Hey wuts up 3rd gen section, 2 days ago when I went to go for a drive upon start up I noticed my clutch felt extremely light almost no pressure and it was really hard to put it in gear. Immidiatly before driving I checked my fluids and I noticed my clutch master cyl was bone dry on fluid. I filled it up and immidiatly regained pressure and was able to drive.

I've recently changed my master cyl ( i know not related ) and slave cyl about 1-2 months ago. I checked my clutch fluid level today and It was a tad lower then max so I added the appropriate amount.

I dont see any visible leaks around the resiover it self or around the lines for the distributor where you bleed the air. My question is am I pretty much just lookin under the hood at the clutch lines for any visible leaks or damage or should I also check underneith the car? Thanks for the feed back guys.

(Oh I added dot3 brake fluid..im 99.9% sure thats right except when you look at the color of the fluid in the resoiver it looks gunmetal silver idk if thats normal..)

 

Happens to me every now and then. A couple pumps and it's back to normal, it's possibly drawing back into the reservoir because it never gets low. Wish I could say the same for my power steering fluid.

 

yo hectic wuts up. woah woah that doesnt concern you? ("Happens to me every now and then") and sorry I dont understand everything after "its back to normal"....What are you talking about?? drawing back?

Your not afraid one of the lines are leaking or possibly a clutch component?

 

Wipe everything down, especially the line. Have someone pump the clutch pedal and take a paper towel and run it along the line, around the master cylinder, and around the slave cylinder.
If still nothing, need to ensure it's not leaking inside the cabin; through the firewall.

 

thanks for the feedback, theres only one line coming form both master and slave that I should check? You mean the main one?

 

I just failed to be clear in my post; my thought is that the leak is most likely along the line....given it sounds like you replaced and checked the only other two components.

 

ah ha..okay im following you. ill take a closer look tomorrow

 

I mean the fluid level and pedal resistance are back to normal. I never said it wasn't concerning, but it's only happened to me about 3 times over the 8 year's i've owned the car, and the fluid level always remains at a normal level. There's possibly air in the system where fluid in the tank should be. Bleed the system at the slave and hope it doesn't happen anymore. Carry a straw with you for insurance.

 

i say wipe everything clean so you can determine where the leak is coming from and go fromthere

 

 

It really is gunmetal color I have no idea why I dont recall it ever looking like that.

Anyway seems like the crappy beck&arleys slave cylinder i just put in about 2 months ago is leaking. Probably had a defective one or just the quality of the brand I wish I could have gone original but didtn have the cash at the time. Think ill be going oem slave now...

I'd hate to start another thread for this but it seems like my passenger rear strut mount broke. Im hearing a womp womp while I drive. Can anybody tell me if its dangerous to drive around with a broken mount until I save up cash?? thanks guy

 

It's so hard to diagnose over the internet. What makes you think that it is the strut mount? That seems odd to me.

I think it is more likely either brakes rubbing against a slightly warped rotor or most likely a bad rear hub bearing.

 

I believe its the strut mount because i've read its common for them to break and allow the car to sag. I replaced my whole suspension a yr ago and left my 200k original strut mounts on newbishly .

I bottom out all the time with these crappy nyc streets+superslamed ride and i dont know what a broken mount sounds like so I just kind of assumed it was the noise is more of a scrapping noise not a "wompwomp".

I replaced the rotor last summer and caliper aswell brakes and all seemed fine it is possible its the hub bearing like you mentioned i hear thats common aswell.

 

In my experience, any sort of "womp womp" noise is definitely a bad wheel bearing but it is a continual noise at speed and not just a singular event type of noise (if that makes sense).

 

no that makes perfect sense it does seem to increase in volume as I speed up but the noise is definitly there whether theres bumps or not.

But like I said its not really a womp womp more really like a continues scrapping sound. Like metal is lightly rubbing and Its continous.

