in less unanticipated rotational drag that the synchros would have to overcome or grind/graunch/clunk while trying to).


Norm

 

I'll say one thing, if this 2nd to 3rd gear crunch could have been cured the whole time by a simple clutch fluid bleed that I was too lazy to do.....

 

I drove quite a few miles today after the temps had dropped to 5F and the clutch is working perfectly now. The 3rd gear grind is gone too. I think it's lulling me into a false sense of security though and one day out of the blue when I'm least expecting it....crunch!

 

Norm[/QUOTE]

Exactly, this will improve shifting by improving clutch action. This won't "cure" the 3rd gear crunch but you will have to shift harder and faster to make it happen.

I have to respectfully disadree about the milky fluid. Even in a tight system the fluid can absorb some moisture. Especially after 10 hard winters without being changed. I've seen plenty of cars with milky fluid even here in Florida.

Under normal maintenance conditions I'd agree, but this an example of extreme neglect considering his climate. I would say that it wouldn't hurt to change the cap though.