Clutch Problem

[Cash]

I'm having a strange problem with my clutch. I wanna try to get an answer before I just start buying replacement parts. I pushed my clutch in while driving today and the pedal went to the floor, so I was initially thinking it was the master cylinder. I checked the fluid reservoir and it was completely empty. I put more fluid in and started pushing the pedal in and pulling it out. It eventually built up pressure. The fluid dropped a little bit while I was doing this, so I topped it back off.

The weird thing is that the clutch pedal works fine and has plenty of pressure when I push it in fast, but if I push it in slow there is no pressure and the pedal stays on the floor.

So.. clutch works fine if I push the pedal in fast, and clutch doesn't work at all if I push the pedal in slow. Any ideas of what could be causing this?

[SCato]

did you check the adjustment on the master cylinder? from the pedal to the cylinder

[Cash]

No. haha, I didn't know there was one. Is that something that would just adjust on its own all of a sudden? The clutch pedal was working fine when I drove it yesterday. Also, is that something that would cause the clutch to just not work if I pushed it in slowly?

[v-empire]

M/C or S/C.

the adjustments have nothing to do with that.

[Cash]

Well I already have the S/C. I guess I'll install that, see if it helps, and if not, I'll buy the MC. that's a lot of commas... Thanks dave!

[hellfire]

Or.. You have air in your lines now from having no fluid in the reservoir.

Try to bleed the clutch.

Tyler

[Slip N Slide S14]

replace both master and slave

they cheap anyways and it will fix your problem garunteed.

Also, take off the stupid damnper box for the clutch line if you still have that too.

[AFSil80]

Or.. You have air in your lines now from having no fluid in the reservoir.

Try to bleed the clutch.

Tyler

This was going to be my suggestion, as well as what Chad said about the dampner box. If the dampner box is still on there, it will be impossible to bleed the lines properly.

[homeslicej2]

This was going to be my suggestion, as well as what Chad said about the dampner box. If the dampner box is still on there, it will be impossible to bleed the lines properly.Ugh. I hated that thing. Very glad it came off. Yeah, you need to bleed the system. If the problem persists, replace both MC and SC.

[Cash]

I appreciate the help guys. Yea I bled the lines first thing. I still have the problem, so it must be the MC and/or SC.

[AFSil80]

Is the dampner box still there?

[Infinite]

when i had that problem my mc was doing nothing but pumping powdered aluminum as brake fluid, lol

[Blake]

change s/c and bleed clutch
to make clutch bleeding fast you can bypass that little box near the s/c
if you connect the soft line to the hard line

[Cash]

did you check the adjustment on the master cylinder? from the pedal to the cylinder

I replaced the SC this afternoon. The clutch is much easier to push in and the car shifts very smooth now. The only issue now is that the clutch engages at the very bottom. I have a full pedal with good pressure. There is about 1-1.5 inches of play in the pedal at the very top before there is pressure.

Is this being caused by the adjustment scato was talking about?

[Slip N Slide S14]

yes, either that or air still in the lines.

Do you have the stock damnper on still?

[Cash]

Haha yea, I still have the dampener on there. I was hoping I wouldn't have to mess with it, but I think I'm gonna have to bypass it.. I bled the lines for a good 20 minutes. I used almost an entire bottle of brake fluid, and there wasn't any air coming out.

So to bypass the dampener box, you just connect the hard line to the soft line like s13blake was saying? I remember seeing a write-up on it a while back and for some reason I thought you had to bend the hard line and do something else.. I'm gonna try to look it up.

Thanks everybody for the help!

[Slip N Slide S14]

Haha yea, I still have the dampener on there. I was hoping I wouldn't have to mess with it, but I think I'm gonna have to bypass it.. I bled the lines for a good 20 minutes. I used almost an entire bottle of brake fluid, and there wasn't any air coming out.

So to bypass the dampener box, you just connect the hard line to the soft line like s13blake was saying? I remember seeing a write-up on it a while back and for some reason I thought you had to bend the hard line and do something else.. I'm gonna try to look it up.

Thanks everybody for the help!

Ya thats right

that box can be impossible toe bleed no matter how long you try. Air just gets trapped in them. They suck, i bled mine one time for 2 hrs, and used a vacuum pump, it still got me.

[Cash]

Alright, I'm too lazy to do it tonight and my roommate is gone now so I can't bleed the clutch tonight. I'll take care of that tomorrow.