Any test I can do to check if its the wheel bearing or any neat tip, Idk sometimes you experts know tricks or clues indicating its the wheel bearing lol

 

A scraping noise would likely be the dust shield scraping the rotor or a brake pad shim scraping or something. A bearing would have a hard time making the scraping noise.

Jack it up and take the wheel off and have a look-see

 

I had the car on a lift today and saw the housing for the rear insert seemed to be bent a little bit I wish I took a pic while it was up but will do tomorrow. I didnt take off the wheel tho i just examined the brake parts from the opposite side I know you can tell almost nothing that way but thanks anyway will take wheel off tomorrow!

 

back to the clutch issue...At first the leak wasnt so bad at the slave cylinder and I could manage driving it around but today when I went to move the car my clutch pedal was getting stuck to the ground I would have to physically lift it with my hand. The fluid was leaking at an accelerated rate.

time to just do the slave again asap

*edit* was my clutch pedal starting to stick to the ground because I let air in by filling up the clutch reserve with fluid while the car was on? This never happened to me before where it would just stay depressed all the way to the ground, will simply swapping a new slave and bleeding get it back to normal ? thanks guy help always appreciated

 

put the new slave cly in, bleed, all will be well. I just went through the same exact thing... You're getting the extremely dead pedal only because the fluid is so low, there is no pressure pushing the clutch pedal back up at all...

 

thanks dude. yeah I just replaced that and bled but i dont think I bled enough because it isn't as smooth as before...also the clutch just feels like it could have more pressure.

 

Man if u still got the clutch running through that distributing block its gonna be tough to thoroughly bleed the clutch. You have to keep pumping and pumping for a considerable amount of time (takes a while). When your finally done you don't ever want to mess with the clutch again.

 

yeahhh I know man ive been told about the nightmares if you wana bleed from the block but when i swapped the slave i just bled from the bleeder valve on the slave itself with a bleeder kit.

 

Yeah but that block traps air and it takes a bit of work to get it out. I know some say stick to the way it came from the factory, but several of us have bypass that block and life is much simpler now.

 

Where was the fluid coming from? Around the cylinder itself, where the boot is? I ask because I had a problem where the cylinder popped out of the housing because of a broken TO bearing. One of the metal tabs where the clutch fork pushes on completely broke off causing the slave cylinder to overextend.

If you replaced it and are still having some weird problems, keep an eye on that to make sure the new one isnt leaking too. If the TO bearing breaks you'll be stranded. If you still get fluid leaks maybe your TO bearing is bent a little making the clutch fork travel too far. Hopefully you fixed it though!

Having the car running shouldn't make any difference. If there is air in the lines, the clutch pedal will stick to the floor like you described. Once you run through a couple bleed cycles though it should start to feel firm and not stick.

 

Whoomp wooooooomp!

 

 

yeah im agreeing with you dude lol I want to avoid all horrors of bleeding from the block. I was explaining that all I did was bleed from the slave cylinder buttttt I think I may need to do another bleeding cycle or two for peace of mind I guess or maybe it will get even smoother ( cant tell if this is all in my head I have a new clutch feeling due to new problems every other month hah).

yeah it was leaking exactly where the boot is I know because I had someone push the clutch a couple of times and I had an eye while that was happening.

Im not sure exactly if the slave got over entended and this is all a result of a broken TO bearing. Are you saying that I could have possibly damaged the throw out bearing in the tranny while driving around with a bad slave? I'm keeping an eye on the fluid level and slave but now you lead me to believe i've harmed my tranny in the past few weeks brad..=/

Cluch pedal of engagment feels a lil lower to the ground then I had before i swapped the slave...I dont need to adjust the clutch pedal again at all do I?

whats the big idea? did I say something funny or newbish lol *puts on flame suit*

 

 

Nah, I was just being goofy. Thuggin' up the "womp womp" quote a lil bit

 

haha oh okay gotcha

 

No, driving habits really wont change IF the TO bearing is going to fail, just maybe how quickly. Use OEM quality parts and you should be good to go... sometimes the TO bearing that comes with clutch kits are cheap. I'm pretty sure that was the case with mine.

