The clutch in my '96 Miata went from being fine in the morning to useless at lunchtime. The clutch pedal feels like there is no pressure at all. The reservoir is full, but the fluid looks dark at the bottom.
I replaced the slave cylinder and went to bleed it, but noticed that when the clutch is depressed the bracket that presses on the slave cylinder piston does not move. Would this mean the master cylinder is bad?
Thanks, Jim
"mjb920" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
Very likely. One thing that could be happening is that the rubber cup on the piston is bad and the fluid can just leak right past w/o being pushed to the slave cylinder.
BE CAREFUL with the brake fluid, it wrecks paint. Try bleeding the system to see if the master cylinder will give you any pressure at all, if not, you probably will have to rebuild the master cylinder.
If I read your post correctly, you have not yet finished bleeding the system. The clutch arm will not move until the system is bled.
pressure
You're right - I was thinking the clutch arm moved the piston, not the other way around. I tried to bleed the system, but pressing or pumping the clutch pedal has no effect. I can't build up any pressure.
Did you fill the slave with fluid before you bolted it on? It helps.
Try having an assistant pump several times with the bleeder closed. The while they maintain pressure, loosen the bleeder. Retighten and repeat as needed.
Or get a Mity Vac tool and bleed it yourself.
Just a thought, and probably a stretch, but I wonder if it could either be a defective clutch cylinder or bleeder screw that isn't sealing correctly, or is possibly not being tightened enough each time. There should be fluid coming out from the bleeder screw area as long as it is open no matter what unless the system is clogged somewhere.
The Mity Vac is a great tool, but I prefer speed-bleeders for both clutch and brakes, mainly because I can't lose or break them.
I also changed a clutch slave cylinder this week. I had the line open for about 10 minutes and a lot of fluid in the master emptied. With everything back together, it took maybe 60-80 pedal strokes before we got enough air out of the system to feel some pedal pressure. If I had not done this before and knew how long it can take, I might have gotten worried. My helper was worried, but I told him to keep pumping the pedal.
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