Also, for adjusting the clutch pedal (in case I end up needing to do that as well), is it this part right here that I adjust?

http://www.specialtyz.com/images/adj2.jpg

I tried messing with that earlier today. The fork part of it that attaches to the pedal spins which would adjust the pedal position depending on how far up or down the rod it is, right? The only problem is, you can't spin it with the pedal going in between it and there's not enough room to get the pedal out from between it. Surely you don't have to take the whole pedal off to adjust this. Was I doing something wrong?

[Zippy69]

Loosen the lock nut and adjust the rod.

[Cash]

I loosened the lock nut but the rod can't be moved enough to spin that fork part that attaches to the pedal.

[AFSil80]

To be honest, I think once you get the dampner box removed, you'll be fine. I don't think any pedal adjustment will be necessary.

Just my 2 cents...

[Cash]

Yea I was thinking that too. The pedal position was fine before, so there's no reason why it should need adjustment.

[Slip N Slide S14]

you don't turn the fork, just the rod. The rod preloads the slave cylinder. So, the farther the rod is in means it is closer and closer to pushing the clutch in, or disengaging the clutch. You can turn it in so much that the clutch slips on some cars.

From looking at your pic, whatever master cylinder you have does not have much adjustment on the rod. It is already about to bottom out. You can turn that rod till it is about to come out the hole in the pedal and hten lock down the nut, but dont go too far so it falls out or becomes too lose. That will slightly help your clutch engagement placement.

[Cash]

Oh, that's not my picture. I was just able to find a good picture of what I was talking about. How do I turn the rod? vice grips? I didn't see anywhere on the rod to put a wrench..

Well, I'm not gonna worry about adjusting the pedal until I get the dampener bypassed. I'm 99% sure I'm not going to need to mess with the pedal.

[Slip N Slide S14]

after you loosen the nut, you can sometimes turn it by hand but if its too tight, get some needle nose pliers and scream and yell as you try and fit your hand and your eyes up there and turn

[Cash]

sounds like a plan. or i could just loosen it up and start kicking the sh*t out of it until it goes. :D

[Cash]

ugh.. I removed the dampener assembly, threw it as far as I could, bled the clutch, went for a test drive and it's running great. The car was feeling awesome. I gave it full throttle through first, then second, and half way through 3rd when it hit full boost it lost power and made a high pitch wooshing noise.

I thought maybe I had blown an IC pipe, so I let off and pulled into the nearest neighborhood. The car was driving normal and not making any funny noises. I turned around and headed back to my neighborhood. The car was driving fine with no boost. The vacuum was reading normal. I decided to boost it again, this time a little bit easier. At about 5lbs it happened again. So I drove it back home and started to inspect. All the couplings on my IC piping are fine, the radiator fluid is clean... Any other suggestions what I should check out?

[v-empire]

just noise? very loud wooshing noise?

just watch your boost to make sure you have normal boost readings..

check exhaust and dump pipes, actuators, manifolds...

[Cash]

hmm, I didn't even think about the actuator. I'm going to eat lunch and then go sweet talk my car until she tells me what I want to hear. Thanks Dave.

[Zippy69]

Put a wrench on the rod and turn it after you loosen the lock nut. I think the pedal free play is like 2-3mm.

[Cash]

The pedal is fine now that I got the dampener removed and the lines bled. I'm just trying to figure out my new problem. Yeehaw.. :D

[Slip N Slide S14]

could be exhausts gaskets, i have heard them make weird noises when they start to leak too. Or a small hole in a coupler as well.

[Cash]

Yea, I'm thinking it's somewhere in one of the couplers. I can't imagine a problem with one of the exhaust gaskets killing the power this much. I've had my 4 bolt turbo gasket blow out and it didn't act anything like this. I guess I'll put some soapy water on the couplers and see if there's any leaks.

I think I've ruled out the actuator b/c the noise seems to be coming more from the passenger side of the car.

[Slip N Slide S14]

Pressurize the pipes, you will be amazed at how many small leaks you will find under pressure

[Cash]

haha, I'm dumb. I took a nap, then went back out to figure out what was wrong with my car. Well I didn't check the couplings well enough at first obviously because that's where my problem was. None of them had blown off, but once I looked closer I realized one of the clamps had come loose. Problem solved.