I wouldnt think you would have to adjust the clutch pedal... at least I never did. The engagement point shouldnt change if you arent actually changing the clutch. Does the pedal feel firm? If so I would just keep driving it and pay attention to make sure nothing changes.

 

What do you mean exactly? sorry I may seem like I know a lot about these things but i'm still in the making lol...this is what I know..or think I know..TO bearing commonly go bad and cause a slight noise/vibration on the shifter or am I thinking of the inputshaft bearing? Now that I think about it i guess it is the ISB because "sometimes the TO bearing that comes with clutch kits are cheap".

I installed a duralast clutch kit about 2 yrs ago...we all know the quality of duralast not the best not the worst..but back to my original question do you think while driving around with a bad slave ( a leaking one ) that as I was driving and shifting I was withering away my TO bearing? or that doesnt make sense..

I ask these wierd questions cause Im tryin to get a better understanding of our trannies...also what it is im experiencing because I have some "tranny chatter" through the shifter...usually while im accelerating. By tranny chatter i mean i hear something unusual aswell as a vibration on the shifter.

Basically dont know if im getting paranoid again or experiencing something different...also sometimes shifting fom 1st to 2nd or 3rd to 2nd ill feel like im touching something thats vibrating(like grinding gears) but I believe thats because im not traveling through the gates the way I should be(like you have to be really precise going through the gate)...is this all too confusing? or makes some sense?

The pedal feels firm sometimes more than others its wierd...that leads me to believe theres still some air. Also its alot easier to shift after i've pumped the clutch like 5 times as opposed to just one. just tell me whered you like me to clarify if this is mumbo jumbo.

 

Forget about everything else you are worrying about atm and concentrate here:

This is a classic symptom of a a hydraulic system with either a leak somewhere or a MC with funky components (cup washer or valve).

Leaks can be on the lines (wet), the slave (dripping out the boot) or on the MC itself (fluid goes back into the cabin through the boot).

MC must be removed to inspect the rear with the boot. If there are no leaks, remove the clutch line from the MC, make up a temporary plug on the MC and screw it into the MC outlet. Fill the reservoir and bleed the MC via THAT temp plug. Once filled let it sit for a few minutes - if you now press the clutch pedal you should have a solid pedal immediately with only about half an inch worth of travel (basically only the MC pin's free-play adjustment getting taken up). If you don't have a solid pedal immediately and consistently and repeatably if you repeat the exercise after its been standing for a longer period, you have a funky MC - strip/clean/inspect/repair/replace until you can reliably produce a solid pedal ..................... start here and sort this properly before you look at anything else or you will continue guessing while wasting a lot of time and money.

 

I mean that if the TO bearing is made from cheap metal, it will eventually fatigue and crack. The clutch fork presses on those TO bearing "ears" and they will eventually break... driving habits (i.e. shifting alot or hard) could accelerate failure, but I have only heard of TO bearings breaking a couple of times.

If you hear a rattle/clattering when you let the clutch out in Neutral, then more than likely the TO bearing is making noise or it's the input shaft bearing. A loud clatter that slows down when you press in the clutch would point to the input shaft bearing. In my experience, the TO bearing will have a slight rattle/hissing noise when the clutch is out if the bearing itself isnt good, which goes away immediately when you press the clutch in.

Grinding during shifting could be quite a few things... synchros, tranny shaft bearings, etc. but probably isnt the TO bearing. If there is air in the line I could see the slave cylinder not completely disengaging the clutch and therefore causing some of the grinding/vibration when going into gear. If you drive around with a bad slave though, it wont do anything to the TO bearing. The slave just pushes the clutch fork against the bearing, thereby pushing the pressure plate fingers in and disengaging the clutch.